How Can Japanese Language Education Assist in the Formation of a Multicultural Society?

Abstract

This article discusses the issue of Japanese language education aimed at the formation of a multicultural society, observing it in terms of the type of Japanese language education known as “local Japanese language education,” in which the local community serves as the basis for learning. Since the 1980s, efforts directed at so-called “long-term resident foreigners,” including Japanese war orphans who had grown up in China, Indochinese refugees, and laborers of Japanese descent have become a major issue in the area of Japanese language education, leading to the formation of the field of “local Japanese language education.” Initially, local residents conducted this type of education on a volunteer basis in grassroots programs. Later, both governments and businesses became increasingly aware of the local social issues for which they each felt the need to take some responsibility, leading to the implementation of programs to support the daily lives and education of “foreigners as residents.” However, conventional school-based Japanese language education could not deal with the overwhelming number of issues that presented themselves, and hence the field was forced into a paradigm shift. In order to form a multicultural society, it would be necessary to challenge the inequality caused by social structures, and encourage mutual understanding among the members of the local community. For this purpose, Japanese language educators would be asked to redefine the role of the Japanese language as a common language for allowing dialogue on an equal basis, and to develop the multicultural communicative abilities of both foreigners and the Japanese, which would be essential for the construction of a society based on human relationships among the residents, and for facilitating dialogue to share and solve local issues. With this understanding, it would be wise to construct a system of Japanese language education positioned as one of the social systems that provides a lifestyle support for foreign residents.