How and Why the English Language

influences Japanese

By

Zak Holt

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of

BA (Hons) Asia Pacific Studies with Japanese

April 2015
Abstract:

The role of English has been increasing throughout the past few

centuries all over the world but one country that has felt its particular

effect is Japan. With the amount of English loanwords increasing

year on year, this dissertation looks at the reasons for this increase.

By using both academic sources and the use of a survey, it gives

evidence that it is due to the US occupation in 1945 but also

business and trade as well as media. While many would state that

the US occupation is the largest factor in loanwords being used in

Japan, this dissertation also makes the case that it in recent years it

is more due to media focused at the younger generation and also

businesses where English is taking a more central position leading

to younger males finding it of more importance. The survey itself

consists of 8 questions that range from why loanwords and English

is important to what type of loanwords a Japanese person uses.

Texts from both Leo J. Loveday and James Stanlaw are highly

recommended reading after this dissertation as they give even more

details on some of the topics covered and are complimentary to this

dissertation.

i
Acknowledgements

 First and foremost I would like to give thanks to my mother, who without the

support that she has given me throughout my whole educational life as well as

personal, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

 Secondly I wish to thank my Nan, who has been amazing and has always given

sound advice whenever needed.

 Following that is to Dr. Ed Griffith, my supervisor, tutor, and lecturer for my final

year here at UCLAN. Without his guidance, this task that I have undertaken

wouldn’t be where it is now.

 Next to that is Mika Nonomura, who has helped with so many things, from

checking Japanese spellings and grammar to helping distribute my survey and

overall general support.

 Furthermore, I give thanks to all my friends back in Japan, who accepted me

wholly and let me become a part of their circle. Without them, my study abroad

would not have been as amazing as it was. Special thanks goes to Shunsuke

Suzuki who is always there if I have a problem and is a great friend in general

and Yuri Nishida who helped tutor me in Mie on certain Japanese aspects as

well as all those that shared my survey and allowed me to attain the amount of

results that I got.

 Finally, I would like to thank my grandfather, who was taken before his time.

With his guidance on life, I’ve become who I am today.

ii
Contents

Abstract................................................................................................................................................i

Acknowledgements..........................................................................................................................ii

Introduction........................................................................................................................................1

Literature Review..............................................................................................................................4

How and why did the English language permeate the Japanese language pre-
occupation?...................................................................................................................................4

How and why did the English language permeate the Japanese language after
the occupation by the US?.........................................................................................................7

Methodology....................................................................................................................................10

Results and Findings of Survey..................................................................................................13

Comparison of Results - Gender............................................................................................13

Comparison of Results – Age..................................................................................................15

Comments given by respondents...........................................................................................18

Discussion of Other Findings......................................................................................................20

American influences through occupation............................................................................20

Media.............................................................................................................................................23

Business.......................................................................................................................................26

Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................28

Appendices......................................................................................................................................31

Appendix 1- Questionnaire.......................................................................................................31

Appendix 2- Results from Questionnaire..............................................................................34

Bibliography.....................................................................................................................................38

Introduction

From the beginning of the expansion east by European countries, there has

always been a big focus on Japan and trade with the country. It started with the

Portuguese in the 1500’s and then later the Dutch in the early 1600s (Loveday 1996,

p.50) and while there was a small presence from the British (Loveday 1996, p59), it

was mainly these two countries that held the main grasp of trade in Japan. It was from

this that non-Asian language interaction began, with many words from Dutch and

Portuguese finding its way into the everyday conversation as new foods and products,

such as tabako from the Portuguese word tobacco and masuto from the Dutch word

mast1 (Loveday 1996, p.55), found its way into the lives of the trading partners. Bread

was introduced and beer and for a time things moved at a steady pace. However a

variety of things happened between then and now, and it can be seen today that

English is becoming what Chinese was to the Japanese language in its infancy, with

figures showing that 77 per cent of new loanword vocabulary in 1955 was European

with the proportion English loans increasing by a third (Loveday 1996, p.77).

It is interesting to look at Japan for evidence of this, as Japan is one of the

biggest borrowers in language terms, taking influence from many various cultures and

languages, including China. But it also borrows from what may be the biggest language

borrower in the world, English. English has roots from all over Europe, from Latin to

Scandinavian languages, to Germanic and French languages. It is through this that

Japanese and English can be seen as similar but at the same time very different, and it

is this information that has fuelled an interest in this area.

1
Both words which also entered into the English language
 The American influence cannot be overlooked as it is a big player in the

pervasion of English in Japanese language. Scholars such as Loveday(1996 p.75) feel

that American influence can be seen as the biggest cause for this pervasion however it

isn’t the only factor in this large debate. The reasons for why English is so pervasive in

Japanese are of a multitude and these will be discussed further on in a fair degree.

Data has been collected from more than 140 people in order to help answer the

question on how and why has English influenced the Japanese language and through

this I hope to be able to offer some answers to such a confusing phenomenon.

The importance of this research is quite high, due to several reasons. The first

is that as the world moves towards a more steady and globalised vision, a single

language will emerge as the main lingua franca for trade, business, commercialism and

politics and in fact it already has started to emerge in most areas. It is well recorded

that most scientific journals are written in English (Northrup 2013 p.117) and in the

case of maritime and air affairs English is also the main lingua franca to avoid disasters

(International Maritime Organization, International Civil Aviation Organization). In order

to track this, we must look at influential countries and Japan is one of them, being one

of the biggest economies in the world. A second reason is to view how one language

can move into another and affect its development. All languages grow and change in

some way, some gradually and some more fluidly. Japanese has changed several

times over the last few hundred years with the introduction of other cultures and

languages. By looking at how Japanese changes it might help to look at how other

languages might also change. A third reason for importance is the fact that the Asian

region is growing more and more dominant in the world markets and to look at how

language may effect this growth in one of these markets is valuable.

The structure of this dissertation is as follows, a look at what previous authors

and scholars have stated and produced broken into two time periods, post and pre US
occupation. Then a brief description of how and why the research methods that were

used in this study was chosen and some of the decisions that had to be made in

regards to a survey that was created and distributed. Following this is an analysis of

the results of the survey, giving information such as the similar spread in terms of

usage of loanwords compared to Japanese words in both genders, and the fact that

male participants saw English as being a more important part of the Japanese

language. It also looks at why English may have become so popular as well as looking

at opinions and comments of natural born Japanese citizens that use Japanese and

with it, loanwords, on a day to day basis. In order to help support the evidence taken

from the survey, a look at 3 large areas that have affected the entrance of English into

Japanese has also been described, talking about US occupation, media and also

business. Then it is concluded by bringing both these sections together to show that it

is a combination of these elements that have led to a greater use of English in

Japanese. In this, the question, How and Why has English influenced the Japanese

language, will be answered. By completing this investigation, I hope to help to bring

information to what many feel is an obvious question and answer and show that the

reasons is more complex that first thought.

Literature Review

In order to help look at the topics in hand more clearly I plan to separate the

question into two different time periods, pre-occupation of Japan by the United States

and post-occupation. By doing this I will be able to look at the origins of how English

moved into Japanese and then how and why its effect expanded as much as it did. In

some cases there will be some overlap between the literatures in question, however

this shouldn’t affect the outcome of results. I will first look at the state of English in

Japanese pre-occupation and then move on to post occupation afterwards.

How and why did the English language permeate the Japanese language

pre-occupation?

According to the chapter on ‘Historical linguistics: The Study of Language

Change’ all languages undergo change overtime (Murray 2005, p246). This can be

seen not only in English from Old English to Modern English, but also in Asian

languages like Chinese from traditional to Simplified and also in Japanese. Loveday

(1996, p.49) backs this evidence up noting that it wasn’t until the end of the Second

World War that gairaigo, switched from using ateji ‘a substitute character unrelated to

meaning’ to katakana2 ‘an angular syllable alphabet’ (Loveday 1996, p49). This switch

can be seen in many parts of Japanese culture where katakana was seen in standard

literature and letters before the Second World War until the Military started using

katakana for military jargon and other purposes due to the lack of literacy in some

recruits. From then after, when the Japanese finally lost the war it went through a

period of reconstruction and in order to improve literacy rates it adopted a new way of

writing. Thus katakana was introduced for loanwords (Igarashi 2007).

2
Katakana is one of two syllabary alphabets that helps the Japanese communicate in written language,
the other being hiragana. While hiragana is more widely used, as stated katakana’s role in the written
language switched to loanwords nearly exclusively.
 Gairaigo was defined by Irwin as ‘a foreign word which has undergone

adaptation to Japanese phonology, which has been borrowed into Japanese after mid-

16th century and whose meaning is, or has been, intelligible to the general speech

community’. The definition given by Irwin seemingly well-defined but as he continues,

Irwin (2011, p.10) includes Sino-Japanese words after the 16th century as being

gairaigo as well. It is quite a big leap as most scholars including Loveday (1996, p.49)

do not define Sino-Japanese loanwords as being part of the gairaigo family, on the

contrary they see them as they are classed as being kango. Iwasaki (2006, p94) in his

‘Japan Language situation’ article talks about how there have been attempts at

replacing loanwords with more transparent Sino-Japanese based words, so if we take

the definition by Irwin and use it as it was intended it would be slightly incorrect, given

the fact that Sino-Japanese borrowing goes both ways and helps to develop the

Japanese and Chinese language (Chung 2001 p.1). While this is talking only about

how to define loanwords in general, it is important to understand this to grasp how

English affected Japanese in such a big way.

Blair (1997) and Kachru (2006, p.171) help to identify when the true start of

English entering the Japanese language was, stating that it was in 1853 with the arrival

of Commodore Perry’s Black ships that in turn helped to start Japan’s revival in the

form of the Meiji Restoration. Through this, Japan opened up to more Western ideas

and Kachru cites Stanlaw (2006, p.171) as saying ‘[Japanese] was doomed to the

domination of the English tongue’. Loveday also agrees with the view that it was

through the actions of Perry and the Meiji Restoration that English contact was

established and even mentions that even though there was a British presence pre-

sakoku, Japanese isolation in the 1600s and 1700s, and also a very well-known

advisor to the shogun himself, William Adams, the presence was not enough to match

the might of the Portuguese and Dutch influence (Loveday 1996, p.59). By allowing
Japan to open its doors to new ways of thinking and the heavy influence of the United

States, which would not be the first time in Japan’s historical links to English, English

started to become dominant as a language in the country. Under the Charter Oath in

1868 it was seen as an epoch of enlightenment (Loveday 1996, p.65), and Kachru

(2006 p.172) and Blair (1997) as well as authors sited by both talk about how English

was steadily gaining ground. Some even argued in favour of a change of national

language and while this didn’t arise it does give some insight to how fast English was

progressing at the time of this period.

Kachru (2006, p.172) moves on to talk about how under the nationalist

movement preceding and during the Second World War, English was seen most likely

as it was before the Meiji period as bango, barbarian language, and the government

moved to replace and banish many words that would be seen normally with more

Japanese versions. Kachru (2006, p.172) cites Stanlaw as say that announcer went

from anaunsaa to hoso-in meaning broadcast person. This could come from a reason

that Blair (1997) mentions in his article that Japanese people often feel like that have

an inferiority complex when concerning Western culture, which in essence contains

language as well. It may be through this that Japan tried to move from a large loan

language and tried to take it back to its roots however as we will see this didn’t last

long.

This movement by the government during the Second World War was

unfortunately affected by the use of equipment and military terms that were foreign,

with words entering from English which helped to describe certain types of equipment

for instance the B-29 (Stanlaw 2004, p.69) It is in fact that during this period, the

speakers of English was severely hindered and while limited teaching of English

existed until 1944 it became a generation lost in terms of linguistic ability (Loveday

1996, p.75). While the war had some good effects in regards to modernization, it
hindered the start of the occupation in 1945 and led to pamphlets and English books

becoming popular at the start of the occupation (Loveday 1996, p.75, Stanlaw 2004,

p.70).

How and why did the English language permeate the Japanese language

after the occupation by the US?

The changing of word meaning when going from Japanese to English isn’t a

unique thing and can be seen even in English (Murray 2005, p248). Word meaning

therefore can be a fluid idea and many words in Japanese do take on a more modern

twist. Miller (1998, p.123) looks at some of the words in what is now known as wasei

eigo3 category with Miller defining them as pseudo-loanwords, loanwords that are not

necessarily correct. She mentions that some may in fact go on to be a pollution of the

native language as well as a butchering of the English language, quoting scholars such

as Morris in 1970, and Horiuchi in 1963. There is a rebuttal to this, that these are old

texts with one being 50 years old and in the context of language where it changes

continually it could be seen as irrelevant and true to Murray (2005, p246) when talking

about language change all languages undergo change over time. But the idea of wasei

eigo is still a perfectly valid one. It in itself may not change the language completely but

as more and more people and establishments use it, like in the example Miller gives it

will creep ever so more into the Japanese language.

Ozawa in Loveday (1996, p.75) moves this on and shows that English usage

from 1950 expanded dramatically. Between 1955 and 1972 it increased by a third with

82 per cent of new vocabulary in 1975 being from European origins. In contrast to that

Chinese based words dropped also significantly. Stanlaw (2004) claimed that

3
Japanese word that takes on the form of English words but changes the meaning to something else.
 ‘English has a critical place in the Japanese symbol system – both public

and private, linguistic and social; … and the Japanese ‘loanword’ phenomenon is a

unique and special case, defying any of the proposed sociolinguistic continuums

used to describe such situations.’

Many authors agree with this, even those writing in pre-occupation and even with the

years between Second World War the Japanese society never seemed to be able to

entirely remove English and its influence grew. Yokohama in 1858 wrote about how

even then it was embarrassing that he couldn’t understand English and today the

Japanese students are expected to learn both Japanese and English with new

government plans being put in place for the 2020 Olympic Games (MEXT English

Education Reform Plan).

Apart from the above mentioned, several authors point out the media as a

cause for concern when looking at loanwords in Japanese especially the English kind,

these being the media and big business. While there has been a rise in Korean culture

becoming popular, a major money maker is media from the West, specifically the US.

Tamaoka (2003 p.69-70) talks about the rise in fashion magazines that target younger

women and this could never be truer, with Blair (1997 citing Suzuki (1987)) that a group

of graduate students came up with a list of almost 50 magazines whose titles where not

only foreign but also written in romaji, standard roman script. This is not only the type of

media to do so. Game companies, car companies all have their names in big Roman

script and this may be a big thing. The Japanese government, at least in 1987

according to Blair (1997) was conducting international affairs in foreign languages, read

English, and there was not seemingly any end to this. While some research (Blair

1997) has been shown that Japanese people prefer to use Japanese when speaking to

a foreigner, given the continued use of wasei eigo and loanwords it might be that the

Japanese is becoming more a blend of many different English words. Miller (1998,
p124) gives the example from Kindaichi (1978) and says that there may be an almost

genetic propensity in Japanese to borrow foreign things, and this does seem to be true.

The literature given does seem persuasive and shows Japan normally as very

open and as stated above may be prone to borrowing from foreign language. While

most of the language is from a Sino-Japanese basis, over 7% is English according to

several sources including: World Loanword Database sample, Blair (1997), Loveday

(1996, p48) and Miller (1998, p123). It is through this extensive list of authors and

articles and online resources that we may be able to corroborate each and find that

most are in agreement with this idea.

Methodology

In order to gain a better insight into English use in Japanese, the use of a

survey, which looks at getting results on a questions that are quite specific to this

dissertation, has been used. The main two questions of this survey, out of a total of 8,

is a question which looks at how a Japanese person chooses how they communicate.

The way in which is this done is by means of a question which gives the respondents

the choice of either a Japanese word or a loanword and asks them to determine which

they would use more. The second question is one which helps to identify why they

think English is important to them when speaking Japanese. Through this it was hoped

that a clear pattern could be seen and also by looking at the respondents answers in

regards to the age they gave, I hoped that it might help give clear evidence on how the

generation in which they grew up in might have helped to determine their English

usage.

The survey itself is made up of 8 questions, which should have taken the

average respondent 3-5 minutes to complete, this being a rather good time scale for a

questionnaire. Looking at Peterson (2000, p22) where he says that ‘the more effort and

time required to answer the question –the less likely are study participants to answer’,

an appropriate shortness to each question is definitely necessary. As well as this, by

giving each question an answer of an even number it was easier to stop an indifferent

opinion in most participants and helped to “force” an answer that was not neutral

(Peterson 2000, p 65).

Another means of testing English use in Japanese may have been to look at

interviewing people and asking questions in that setting. While there are benefits to

this, such as being able to choose sample data and also control the way they might

answer by helping them to understand the question, as well as being able to help
control the samples per age group, there are disadvantages which inevitably led to a

decision against this. These disadvantages would be that in regards to a web survey it

would be anonymous, so the respondents can’t give their name and therefore would

most likely answer more truthfully due to the fact that they can’t be held accountable for

said answers, while if it was a personal interview most of the data received would be

from a person that is close to the surveyor and therefore might try to skew the results in

a more positive light. Linking to this, by doing a web survey, while not being able to

control who answers it, which in itself is a fact against web surveys, a wider audience

could be obtained. Through this, the survey was opened up to a larger range of

answers and helped to improve sample size which when looking at research, the

higher the sample size the less skew will occur.

There are also other ways for data collecting such as shadowing or self-

reporting where a subject collects data through the day on what he/she may say but in

these cases, the data would be skewed. This is due to fact that the people that a

subject interacts with would tend to be in the similar age groups and furthermore this

would be to in depth on one subject. That is why the survey is the better option when it

comes to collecting a large amount of data in a small amount of time.

In terms of analysis of the survey, data was compiled into different data groups,

the first being gender which contained all data from all ages into male and female

categories which allowed us to see the spread of data. This is important as the

Japanese language can be very gender-orientated with different pronouns for different

genders. The second group was age and this allowed for the ability to check against

data given in Loveday (1996, p.75) from Ozawa as well as other information such as

the changing of the education system during the Second World War and how it may

have affected it.

 The results of the survey did have some skew, with 60 results out of a total of

145 being 19-22 year old females. However while there was this skew, it did seem to

have some correspondence with other age groups in the female category and there

was a progression compared to other results and therefore the amount of results didn’t

hinder the overall results of this survey. Another disadvantage that was seen, was the

results from the Loanword choice question, as many didn’t seem to understand that

one should have been picked one word per row from either column. However with the

comments given, it can be understood why this happened, being that due to two words

having slight variance in their meaning, a set of words that might have a broad

meaning can also be narrowed into slight variation of that broad meaning.

Overall the collection of data and furthermore the analysis of the data does

seem to help answer the question and also helps to give credence to some of the

information harnessed from other scholars.

Results and Findings of Survey

Comparison of Results - Gender

WhenWhen talking
talking JapanesetotoaaJapanese
Japanese Japanese friend,
friend,how
howoften
oftenwill
willyou useuse
you
loanwords that are written in katakana?
loanwords that are written in katakana? Male Female
40
16
35
14
30
12
25
10
20
8
15
6
10
4
5
0
2
1-   All the time 2-   Quite a lot 3-   Often 4-   Sometimes 5-   Not often 6-      Never
0
1-    All the time 2-   Quite a lot 3-   Often 4-   Sometimes 5-   Not often 6-      Never

When looking at the results of the survey that was taken, the results on a

gender basis were surprising. While there was a larger range of female answers

compared to male answers, the results for some of the questions was quite similar,

with the results for the first being slightly variable but the answer of ‘Quite a lot’

emerging as the highest answer for both. The reason for this could be that while there

are many different gender specific Japanese expressions, when it comes to loanwords

it isn’t normally affected by gender.

 The biggest varied result when it
How important are English
loanwords to you when talking comes to gender is actually the importance
about your daily life? Male of loanwords. As it can be seen, males
18
12 seem to put more importance on loanwords
6
0 when talking about daily life. This may be
nt nt nt a ll
orta rta rta at
p po po nt due to the fact that more men work, with the
Im ti
m
yi
m rta
e ry ha er po
 V v m
   ew t
ot
i
female percentage in work as being 49%
   m No
1- So         N
         
      3- 4-
2- whereas the male population in work

percentage is 70% in 2013(The Economist 2014, World Bank Data) and there is a

need to use more loanwords in the workplace.

How important are English loanwords

to you when talking about your daily
life? Female Reasons for English loanword usage
60
30 Male
Female
60
40 50
25
20 40
20
0 30
15
nt nt nt l
ta al 20
10
rta r rta ta
t
po po po a n 105
Im t im yi
m rt
e ry ha er po 0
 V v m
ew t ti
a)      English is important because it...

b)      It sounds cooler to speak with ...

c)       Sometimes I can’t think of a Jap...

d)      I like to be able to sound know...

e)      English is becoming more releva...

      No
1- So
m
     No
              
   3- 4-
2-
kno...

The results for why the respondents use loanwords were very similar. Both sets

of responses gave the answer that it gives a word that doesn’t have a Japanese

equivalent. The next is also similar choosing the option of a Japanese equivalent

doesn’t come to mind. Both of these answers are very significant because it helps to
show that imports of not just words but objects themselves are big. It also gives

credence to information that Ozawa found that a large portion of loanwords from 1955

to 1970 was in fact European in origin and mainly English (Ozawa cited by Loveday

1996, p.71)

Comparison of Results – Age

When looking at comparisons

3.3.How
Howimportant
importantare
areEnglish
Englishloanwords
loanwordstotoyou
youwhen
when
talking
talkingabout
aboutyour
yourdaily
dailylife?
life?40+
19-29
12 3 between age groups it can be seen that
10 2
8 1 younger males answer that English is
6 0
nt nt nt al
l more important when talking about
4 rta rta rta ta
t
2 po po po an
m m m rt
yI ti yi po daily life. Older males however find it
0 Ver ha ver m
  1-      Very ew 2-      t 3-      oNot ti 4-      Not
     m Somewhat No
1- Important S o
        very
      N important at not very important which can help to
   
-     
  3-
important -   
important
4
all
2
identify age periods.

3. How important are English loanwords to you when talking about your
daily life?
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
1-      Very Important 2-      Somewhat 3-      Not very important 4-      Not important at all
important

19-29 40-70+

Due to a rising use of internet and online media, especially in Asian countries such as

Japan (Internet World Statistics 2014) younger males may see English as being

important as they prepare to find jobs and also socialise. This may help to pervade
English usage in Japanese and lend to the creation of even more loanwords. In

comparison to this, females across the whole range of age groups find English being

only somewhat important. While this doesn’t say they don’t find it important at all it

means that English usage only plays a small part in they’re life. However it may also be

that they don’t realise how much they use loanwords or they’ve become acclimatized to

their use.

When looking at choosing a loanword

DoDoyou
younormally
normallyuse
use
loanwords
loanwords even
even
if there
if there
is an
is an
alternative
alternativeword
wordthat
thatis not
is not
a loanword
a loanword over a Japanese word more young
available?  Male
available?  Female
25 12
10 males are prone to choose one than
20 8
6
15 4 young females. By looking at the
2
10 0 corresponding data that they gave
5
about why they use English loanwords,
0
1-      2-      3-      4-      Never
Frequently Sometimes Occasionally we can rule out that they do this to gain

social standing and to “look cool”. Only

one respondent replied with this answer and it isn’t due to acclimatizing themselves

either. One may look at the response and think that where girls are prone to go into

more social studies and “softer” majors (Forbes 2010) males go into engineering and

practical sciences, the sciences where theories and laws are more likely to have

loanwords in order to describe models and theories and also practical tools that one

may need to use. Due to the age group of these male respondents, it can be said that

they are at university level and therefore studying these subjects leading to a probable

higher usage of these English loanwords.

Loanwords compared with Japanese words

The data given for the loanword comparison list is nearly identical when

comparing genders with two obvious differences in the answers given. When asked

about the name they would use for make-up and nail, men answered with the
 Loanwords compared
Compared to
to Japanese
Japanese Words
Words
Female
Male
120
60
100
50
80
40
60
30
40
20
20
10
00
1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

6)

7)

8)

9)

11) パジャマ / 寝巻き

12) トイレ / お手洗い

14) アルコール / 酒

15) ドリンク / 飲み物

16) ヒーター / 暖房
1) スプーン

2) ナイフ

3) ドア

4) バイパス

5) デスク

6) ネイル

7) メイク

8) クーラー

9) テキスト

10) ミルク / 牛乳

13) フェスティバル / お祭り

スプーン // 匙

ナイフ // 包丁

ドア // 戸

バイパス // 迂回

デスク // 机

ネイル // 爪

メイク // 化粧

クーラー // 冷房

テキスト // 教科書
戸
包丁

化粧
匙

迂回

教科書
冷房

Loanwords Japanese Words

Japanese word keshō and tsume more frequently than the loanword equivalent of

meiku and neiru. In fact the answer for both equal about one fourth of the total answers

given for the question. The female answers were double the male answer

comparatively and gave near equal share for the answer to the question. This does

help us understand that while loanwords might not always be gender specific, in some

cases it can be and in this case where men wouldn’t normally distinguish between the

two answers, women do.

Comments given by respondents

When asked about the reasons for using loanwords or Japanese words,

respondents were allowed to leave a comment in Japanese or English in order to help

identify why in their own words. When looked at and translated, the comments given

were very similar. Among the 30-39 age group in both genders there was comments

that if a Japanese word was used where a loanword normally would be used, it may

lead to a misunderstanding. This is rather significant as the idea that using what should
be considered a natural native word and being misunderstood is rather shocking as in

the another language it would be seen as the opposite. It could be seen that due to

loanwords rather elevated status in the Japanese language that this can occur.

This elevated status also carries into other comments made. Two comments

both from under 30 females said that loanwords come without thinking or realising that

they are loanwords. It is known that when speaking a native language most people are

able to speak unconsciously, therefore to say that these respondents speak these

words without realising that they are loanwords, allows us to identify that they see the

loanwords not as loanwords but as Japanese words. It is as if the words have been

assimilated fully like a Sino-Japanese word. This statement is further vilified by another

comment given that the respondent feels that loanwords are part of Japanese

language because of learning them when they was a child. By stating this, it allows us

to take a look at how some Japanese people learn their own language and we can see

that from the small age of a child, loanwords have their place. This is rather true to a

large extent, as household goods such as televisions or computers don’t have

commonly used Japanese names and are referred to by their loanword.

Some of the comments made were actually contradictory to what the majority

had said about loanwords coming unconsciously or that it would make the listener

confused. In two of the comments made, they talk about how sometimes words that are

written in katakana can have a slightly different meaning to the Japanese equivalent. In

regards to two words for nail in Japanese neiru, which is the katakana word, and

tsume, which is the Japanese equivalent, some identify with them having slightly

different meanings, with neiru giving the implication that the nail has varnish on, while

tsume means the nail itself. However one part of the comments which the respondent
confuses is the word for bypass or detour. In Japanese the word is ukai while the

loanword is baipasu and both are a noun. However the respondent incorrectly identifies

ukai as not being a noun. This allows for us to see that even Japanese people

sometimes get confused by their own language which correlates with what one of the

previous comments had said about Japanese words leading to a misunderstanding.

Discussion of Other Findings

American influences through occupation

The occupation of Japan by the United States (US) is of course one of the

biggest causes for the influence of English in Japan. Stated by Ozawa 1976 cited in

Loveday (1996 p.77) the increase of European loans that entered the Japanese lexicon

was 77 per cent in 1955 and then rose as the Occupation’s impact continued to 82 per

cent by 1975 with English loans taking one third of this proportion with the total amount

of loans derived from contact with the English language with Modern Japanese being

about 7% (Loveday 1996, p48). This is the second time that the United States of

America has had such an impact with the first being before the Meiji Era. As stated by

Loveday (1996 p.61) this can be seen as English’s first true breach of Japan. With the

arrival of the Black Ships of Commodore Perry, it led to a rapid industrialisation of

Japan, and this attitude continues today with many Japanese people feeling that the

Japanese are inferior(Blair 1997). Thus came about the Meiji Restoration. This massive

industrialisation came about and helped to change ideas such as fashion, with the

kimono for men being phased out and business attire of the Western world becoming

more appropriate. It also brought about many changes to the Japanese language and

gave birth to words such as nekkutai (neck tie) and also forced the Japanese people to

create a new word for clothes that are western, with the first incident of the use of

yōfuku, which literally means west clothes when broken down, being stated by Motoi

(2000 p.464 translation by author) as being by the Meiji government official, who later

went on to become the first Prime Minister in 1885, Itō Hirobumi 4 who held this position

in the early Meiji era.

4
Itō Hirobumi was the 1st Prime Minister of Japan taking leadership December 22 nd 1885
 The main two foreign languages from the West before the Meiji Era were Dutch

and Portuguese and from them a multitude of words was taken, many still in effect

today, however the range wasn’t wide. With this introduction of English in the Meiji Era,

the point of entry was very different and instead of coming from the traders and

merchants in the south, it came from the central government in an attempt to help

reform Japan. From there we can see the two differences between the spread of

English. Dutch and Portuguese led to the adoption of words that might not have been

in the vocabulary such as pan (Portuguese for bread) or biiru (Dutch for beer) (World

Loanword Database) however English was far more wide reaching and led to words

that they didn’t have for products but also words like kanningu which means cheating

and comes from the English word cunning. While this may not have come into use

straight after the Meiji government’s reforms in 1868, it was being used in publications

such as Yomiuri Shinbun (1905) only 30 years after the Meiji government came into

power, which indicates that people previous to that would understand the meaning of

said word.

With the end of the Second World War, the US had a much bigger foothold in

the East due to occupation of Japan. With this it held responsibilities and therefore the

stationing of troops was vital. This led to types of Pidgin English or as the Japanese put

for one type, pangurisshu5 (Stanlaw 2004 p.70) being developed. Stanlaw (2004 p.70)

states that in order for the Japanese people to communicate with the Americans that

were stationed there, especially the shopkeepers and so forth, this type of English was

necessary. Of course with the stationing of the troops in the areas, there would be

more focus on the income from these army personnel and therefore to help create a

living this creation of a semi-new language was a perfectly normal thing to do. It also

helped that the, as Stanlaw (2004 p.70) puts, ‘American linguistic chauvinism pervaded

5
Comes from pansuke which is prostitute in Japanese and ingurishu which is one way of saying English
in Japanese.
this pidgin variety.’ The idea of pangurisshu comes from the other variety that may

have been necessary when it came to relationships and Stanlaw (2004 p.70 citing

Miller 1967) noted that this was a more specialised variety served ‘for what verbal

communication necessary between non-Japanese-speaking foreigners and the

extensive world of their local lady friends of every variety and description.’ We can see

that the shopkeepers, looking at the profit that could be gained from these obviously

wealthier soldiers, developed one form of Pidgin English. On the other hand we can

see another result as the local women and perhaps, mutually, the army personnel, in

order to make relationships easier, created another and in this it helped to move even

more English into the Japanese language.

Media

When looking at the media in Japan, you can see a variety of outlets that have

a following in households. The various types of magazines, games, television

programmes, and even music that people like varies from person to person, like in any

other country. With these various types of media comes varying degrees of language

integration and it can be said that two large linked factors affect Japan. These would be

the technologically prowess of the country and how the youth are able to use this to

learn more and see more of the world outside their borders. One of the lasting effects

that the American occupation had, could be seen in the idea that Japan and its citizens

are a massive consumer of Western Media, something that may have developed from

the integration of troops based in the area leading to an increased exposure. While

Western Media is popular in other countries like China, it is only due to access to the

internet reducing the ‘discovery time’ (Economist 2014) to about 10 years. This is

comparative to the 30 years that it took under the US occupation and subsequent

influence for Japan to accept this Western Media wholly. The case can also be made in

Korea where from the 1950s a large US force has been stationed and has helped to

perpetuate Western media indirectly. In both cases, Japan and Korea, US forces of a

large nature has been stationed in the country and furthermore due to aid given by the

US it has seen an influx of western purchases and media.

Musically, Japan has several major stars that help to dominate the charts. From

AKB486 and the various different girl idol groups that follow the same format to Exile

there are many groups and artists that are successful. But some of the biggest hits are

outside sources, groups such as ‘One Direction’ and ‘5 Seconds of Summer’ as well as

solo artists such as Lady Gaga and Carly Rae Jepsen. Looking at Billboard.com, which
6
AKB48 is a girl group of originally 48 members (now up to over 100) with the AKB standing for
Akihabara the world renowned electronics district. Other examples are SKE48 named after Sakae in
Nagoya and SDN48 which is Saturday Night an ‘adult-idol’.
collates chart data from around the world, One Direction’s ‘What Makes You Beautiful’

spent 17 weeks in the chart until week starting October 13 th 2012 still being there at No.

40. The reason that this is important is that it shows popularity of Western Music is

spreading into Japan and with this comes more knowledge of English and application

in everyday life. Another factor that helps is that, due to managers knowing that CD

sales will be higher in Japan than other countries, it isn’t uncommon to see Japanese

exclusive tracks increasing the output of these bands and singers and creating more

diversity of English available to hear and listen to. With this, people will talk more about

their favourite bands on sites such as Twitter and this would lead to higher usage.

Bands such as Zebrahead (from California) and Clean Bandit (from England) include

these tracks that you can’t find elsewhere unless you import from Japan.

Another big import from the west is of course the multi-billion dollar film and

television industry. While Japan is well known for having comparatively different variety

shows than say those shown in the United States or Britain, a lot of movies and

television programmes are also imported. One of the biggest success stories that can

be seen is the movement of the Disney franchise in Japan. An article from the

International Business Times (January 2015) gives evidence that the hit film ‘Frozen’,

helped to boost the Japanese movie market taking 12% of the total revenue for the

whole year and this helped to slow a downward trend of import movies in Japan. In

2002, the article gives the figures that 73% of all ticket sales were from imported

movies. The significance of this is the influence that proceeds it, as more customers,

specifically children due to the targeted demographic in the case of Disney films, see

films there is a heightened awareness of other languages and because most of these

films will be US or British made movies, this other language will be English. As well as

this, there is the problem of if the film is translated with the main problem being how to

translate certain words. If a film is a science fiction film or a period film then language
will be different and may led to using Japanese-English translations, which may lead to

incorrect usage of words. It may also lead to, if the film is popular, higher usage of

English words in conversations. Through this English is pervaded through the

Japanese language and becomes more of a centre talking point for the Japanese

people to converse about.

Business

Media is a large export from the US and Britain to many other countries across

the world, from Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Who, to Disney and 20 th Century Fox

productions. But media isn’t the only thing that is sent to other countries and it is

through this that we may see why English is so pervasive in Japan and indeed many

other countries.

Zakzewski (2012, p.56) discusses how English has been the world’s lingua

franca since the 18th and 19th centuries. How it affects today is as he puts it, a ‘snowball

effect’ that has helped to carry English through the different means of communication

and trade, making it near compulsive in most instances that when trading with

countries outside your region it is necessary for English to be used. Zakzewski (2012,

p.56) further goes on to say that English was dilated through two main causes, one that

I talked about earlier being media and the other being consumerism which is wholly

linked to trade and business. It is through this consumerism that English has been able

to spread. As mentioned earlier, the Pidgin English spoken by the shopkeepers

following the occupation is a prime example of how the Japanese started to adapt

English into their society and language, and from then English’s importance when it

comes to trade has ever grown.

As the every growing trade industry advanced, English has taken more and

more importance in trade. The US census information shows that year on year, month

on month, there is a large trade deficit with more imports from Japan than exports (US

Census data 2015), which is good for Japan. In order for this to continue, it is

necessary for Japanese companies to remain in good standing with American

companies and one way for this to happen is through various talks and meetings. It is

through this that as a show of respect to the American companies, English is widely
used, just as it would’ve been just after the occupation, however on a more advanced

scale. By using English and learning new terms and phrases through communication,

new words are created in Japanese and eventually passed on. It is through trade that

various new terms are created and helps to pervade English in Japanese.
Conclusion

How and Why English influences the Japanese language in regards to

loanwords was the question set at the beginning of this piece of work, and the data that

was collected as well as the research that was undertaken, resulted in some rather

large conclusions. Looking at data from 145 respondents from a survey of Japanese

people across a wide age group as well as looking at information collated by many

scholars such as Loveday (1996) and Stanlaw (2004) we can determine where the

western influences come in and how it is changing the Japanese language.

In regards to business, evidence was given that Japanese business, meetings

with foreign companies and investments are mainly held in English with the aim to

please and create new links with said companies. Many Japanese companies such as

Rakuten are going further and making top management positions for bilingual

speakers only, as well as changing policy and making the company one of the first in

Japan to actually make all internal operations such as meetings, memos, and emails in

English. (Wall Street Journal 2012) This shift in policy seems to be resonating with the

young male population who see that English is becoming more and more important and

have regarded loanwords as being very important to daily life. With over a combined

total of 25 out of 30 responses received from that 19-29 year olds saying that English is

very important or somewhat important, it can be said that the male population are

slowly seeing that in order to get ahead in the business world, English knowledge is a

must. It is through this that by English becoming more important due this young

Japanese males, it opens the flood gates to even more loanwords and allows for a

greater pervasion of the English language in Japanese.

Western media has become a large part of Japanese culture with foreign movie

sales sharing a large part of the box office sales and Western music is also enjoying a
rather successful couple of years. Films and music targeted at young adults, in

particular films aimed at young adult males such as Transformers, The Amazing

Spiderman 2 and bands such as Zebrahead are seeing a large benefit from consumers

in Japan. Data collected also helps to further this claim by showing that young males

use loanwords more frequently than older males and that young people in general up

to the age of 30 tend to use English loanwords more often, showing that possibly due

to media influence in Japan by western sources, English is becoming more prevalent

leading to higher usage. As more and more exposure to these films and music is given,

English is shifted even deeper into the common daily language that people use and

thus helping to further change the Japanese language.

What could be the largest cause of English proliferation through the Japanese

is the US occupation from 1945 onwards. As stated, with the arrival of the US troops in

the region, Pidgin English started to become ever so more popular. One of the largest

selling book straight after the US arrived was an English textbook (Stanlaw, 2004 p.70)

and it helped to kick start the failing English education that the Second World War

government had helped to create. Ozawa is cited in Loveday (1996 p.70) as finding

figures that by 1955 that loanwords from European based languages, many of an

English nature, was starting to increase dramatically. This would make sense as school

child at the end of the war would be around the age of 20 and starting to have

influence. The data recorded from the survey helps to corroborate this as the answers

received from over 60 year old participants seemed to choose more Japanese words

and it wasn’t until the 50-59 age group that loanword usage became more popular.

This occupation helped to change the way Japanese spoke not straight away but

gradually as stated by Murray (2005, p.246). It was in fact not the children of the time

but more over the next generation that started to really be affected by this occupation

of US in a linguistic point of view as shown by the data given.

 With this main collection of occupation, business links with the west and also

high import rate of western media, the English language has been pervaded through

the Japanese language opening the way to gradual change in the way of new terms

and phrases that aren’t naturally Japanese. These loanwords have become a large

part of the Japanese way of life and when in Japan you might find yourself at conbini

(convenience store) buying some miruku (milk) and a sandoichi (sandwich) and then

getting onto your baiku (motorcycle or bicycle) and going home to play a bideogēmu

(video game) on your pasokon (shortened version of pāsonaru konpyūta which is

personal computer). In this way, English has been successfully entered into the

Japanese language and become a natural part of language for many. Overall as

English carries on being important not only in Japan but on a large scale in terms of

business and trading, as well as political meetings, and media. While English won’t

become a world unified language where everyone speaks it, it can be said that its

importance has grown and in the case of Japan, people are realising this. By realising

this they are getting prepared and therefore consumption is higher and the amount of

words that enter the language grows. Murray (2005, p246) was correct in saying that

language changes over time, however the speed in which Japanese is changing is

phenomenal and due to loanwords entering everyday it may be seen that the Japanese

of the past isn’t the Japanese of the present.

Appendices

Appendix 1- Questionnaire

This questionnaire is to help determine the use of English in Japanese language. By

taking this questionnaire all your answers will be confidential and anonymous. Thank

you for your co-operation and your time.

For the purpose of this survey, the definition of loanword is based on loanwords from

the Western world i.e. words that are written in katakana. Chinese-Japanese words are

not included in this and are seen as being Japanese words.

1. When talking Japanese to a Japanese friend, how often will you use loanwords

that are written in katakana?

1- All the time

2- Quite a lot

3- Often

4- Sometimes

5- Not often

6- Never

2. Thinking about times that you have used loanwords, could you have used other

more Japanese words instead?

Do you normally use loanwords even if there is an alternative word that is not a

loanword available?

1- Frequently

2- Sometimes

3- Occasionally

4- Never
3. How important are English loanwords to you when talking about your daily life?

1- Very Important

2- Somewhat important

3- Not very important

4- Not important at all

4. If you answered 1 or 2 to question no. 3 then choose from the following (tick all

that apply to you):

a) English is important because it helps me to explain things that we don’t

have in Japanese

b) It sounds cooler to speak with English words in my native language

c) Sometimes I can’t think of a Japanese equivalent.

d) I like to be able to sound knowledgeable about another language

e) English is becoming more relevant in Japanese culture and I want to

acclimatise myself

f) Other (please specify)

1) 匙 1) Spoon

2) 包丁 2)Knife

3) 戸 3) Door

4) 迂回 4)Bypass

5) 机 5)Desk

6) 爪 6) Nail

7) 化粧 7) Make up

8) 冷房 8) Air Conditioning

9) 教科書 9) Desk

10) 牛乳 10) Milk

11) 寝巻き 11) Pyjamas

12) お手洗い 12) Toilet

13) お祭り 13) Festival

14) 酒 14) Alcohol

15) 飲み物 15) Drink

16) 暖房 16) Heater

5. From this list of words pick one from each selection that you would most likely

to use in conversation with another Japanese person:

1) スプーン

2) ナイフ

3) ドア

4) バイパス

5) デスク

6) ネイル
7) メイク

8) クーラー

9) テキスト

10) ミルク

11) パジャマ

12) トイレ

13) フェスティバル

14) アルコール

15) ドリンク

16) ヒーター

6. What sex are you?

1- Male

2- Female

3- Rather not specify

7. What age group are you?

1. 19-22

2. 23-29

3. 30-39

4. 40-49

5. 50-59
 6. 60-69

7. 70+

8. Do not want to specify

Appendix 2- Results from Questionnaire

1. When talking Japanese to a Japanese friend, how often will you use loanwords that

are written in katakana?

1- All the time 25
2- Quite a lot 50
3- Often 25
4- Sometimes 29
5- Not often 9
6- Never 7
2. Do you normally use loanwords even if there is an alternative word that is not a

loanword available?
1- Frequently 36
2- Sometimes 53
3- Occasionally 45
4- Never 10
3. How important are English loanwords to you when talking about your daily life?
1- Very Important 34
2- Somewhat important 80
3- Not very important 27
4- Not important at all 2
4. If you answered 1 or 2 to question no. 3 then choose from the following (tick all that

apply to you):
a) English is important because it helps me 84

to explain things that we don’t have in

Japanese
b) It sounds cooler to speak with English 11

words in my native language

c) Sometimes I can’t think of a Japanese 54

equivalent.
d) I like to be able to sound knowledgeable 4

about another language

e) English is becoming more relevant in 9

Japanese culture and I want to acclimatise

myself
5. From this list of words pick one from each selection that you would most likely to use in

conversation with another Japanese person:

1) スプーン/匙 135 1
2) ナイフ/包丁 78 64
3) ドア/戸 128 15
4) バイパス/迂回 99 20
5) デスク/机 20 98
6) ネイル/爪 52 77
7) メイク/ 化粧 62 72
8) クーラー/ 冷房 101 43
9) テキスト/教科書 44 84
10) ミルク/牛乳 28 100
11) パジャマ/寝巻き 125 14
12) トイレ/ お手洗い 129 34
13) フェスティバル/お祭り 14 103
14) アルコール/酒 52 98
15) ドリンク/飲み物 50 94
16) ヒーター /暖房 51 86

6. What Sex are you?

1)Male 47
2)Female 98
3) Rather not specify
7. What age group are you?
1) 19-22 80
2) 23-39 29
3) 30-39 13
4) 40-49 8
5) 50-59 11
6) 60-69 3
7) 70+ 1
Total 145
Bibliography

Adams, Valerie Review of Sang-Dawn Lee. Big Brother, Little Brother: The American

Influence on Korean Culture in the Lyndon B. Johnson Years. (Accessed on 22/4/2015

at: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=7678)

Agrawal, Amol Mostly Economics Blog February 9, 2012 (Accessed on 11/4/2015 at:

https://mostlyeconomics.wordpress.com/2012/02/09/as-english-becomes-the-

language-of-commercebusiness-should-we-ignore-others-languages/)

Berg, Jacob ‘Alphabet Soup: Explaining Japanese Language (Non)Policy’ Paper

presented at the annual meeting of the International Studies Association, Hilton

Hawaiian Village, Honolulu, Hawaii, Mar 05, 2005

Billboard.com Japanese One Direction Chart Hits (Accessed on 11/4/2015 at:

http://www.billboard.com/artist/314021/one-direction/chart?f=848)

Billboard.com UK One Direction Chart Hits (Accessed on 11/4/2015 at:

http://www.billboard.com/artist/314021/one-direction/chart?f=1169)

Blair, Jeffery ‘The Role of English and Other Foreign Languages in Japanese Society’

The Faculty Journal of Aichi Gakuin Junior College No. 5, pp. 74-86 (March 1997)

Chung, Karen S. ‘Some Returned Loans: Japanese Loanwords in Taiwan Mandarin’

Language Change in East Asia Richmond, Surrey 2001.

Clean Bandit New Eyes Track list (Accessed on 11/4/2015 at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Eyes)
Einhorn, Bruce Another Japanese Company Tells Employees, 'Speak English'

Bloomberg Business 18th October 2013 (Accessed on 11/4/2015 at:

http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2013-10-18/another-japanese-company-tells-

employees-speak-english)

Fujii, Moeko Frozen’ Shatters Records in Japan The Wall Street Journal Jul 23, 2014

(Accessed on 11/4/2015 at: http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2014/07/23/frozen-

shatters-records-in-japan/)

Haspelmath, Martin & Tadmor, Uri (eds.) World Loanword Database. Leipzig: Max

Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. 2009 (Accessed on 4/3/2015 at:

http://wold.clld.org)

Igarashi, Yuko ‘The Changing Role of Katakana in the Japanese Writing System:

Processing and Pedagogical Dimensions for Native Speakers and Foreign Learners’

University of Victoria 2007

International Civil Aviation Organization (Accessed on 22/4/2015 at:

http://www.icao.int/Pages/default.aspx)

International Maritime Organization (Accessed on 22/4/2015 at:

http://www.imo.org/ourwork/safety/navigation/pages/standardmarinecommunicationphr

ases.aspx)

Internet World Stats (Accessed on 22/4/2015 at:

http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats3.htm)

Irwin, Mark. Loanwords in Japanese. Philadelphia, PA, USA: John Benjamins

Publishing Company, 2011.

Iwasaki, S ‘Japan: Language Situation’ University of California, Los Angeles, Elsevier

Ltd 2006

Japanese Box Office Stats (Accessed on 23/04/2015 at:

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/intl/japan/yearly/)

Kachru, Yamuna & Nelson, Cecil L ‘World Englishes in Asian Contexts’ Hong Kong

University Press, 2006

Loveday, Leo J. ‘Language Contact in Japan A sociolinguistic History’ Oxford 1996

MEXT ‘English Education Reform Plan corresponding to Globalization’ (Accessed on

4/3/2015 at:

http://www.mext.go.jp/english/topics/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2014/01/23/1343591_1.pdf or

expanded Japanese version at

http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/kokusai/gaikokugo/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2014/01/31/1343

704_01.pdf)

Miller, Laura ‘Wasei Eigo: English Loanwords coined in Japan’ University Of Missouri

1998

Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan, Inc. (Accessed on 11/4/2015 at:

http://www.eiren.org/statistics_e/index.html)

Motoi, Meguri Shirīzu [Mi no mawari no nichiyōhin] Senshoushi Vol.41 No.5 (2000)

Murray, Robert W. ‘Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction’ Ch.6 Historical

Linguistics: A study of Language Change Bedford/St. Martins 2005

Nyman, Kaisa ‘English influence on Japanese popular music: A case study of language

contact’ MA Thesis University of Eastern Finland May 2012

Ozawa, Katsuyoshi. ‘An Investigation of the influence of the English Language on the

Japanese Language through Lexical Adaptation from 1995-1972’, Ph.D. diss., Ohio

University 1976

Peterson, Britt ‘English, loanword champion of the world!’ (Accessed on 11/4/2015 at:

http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2014/06/28/english-loanword-champion-

world/FdWfKxOeBE47uNgcV1ApcI/story.html Accessed 04-03-2015)

Public Domain: Yomiuri Shinbun 14th March 1905 (Accessed on 1/4/2015 at:

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%AB%E3%83%B3%E3%83%8B

%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B0#/media/File:Yomiuri19050314.gif)

Sim. Shaun Disney's 'Frozen' Helps Japan Box Office Reach Record Sales Again

International Business Times January 28 2015 4:04 PM (Accessed on 11/4/2015 at:

http://www.ibtimes.com/disneys-frozen-helps-japan-box-office-reach-record-sales-

again-1798156)

Suzuki, Takao (Translated by Akira Miura) ‘Words in Context: A Japanese Perspective

on Language and Culture’ Trans. Version Kondansha America 1978 Original Version

‘Kotoba to Bunka’ Iwanami Shoten Tokyo 1973

Tamoaka, Katsuo and Miyoaka, Yayoi ‘The Cognitive processing of Japanese

Loanwords in Katakana’ Japanese Psychological Research 2003 Vol. 45 No. 2

The Economist Doing it their way The Economist Newspaper Limited Jan 25th, 2014

(Accessed on 22/4/2015 at: http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21595019-

market-growing-furiously-getting-tougher-foreign-firms-doing-it-their-way)

The Economist Japanese women and work: Holding back half the nation The

Economist Newspaper Limited Mar 29th, 2014 (Accessed on 23/4/2015 at:

http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21599763-womens-lowly-status-japanese-

workplace-has-barely-improved-decades-and-country)

Tulshyan, Ruchika Top 10 College Majors for Women Forbes March 3rd 2010

(Accessed on 22/4/2015 at: http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/02/top-10-college-majors-

women-forbes-woman-leadership-education.html)

US Census Bureau (Accessed on 11/4/2015 at: https://www.census.gov/foreign-

trade/balance/c5880.html)

Wall street Journal Rakuten’s English Policy: Just Speak It June 29th 2012 (Accessed

on 23/4/2015 at: http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2012/06/29/rakutens-english-

policy-just-speak-it/)

World Bank Data on Female Labour participation as % of population (Accessed on

23/4/2015 at: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.CACT.FE.ZS/countries)

World Bank Data on Male Labour Participation as % of population (Accessed on

23/4/2015 at: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.CACT.MA.ZS/countries)

Yoshimi, Shunya (Translated by David Buist) ‘America’ as desire and violence:

Americanization in post-war Japan and Asia during the Cold War’ Inter-Asia Cultural

Studies, Volume 4, Number 3, 2003

Zakrzewski, Kamil The role of English in business and trade MA Thesis Krakow 2012

(Accessed on 11/4/2015 at:

http://www.academia.edu/3883892/The_role_of_English_in_business_and_trade_Kami

l_Zakrzewski_MA_Thesis)