■What is a “honmamon” service?

Do you remember an NHK drama series, “Honmamon”, which started in October, 2001? Honmamon means “genuine” in Kansai dialect.

Since I use a JCB credit card, the company sends me a JCB information magazine every month. In its current issue, I found an “ear mark” article introduced in the “JCB service improvement report” section, in which JCB reports about their improved services for their customers. The improvements have been made based on customers’ comments.

The report says that they have placed an “ear icon” on thirteen JCB service desks around the country because of a comment to JCB from a customer. It goes like this. “I have a hearing-impaired person in my family and he has a lot of trouble at the customer service desk. Do you offer some special services for deaf people?”

The “ear icon” was invented by All Japan Association of Hard of Hearing People in the 1970’s. The icon is usually found on a front desk in public offices as a sign post for help for the deaf. The sign says “We communicate with hearing-impaired people by writing.”

(http://www.zennancho.or.jp/special/mimimark.html)

The JCB report also says “We communicate with hearing-impaired people by speaking clearly, showing our lips or writing down messages.”

If you lost your hearing ability after having acquired Japanese as a mother tongue, communication by writing is no problem. Or, if you are hard of hearing but can hear a little, this assures you of better communication when people are willing to speak clearly and show their lips as well. It is easy to realize that these strategies work well if you have enough Japanese language skills.

However, what if you are deaf and a native speaker of Japanese sign language? Do they work well? Hearing-impaired people’s writing skills in Japanese varies from person to person. Some can write what they want, some find it difficult to grasp the intention of what is written and others just don’t know how and what to write.

In spite of various levels of their Japanese skills, people who offer services for the deaf seem to believe that hearing-impaired people have the same ability in Japanese and that it is enough to set up an “ear mark,” speak clearly, show lips, and write down to communicate with the deaf.

These are not “honmamon” services at all.

Moreover, to my surprise, the JCB report indicates that you could find the details, such as addresses and phone numbers of those JCB offices where such services are rendered in its home page.”

“Oh, Mr. JCB, are you trying to make deaf people confirm ‘phone numbers’?”, I wondered. When I checked the home page, they provided only phone numbers, and no fax numbers or e-mail addresses.

When will they ever provide the “honmamon” services to us deaf people?

*Translated from the e-magazine of April 23, 2007 (# 082)