Takashi Sato of Mitsubishi Motors Corp. fears he may be transferred because of his poor command of English -- a potentiality that was unthinkable until last year.
The fear emerged when his new, non-Japanese boss arrived in July from DaimlerChrysler AG. The German manufacturing giant announced in March 2000 that it would rescue Japan's No. 4 automaker by acquiring a controlling stake, currently at 37.3 percent.
"I have to write about half of my documents in both English and Japanese so higher-ups can read them," said Sato (not his real name), who works in MMC's finance and public relations department in Tokyo.