Article published In:
Linguistic Landscape: Online-First Articles

[Japanese] toilets are not garbage cans

Discriminatory multilingual signage in the Linguistic Landscape of Japan

ORCID logo

Traditional linguistic landscape research focuses on the diversity, vitality, and structure of languages in public spaces. However, this study takes a critical lens and examines how certain multilingual signage reflects the normalised, harmful ideologies which target minorities in Japan. The study reveals examples of punitive multilingualism, highlighting the information disparities between languages in public signage found in Aichi, Hokkaido, and on the Internet. The paper discusses instances of discriminatory public signage, including online advertisements, based on the premise that foreigners are unruly, and official government signage that appears to target foreigners. The study also delves into problematic instructions posted in public restrooms, showing how the presentation of language(s) can reinforce stereotypes and implicit bias. Through a critical analysis of multilingual signage, this study reveals the challenges and consequences of punitive multilingualism in the context of Japanese sociolinguistics.

Keywords: Japanese sociolinguistics, Linguistic Landscape, multilingual signage, punitive multilingualism, information disparities
Article outline
  • 1.Linguistic Landscape through a critical lens
  • 2.Language diversity in Japan
  • 3.On a critical approach to interpreting public multilingual signage
  • 4.Method
  • 5.Findings and discussion
    • 5.1We are requested, you are prohibited
    • 5.2Toilet talk: Instructions that reek
    • 5.3How multilingual prohibition signs are marketed for distribution
  • 6.Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 2 July 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.23076.spe
References (39)
Afifah, M.
(2022) Japanese and Indonesian prohibitive expressions on prohibition signs at train stations: A linguistic landscape study. Jurnal Pendidikan dan Pengajaran Bahasa Jepang, 7 (2), 94–105. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Al-Athwary, A.
(2022) Linguistic landscape in Najran: A sociolinguistic approach. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 12 (12), 2559–2567. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Angermeyer, P. S.
(2015) Speak English or what? Codeswitching and interpreter use in New York city courts. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
(2017) Controlling Roma refugees with ‘Google-Hungarian’: Indexing deviance, contempt, and belonging in Toronto’s linguistic landscape. Language in Society, 46 (2), 159–183. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2022) Translation as discrimination: Sociolinguistics and inequality in multilingual institutional contexts. Language in Society, 521, 837–859. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Backhaus, P.
(2007) Linguistic landscapes: A comparative study of urban multilingualism in Tokyo. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
(2010) Multilingualism in Japanese public space: Reading the signs. Japanese Studies, 30 (3), 359–372. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2019) Linguistic landscape. In P. Heinrich & Y. Ohara (Eds.), Routledge handbook of Japanese sociolinguistics, (pp. 158–169). New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Banda, F. & Jimaima, H.
(2017) Linguistic landscapes and the sociolinguistics of language vitality in multilingual contexts of Zambia. Multilingua, 36 (5), 595–625. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Barni, M. & Bagna, C.
(2010) Linguistic Landscape and language vitality. In E. Shohamy, E. Ben-Rafael, & M. Barni (Eds.), Linguistic Landscape in the city, (pp. 3–18). Bristol: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Evacomics
(2019) I show the cultural differences between Japan and other countries (30 pics) (accessed 2023, September 22) [URL]
Gramigna, R.
(2013) Toilet cultures: Boundaries, dirt and disgust. In A. Kannike & P. Laviolette (Eds.), Things in Culture, Culture in Things. Approaches to Culture Theory 3, 256–279. Tartu: University of Tartu Press.Google Scholar
Gustafsson, K.
(2016) Routinised recognition and anxiety: Understanding the deterioration in Sino-Japanese relations. Review of International Studies, 42(4): 613–633. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Higgins, C.
(2015) Earning capital in Hawai‘i’s linguistic landscape. In R. Tupas (Ed.), Unequal Englishes: The politics of Englishes today, 145–162. London: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hinnenkamp, Volker
(1999) Rassismus und diskriminierung in alltagsdiskursen. Augsburg. http://www.2005.hs-fulda.de=fileadmin=Fachbereich_SK=Professoren=Hinnenkamp=Hinnenkamp_Sprache_und_Diskriminierung_in_Alltagsdiskursen.pdf
Hupp, S. L.
(2017) The experiences and perceptions of microaggressions against American Assistant Language Teachers living in Japan. (Master’s thesis). University of Arkansas.
Isono, H. & Uenaka, J.
(2014) Ōsaka Dōtonbori no tagengo keikan: Gaikokujin ni muketa minkan hyōji o chūshin ni [The multilingual landscape of Dotonbori, Osaka: A close look at non-governmental signs]. Nihongo kenkyū 34 1: 137–144.Google Scholar
Kubota, R.
(2019) English in Japan. In P. Heinrich & Y. Ohara (Eds.), Routledge handbook of Japanese sociolinguistics, (pp. 110–125). Milton Park/New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lee, E. & Olsen, J. E.
(2015) Multiculturalism in Japan: An analysis and critique. Kwansei Gakuin University Journal of International Studies, 4 (1), 9–22.Google Scholar
Long, D.
(2010) Amami kotoba no gengo keikan [The linguistic landscape of the Amami language]. In J. Uchida, S. Nakai, O. Nakamura & H. Kanaseki (Eds.), Higashi ajia naikai no kankyō to bunka, (pp. 174–200). Toyama: Katsura Shobō.Google Scholar
Long, D. & Nakai, S.
(2014) Researching non-standard dialect usage in linguistic landscapes. In A. Barysevich, A. D’arcy & D. Heap (Eds.), Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Methods in Dialectology, 228–235. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Masai, Y.
(1972) Tōkyō no seikatsu chizu [Living map of Tokyo]. Tokyo: Jiji Tsūshinsha.Google Scholar
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
(2013) Recent Japan-Taiwan Relations and the Taiwan situation. Retrieved from [URL]
Morishita, M.
(2022) Nihon no gengo keikan ni okeru eigo no goyō keikō [Non-native English expressions found in linguistic landscapes of Japan]. Gengogakushū to kyōiku gengogaku 2021: 77–82.Google Scholar
Morita, L.
(2015) Some manifestations of Japanese exclusionism. SAGE Open, 5 (3). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nagoya Convention & Visitors Bureau
n.d.). Osu/Kanayama: Asunal Kanayama [Web log post]. Retrieved from [URL]
Oshima, K.
(2014) Perception of hafu or mixed-race people in Japan: Group-session studies among hafu students at a Japanese university. Intercultural Communication Studies, 13 (3): 22–34.Google Scholar
Piller, I.
(2016) Linguistic diversity in a time of crisis: An introduction to applied sociolinguistics. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Runcieman, A. J.
(2022) Translanguaging in court proceedings: How interpreter pedagogy needs to address monolingual ideologies in court interpreting that delegitimize litigants’ voices. International Journal of Interpreter Education, 14 (1): 4–16. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Seiger, F.
(2019) ‘Mixed’ Japanese-Filipino identities under Japanese multiculturalism. Social Identities, 25 (3): 392–407. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Taitō City
(2022, January 7). Gaikokujin kankōkyaku no ukeire ni benrina sīru/panfuretto o haifushiteimasu (shokuzai hyouji, toire no riyō shikata nado) [Distributing helpful stickers and pamphlets for welcoming foreign tourists (ingredient display, how to use the toilet, et cetera)]. Retrieved from [URL]
Tan, M. S. & Ben Said, S.
(2015) Linguistic landscape and exclusion: An examination of language representation in disaster signage in Japan. In R. Rubdy, S. B. Said (Eds.), Conflict, Exclusion and Dissent in the Linguistic Landscape. London: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Terao, S.
(2009) Chihōtoshi ni okeru tagengo hyōji: Minokamo-shi ni okeru nanbei shusshin muke hyōji wo reiji to shite [Multilingual signage in suburban cities: The case of signage directed toward South Americans in Minokamo City]. Kōbe daigaku ryūgakusē sentā kiyō 15 1: 25–49. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tokunaga, T.
(2011) ‘I’m not going to be in Japan forever’: How Filipina immigrant youth in Japan construct the meaning of home. Ethnography and Education, 6 (2): 179–193. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tsuda, T.
(2000) Acting Brazilian in Japan: Ethnic resistance among return migrants. Ethnology 39 (1): 55–71. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Usui, A.
(2020) Gaikokujin shūjū chīki ni mirareru gengo hyōji ni tuite: Genjō no kadai to kongo no kyōsei shakai e mukete [On language in signage seen in foreigner-concentrated areas: Current challenges and toward a society of coexistence]. (Unpublished bachelor’s thesis). Nanzan University.
Wang, J.
(2015) Linguistic Landscape on campus in Japan – A case study of signs in Kyushu University. Intercultural Communication Studies, 15 (1): 123–144.Google Scholar
Yoneoka, J. & Saito, C.
(2017) Globalization of the Japanese ladies’ room: Multilingual signage needs and issues. Asian English Studies 19 1: 55–86. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yubisashi
(2017) Gaikokujin no manā taisaku: Yubisashi inbaundo sutikā [Countermeasures for foreigners’ manners: Yubisashi Inbound stickers] (Web log post). Retrieved from [URL]