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Position

Professor at Institute of Japan Studies

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Field

Japanese Language / Japanese Language Education

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Grammar of the Japanese language is fascinating if you think outside of the box

My expertise is grammar of the Japanese language, but it is a little different from kokubunpo [Japanese grammar]. My studies are conducted within the framework of teaching Japanese to foreign nationals. As such, it may be more appropriate to say that I conduct objective analyses of Japanese grammar by thinking outside of the box, or that I analyze Japanese as a foreign language.

Let me give you one example. "Watashi wa gakusei da" [I am a student]--this is a phrase you often see in a Japanese language textbook. There is also the following similar phrase. If asked "Anata no kobutsu wa?" [What is your favorite food?], you can answer "Watashi wa unagi da" [Mine is eel]. This sentence makes no sense to foreign nationals who are accustomed to Western logical grammar.

"XX is the subject and XX is the predicate"-type explanations are no use here. I explain to foreign nationals that th