This is one of the typical questions that most native English speakers have often been asking. Why do you think many Japanese are bad at English? What's on your take? There may be some reasons why many Japanese are bad at English. 1. They don't have to go out of their way to use English as long as they live in Japan. They can do anything using only Japanese. 2. English education in Japan is not something that makes people good at English but what only makes students obtain good score on written English exams in school or pass the entrance exams for high schools or universities. 3. English classes in schools are absolutely lack for students to be good at English.