2017 Volume 60 Issue 2 Pages 69-78
The Japanese system of writing is very complicated because it uses 3 types of characters. For 60 years, Kyodo News, Japan's leading news agency, has issued "Kisha (reporter) Handbook" as a guide for writing articles for Kyodo and nationwide newspaper publications like The Associated Press Stylebook. In addition to journalistic organizations, a wide range of Japanese people use the handbook as a companion for easy-to-understand sentences. The handbook is based on the national language policy, which has been a basis for compulsory education and has implemented changes in definition and usage of words. In this paper, I introduce recently revised content. I also describe the process in which the handbook was formed, in the context of transformation of the written Japanese language after World War 2 under US-led occupation policy. I also mention aims and objectives of the recent revised editions in 2010 and 2016.
