The Role of Cyberlanguage in Japanese Society National Language (conservative view) Pre War Policy Post War Policy NLC ethnicity and language hierarchy of language development of script Japanese Language (global view) Exporting Japanese Language Moving for UN recognition Presence on Web Language to reflect Democracy English Language English presence on the web English as global ‘lingua franca’ Roman alphabet and CMC Computer Mediated Communications Keitai Culture keitai vs. landline web access from keitai i-mode & DoCoMo individualization & identity Language Adoption Emoticons & IR readers

-approximately 125 million people speak Japanese -typically considered a monolingual society - “standard” Japanese spoken throughout country -language strongly influenced by Chinese Sociolinguistic Profile of Japan -minority languages spoken: Ainu, Korean, Chinese and English

Hiragana Katakana Kanji

-Japan embarked on modernization around mid 19thC -looked to Western powers for innovative approaches to social progress Language played prominent role in addressing social issues and concerns

127 million people

Bullet Train - Shinkansen

National Language Council (NLC) public opinion surveys are taken by Agency for Cultural Affairs subcommittee Report submitted to Minister Cabinet announcement of new policy making it binding on government agencies also makes a public announcement in official press

Keitai (cellphone) Culture and Identity “People are using cellular phones not just as a communication box but as a tool with which to express themselves.” (McVeigh, 2003, p.25) Three aspects of individualization: 1. fashionable / individuality 2. more clearly articulate ones’ sentiments 3.to acquire one’s own space / privacy (McVeigh, 2003) “A great era because communicating is so convenient” “I can send things that I can’t say on the phone” “I can say what I want, because I can’t see the other person’s face” (McVeigh, 2003, p. 27) “Everyone has their own individual life, and we should be allowed to communicate with our friends, without interference” Privacy of cellphones, “increased psychological interiority” (McVeigh, 2003, p )

Keitai Democracy? access improved with mobile communications vs. PC more affordable than NTT land-line phones, ing is less expensive than calling. self promotion and self-presentation as products of ‘conscious communication’ of CMC (Caspary & Manzenreiter, 2003) organizing, subcultures and entrepreneurial opportunities of CMC and mobile device “A democratic, bottom-up, two-way, many-to- many form of broadcasting (or net-casting) via , Usenet and the World Wide Web will compliment if not supplant traditional relations of communication” (Mackie, 2003, p. 184)

Keitai Check-In with ANA

imode, DoCoMo and cyberlanguaging imode DoCoMo: ‘do communications on your mobile’-anywhere! “emoji” ( 〠 ) and communicating beyond script and language “QR code” bar codes as new links how do you write kanji on a phone, anyways...?

writing kanji on a keitai / computer 1/3 of the words in the Japanese language are homophones. input in roman letters or using keypad first, showing hiragana or katakana alphabet software provides explanations for previously shamed hand-writers, new kanji are accessible and discovered

Elementary School Kanji 800+ by the end of grade 6

Google: 携帯 culture keitai culture image results

Japanese Online Rarely used on the internet outside of Japan In 1998 was second most used on the Internet, then pased by Chinese and Spanish Prime Minister’s Commission: Achieving world-class excellence demands that, in addition to mastering information technology, all Japanese acquire a working knowledge in English- not simply as a foreign language but as the international lingua franca. (2000)

Implications for Japanese Language integration of languages and language adoption New ICT and media expanding communication possibilities. Teach a greater number of characters for recognition only and a reduced number for reproduction rather than equal emphasis? interweaving of CMC and society

“language planning is the organized pursuit of solutions to language problems, typically at the national level (Fishman,1974:79)

“activity of manipulating language as a social resource in order to reach objectives set out by planning agencies which in general are an area’s governmental, educational, economic and linguistic authorities” (Carol Eastman)

Sociolinguistic Profile of Japan