Labor migration and the language barrier in contemporary Japan: the formation of a domestic language regime of a globalizing state

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.