Kanji Politics ─ Language Policy and Japanese Script

The nature of the Japanese script has been a matter of contention since the early Meiji period. The modernised system of kana usage and the guidelines on the use, shape and readings of characters which are in place today are the result of eighty years of often vitriolic controversy over the relative merits of tradition and convenience in the area of script. This book examines the history and nature of the language policy process in Japan as it relates to script from the establishment of the inaugural National Language Research Council in 1902 to the completion of the postwar policy review cycle by the National Language Council in late 1991. Among the questions it addresses are - How has language policy worked in the Japanese context? Why were policies necessary in the first place? Who has been responsible for formulating and implementing them? Whose interests have been served? What motives have driven the process? This is the first comprehensive study of Japanese language policy in the English language. It will be a major reference work in the fields of both Japanese studies and sociolinguistics.

Nanette Gottlieb is currently senior lecturer in Japanese at the Department of Asian Languages and Studies, University of Queensland, Australia.