Abstract
Yukihiko Tsutsumi has directed films that portray Japanese speakers of English. The main language of the films is Japanese, while English is used occasionally to add comical effects to the scene. Tsutsumi is a successful director of entertainment films but his films often address social concerns in a humorous fashion. Among more than 40 films Tsutsumi has directed, Eigo ga Nanda (1988), ! [ai-ou] (1991), Ren'ai Shashin (2003) and Ginmakuban Sushioji! New York e Iku (2008) contain especially a notable amount of English. The present paper analyzes the English lines used in these four films and argues that the use of English by the Japanese characters in these films can be seen as one way to indirectly address serious topics concerning the social structure. Cross-linguistic humor produced by the use of English assumes the high status of English in Japanese society and reflects some ambivalent feelings of Japanese speakers toward the global language.
