It’s always German, French, Chinese, Korean etc. Spanish never make into those lists.
Out of curiosity I checked though Spanish companies that are hiring local staff. They ask english and japanese.
It’s widely spoken yet no one ask that for extra abilities
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Germany and France are part of the G7 so I’d imagine significant trade and politics are involved with those nations and thus driving the demand for speaking the language.
Maybe the Spanish speaking population in Japan is not that big so the demand for fluent speakers is not that high. There’s should be plenty of people from Peru but who knows really. As a native Spanish speaker I’d like to know as well lol.
There are many more global conglomerate companies from Germany and France than from Spain.
Because countries speaking Spanish are not among the world’s top economies
Chances of running into an American that Already speaks Spanish is relatively high. No need to search for something when you get a two for one deal.
The spanish speaking community in Japan is just very small. Most spanish speakers I’ve met in Japan are also pretty fluent in English. It’s just not as necessary for Spanish as some other languages
There isn’t even a spanish speaking country in the top 15 trading partners of Japan. That should be a good indicator. Most industry in EU is German or French. I can’t really think of anything outside agriculture than spain exports, Mexico mainly exports petrol and components to things assembled in the US.
Culturally, France and Germany have a larger consumer base for media as well.
Spanish speaker here. I have done Spanish teaching, translation as freelance and have used Spanish in my job even if it is not related to my main role:
1. Spain and Latin America are not major markets for most industries and there is not prospect for this to get much better in the future. At most some companies will have some factories in Latin America, which means that they need to translate manuals and a few liaisons who can communicate.
2. It is easier to outsource cheap labor to Eastern Asian countries for factory work or obtaining natural resources. This happens due to distance, cultural proximity, etc.
3. There is an overall lack of interest in languages that are not English/Chinese/Korean. This is related to both the above and that Spanish culture does not have a wide appeal outside of bullfighting/tourism/cuisine/flamenco.
4. There are no prospects of Spanish being a language that will help people on a professional level.
5. People here barely have a decent enough level of English anyway.
This leaves Spanish in a place where it seems like it may be useful, but from a local’s perspective does not have a particular appeal, specially compared to other languages.
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On a personal level, this has brought me to the conclusion that I should NOT teach Spanish to my children and should focus on English, despite me not being native.
Just search “Japan top trading partners by country”