Labor migration and the language barrier in contemporary Japan: the formation of a domestic language regime of a globalizing state
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Tomonori Taki
Abstract
This article discusses the impact of the increase from the late 1980s in the frequency and number of foreign languages spoken in Japan in the judicial branch of the Japanese state. Particular attention is paid to the language barrier problem in Japan’s criminal justice process, the cause and consequences of the problem, as well as Japan’s response to it. The introduction points out that in the politics of language activated by the arrival of international labor migration, migrant receiving countries today are unable to anticipate that migrant language assimilation will occur, and that those countries — in particular Japan — need to respond to such a situation accordingly. Section 2 puts the language barrier problem into historical context to show that the problem reflects a substantial change in Japan’s international relations, and as such is a force of globalization. Section 3 reports on the legal and political implications of the problem for the contemporary Japanese state, and the immediate consequences of the problem after its revelation, namely that the legality and legitimacy of Japan’s administration of criminal justice to foreign language speakers within its jurisdiction was partially and temporarily constrained. Section 3 also presents Japan’s response to the problem, both by civil society and the state. It is argued that by introducing judicial interpretation into its criminal justice process, the Japanese state managed to recover within about a decade its capability to justify (as far as its interests in maintaining domestic order are concerned) the administration of criminal justice to foreigners in Japanese territory whose first language is not Japanese.
Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG
Articles in the same Issue
- Preface
- Changing language regimes in globalizing environments
- Sociolinguistic perspectives on emerging multilingualism in urban Europe
- Japanese language policy from the point of view of public philosophy
- Labor migration and the language barrier in contemporary Japan: the formation of a domestic language regime of a globalizing state
- Metroethnicity, language, and the principle of Cool
- Signs of multilingualism in Tokyo — a diachronic look at the linguistic landscape
- Politics, the media, and Korean language acquisition in Japan
- Econolinguistic aspects of multilingual signs in Japan
- Japan as a host country: attitudes toward migrants
- Regional dialect and cultural development in Japan and Europe
- Language ideology in JFL textbooks
- Beyond keigo: smooth communication and the expression of respect in Japanese as a Foreign Language
- Learning to read and write in Japanese (kokugo and nihongo): a barrier to multilingualism?
- Japanese language instruction and the question of ‘‘correctness’’
- Interactional expectations and lingusitic knowledge in academic expert discourse (Japanese / German)
- Foreigners and the Japanese in contact situations: evaluation of norm deviations
Articles in the same Issue
- Preface
- Changing language regimes in globalizing environments
- Sociolinguistic perspectives on emerging multilingualism in urban Europe
- Japanese language policy from the point of view of public philosophy
- Labor migration and the language barrier in contemporary Japan: the formation of a domestic language regime of a globalizing state
- Metroethnicity, language, and the principle of Cool
- Signs of multilingualism in Tokyo — a diachronic look at the linguistic landscape
- Politics, the media, and Korean language acquisition in Japan
- Econolinguistic aspects of multilingual signs in Japan
- Japan as a host country: attitudes toward migrants
- Regional dialect and cultural development in Japan and Europe
- Language ideology in JFL textbooks
- Beyond keigo: smooth communication and the expression of respect in Japanese as a Foreign Language
- Learning to read and write in Japanese (kokugo and nihongo): a barrier to multilingualism?
- Japanese language instruction and the question of ‘‘correctness’’
- Interactional expectations and lingusitic knowledge in academic expert discourse (Japanese / German)
- Foreigners and the Japanese in contact situations: evaluation of norm deviations
