Patrick Heinrich is Professor at the Department of Asian and African Studies at Ca' Foscari University in Venice, Italy, where he teaches Japanese and Ryukyuan sociolinguistics. His recent publications include Urban Sociolinguistics (Routledge, 2017) and The Making of Monolingual Japan (2012).

Yumiko Ohara is Professor in the College of Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawai¿i at Hilo, USA, where she teaches pragmatics and linguistics of endangered languages. Her publications include Various Approaches to Japanese Discourse (2007).

Presenting new approaches and results previously inaccessible in English, this book provides insight into the language and society of contemporary Japan from a fresh perspective.

Part I: The languages and language varieties of Japan 1. Ainu language and Ainu speakers 2. Ryukyuan sociolinguistics 3. Ryukyu-subtrate Japanese: Contact efforts on the replacing language 4. Japanese dialects 5. Koine and koineization 6. Language and migration in Japan 7. English in Japan Part II: The multilingual ecology 8. Metroethnicity: From standardized identities to language aesthetics 9. Metrolingualism in transitional Japan 10. Linguistic landscape 11. Bilingualism and bilingual education in Japan 12. Japan as a multilingual society Part III: Variation, style and interaction 13. Language variation and change 14. Code switching, language crossing and mediatized translinguistic practices 15. Language and social relations 16. Politeness 17. Impoliteness 18. Gendered speech Part IV: Language problems and language planning 19. Language policy and planning 20. Script and orthography problems 21. Literacy and illiteracy 22. Japanese language spread in the colonies and occupied territories 23. Ainu language shift 24. Language shift in the Ryukyu Islands 25. Language rights Part V: Research overviews 26. Language life (gengo seikatsu) 27. The study of Japanese language speakers 28. Studies of Ryukyu-substrate Japanese