In Japan, teachers of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) have up to the present been mostly university English professors. The subjects they have taught include English for business communication and English for science and technology. However, people who are not university English professors but specialists in such areas as foreign trade, finance, industry, science, technology or medicine have also been asked to teach ESP. It is strongly hoped that ESP is taught at universities and other higher educational institutions, before students find employment in corporations or laboratories and receive in-house training there. Furthermore, the contents of the syllabus of each specific purpose of English, for example, Financial English, should meet the actual needs of those taking that particular course. As a non-native speaker of English I would also like to point out the unique merit of ESP; it is the method of international communication among people in similar work fields or those belonging to the common academic world. One can rather comfortably communicate with other members of similar fields by using ESP
