Nanette Gottlieb, Kanji politics: Language policy and Japanese script. London & New York: Kegan Paul International, 1995. Pp. 245. [Distrib. by Columbia University Press, hb $76.50.

Abstract

The Japanese writing system is frequently singled out for the dubious distinction of being the modern world's most complex, and the amount of time and effort that public figures in Japan have spent promoting and resisting script reform in this century seems to have been in direct proportion to the system's complexity. The two books under review are important contributions to the documentation and interpretation of this protracted and acrimonious struggle.