Technical writing in English by Japanese authors is examined. It is pointed out that Japanese rhetorical structure addresses an underlying communication goal that is very different from the goal of Aristotle's persuasive discourse; Japanese technical writers also consider elements such as beauty, surprise, and easy flow as desirable measures of good writing. This fundamental difference in approaching the problem of writing often produces confusing results.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>