The Role of Japanese Language Policy and the Japanese Language as a Source of Soft Power in Japan's Relations with Countries in Asia

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26580090
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Japanese language education
• Research Institution: Hirosaki University
• Principal Investigator: Kazuyuki SATO 弘前大学, 人文社会科学部, 教授 (40133912)
• Research Collaborator: Carpenter Victor L. 弘前大学, 人文社会科学部, 特命教授 (80142909) ; Lynne Miyake K. Pomona University, Professor ; Yang Min-ho 国立釜慶大学, 人文社会科学研究所, HK研究教授
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: ソフトパワー / 言語政策 / アニメ / 孔子学院

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Japanese soft power originally grew out of such cultural traditions as flower arrangement and the tea ceremony. It has been suggested that the global reach of Japanese popular culture, from video games, manga and anime to Japanese cuisine (washoku) have produced such soft power and have helped foster interest in Japan and an increase in the number of Japanese language learners abroad.
This study was carried out with the collaboration of foreign scholars who are engaged in research on Japan at universities in Japan, the United States, and South Korea. Our study revealed that the popularity of Japanese pop culture has not directly led to increases in the number of Japanese learners. However, in North America, the soft power generated by the Confucius Institute and the growing global reach of Chinese enterprises can be said to be major reasons why the number of Chinese language learners has come to exceed that of Japanese language learners.

Free Research Field

社会言語学