Linguistic landscape of immigrants in Japan surrounding social issues and ideologies: a study on prohibition signs and schoolscape

Abstract

ABSTRACT From the perspective of linguistic landscape, this article reports on the use of Portuguese in the communities of Brazilians as return migrants in Japan, focusing on prohibition signs in public areas and signage in schoolscape to examine their relationship to social issues rooted in the cultural and ideological gap between Japanese locals and Brazilians of Japanese descent. Given the lack of detailed guidance from the national government, this study specifically investigates the process of employing Portuguese on signage. It reveals that Portuguese prohibition signs, ideologically charged, are typically installed by individuals or neighbourhood associations, not by the city government. Although the city government distributes templates for these signs upon request, those who install them are responsible for maintaining or removing them. Consequently, the maintenance process, influenced by the prevalent ideology in the host society, leads to these signs remaining in place. Regarding schoolscape, this study emphasises that the use of Portuguese on signage reflects cumulative efforts of teachers challenging the monolingual ideology in educational spaces. Considering various challenges facing immigrant children in educational settings, incorporating Portuguese not only has practical benefits but also significant potential to promote social acceptance of the immigrants and enhance their school life and learning experience.