The 19th-21st (1991-1998) sessions of the Japanese Language Council addressed problems different from those examined by the Councils of previous periods. Drawing on the Language Management Theory, this paper presents an analysis of the language management system of the new Council. After a historical sketch of the Council, four aspects of the work of the new Council are described: the way the Council has approached the language problems of Japan, the management networks of the Council, the linguistic items and social conditions the Council tried to manage, and the implementation of the management proposals. The author concludes in §4 that the Council succeeded in extending the scope of language problems attended to, with due recognition to the fact that not all problems may be solved. However, it should be pointed out that the Council failed to pay sufficient attention to authentic discourse which is the ultimate location of all language problems.

View full abstract

This paper is concerned with language problems of Japanese children - in particular, what factors affect children's dislike of Japanese as a school subject. The following is a summary of the author's discussion. 1. Two traditional language problems for children are learning standard Japanese and learning Chinese characters. Currently, less emphasis is placed on the former; however, the latter remains a focal issue, as much as in the past. 2. Three issues are involved in the recent problems of Japanese language education for children. They are the children's dislike of writing compositions, their declining interest in reading, and their dislike of Japanese as a subject. 3. A survey of elementary school children was conducted in order to examine the character of their resentment of Japanese as a subject. Following mathematics, social studies, and music, Japanese is the subject that children dislike most. The higher the grade the students are in, the more they dislike the subject. 4. The major reasons that children, especially those in higher grades, dislike the Japanese subject seem to involve the following factors: Japanese classes require writing compositions and learning Chinese characters; problems solved in Japanese classes do not have clear answers; and there is much homework in the subject. 5. Children who are interested in language activities tend not to dislike Japanese as a subject. 6. In this paper, the author proposes two measures toward solving the problems. First, it is necessary to reduce the amount of Chinese characters that children have to learn. Second, we need to develop teaching materials to stimulate the children's interest and formulate questions that unequivocally lead to logical answers.

View full abstract

Fufu bessei refers to the retention of former surnames after marriage. This paper suggests some theoretical frameworks for understanding the issue. The desire for name retention need not be psychologized as the mere dernier cri of the married woman looking back at singlehood. It argues that the fufu bessei issue involves the wider structural transformations occuring in society over the last forty years throughout the industrialized world. Nor is the issue, pars pro toto, an issue of Japanese 'cultural specificity', nor even solely of the nature of woman as social being. To relegate the issue to either cultural particularity or feminism is to insert it into another master discourse which does no more than try to reverse the familiar powerful-powerless opposition but leaves the political and social hierarchy, the centre and the margins, undisturbed. The sharp point of the marriage-name problem appears to be gender discrimination but its true empennage is state coercion whose tried-and-tested vector is uniformity (doshi-shugi- 'like-mind-ism') - even at the level of the choice of one's name. A familiar tale of loss of personal liberty and choice, fufu bessei is a libertarian issue that invokes the proper devolution of power over life-decisions to men and women in society. Based on a review of the literature and interviews with working women and students in Tokyo, this paper describes the range of opinion and parameters of the current situation in Japan regarding married names. The impact of the koseki (family register) is significant in maintaining forced choice (fufu dosei) in the three countries in the world where the family register system operates: Japan, Korea and Taiwan. The koseki is a family identification system that contrasts with a personal identification system in other countries. Government and party-political opinion basically opposes fufu bessei. Government proposals seem to favour a dual track solution: "koseki wa dosei, nichijo wa kyusei". This means the maintenance of fufu dosei for the koseki and fufu bessei option for daily life and services (e.g. work, bank, insurance). Japanese companies display various attitudes and policies towards marriage name usage and there is no uniform adaptation to these policies by women workers.

View full abstract

This paper attempts to investigate language problems in Japanese conversations which involve only non-native speakers. On the basis of 6 Japanese conversations between non-native speakers of different backgrounds, this paper investigates the management processes of language problems related to conversational participation, language variety choice and negotiation of meaning. The results suggest that in contact situations where Japanese is used as a third-party language, (1) Japanese only serves as a weak "base norm" and thus language problems may be derived from norms other than Japanese, (2) participants do not normally establish a linguistic host-guest relationship and, consequently, language problems pass through a management process different from the host-guest type, and (3) language problems are not regarded as issues to be solved (e.g. correction) but rather to be managed (e.g. change of norms, disregard of the problem).

View full abstract

This essay deals with some particular foreigner problems in Japan, especially problems encountered by women from Asian countries other than Japan who live in Japanese local communities. The author argues that it is particularly important for such women to acquire their own 'voice'. The relation between the acquisition of the 'voice' and language knowledge is discussed, and the paper further explores the question of how the women can make their voices heard in their local communities and how members of the community can manage their own behaviour to make communication democracy possible.

View full abstract

In this paper, the author reformulates "language problems" of the Language Management Theory in terms of ethnomethodology. According to Neustupny's theoretical formulation of "language problem", the"management process" is the most important factor in handling and managing language problems in interaction; every problem has its natural base in actual conversational interaction. However, while in this theory deviation from the norm is taken to be the first step of the process, followed by noting and evaluation of the problem, the concept of the norm seems to be incompatible with the interest-laden character of "language problems". We propose that the concept of the norm be reformulated in terms of ethnomethodology and of Foucault's theory as the taken-for-granted basis to enforce dominant culture; in fact, the norm is being socially constructed here and now and exerts power to mold possible future conducts. In this light, the management of language problems is part and parcel of the political processes of society.

View full abstract

Speech defects and their therapy are studied in Japan under the title of Logopedics and Phoniatrics (onsei gengo igaku). The understanding of human language competence and language defects are achieved through the comparison of deviant and normal behaviour. Also, therapy is extended through the use of artificial organs. One of the problems in the Japanese speech therapy system consisted in the lack of formalization of the qualifications for speech therapists. This problem seems to have been solved through legal acceptance of the qualification called Language and Hearing Therapist (gengo chokakushi) but at present the profession is directing its attention to speech therapy education that aims at still higher levels of medical competence.

View full abstract

The study of the dissemination of Japanese in Japanese colonies and occupied territories before the end of WWII has greatly developed in the 1990s. The number of studies has increased, and intellectual exchanges with the history of thought, education and colonial management have deepened and we can witness the emergence of general works that cover a wide range of content. However, at present, those people in the former colonies who were the object of the policies are ageing and it has become essential that their memories and experiences be recorded. Also, it is desirable to compare these with the conditions of other than Japanese colonies and commence building up language policy accounts informed by sociolinguistic theories.

View full abstract