Japan's Deaf Culture

Japanese Sign Language Overview

Instead of an actual alphabet they have a "syllabatory alphabet" which follows the syllables of Japanese characters.

Deaf Schools in Japan

There are specialized Deaf schools in Japan, though they are viewed as non-academic and as a result most Deaf students choose to attend hearing schools which leads to further isolation from their Deaf peers.

JSL Taught in Schools?

JSL is only taught in middle and high schools in Japan, and even then only as a supplement to spoken Japanese. In addition, schools only began to educating Deaf people after the end of World War II, leading to a gap between the older, uneducated Deaf generations and the younger, educated ones.

Role Models for the Deaf Community

Social Opinion of the Deaf

For a long time Mamoru Samagochi was celebrated as the "Beethoven of Japan" because he was a deaf composer. But he has been exposed as a fraud.

Deafness seen as a disability or disease. It has been so bad that those who were deaf preferred to identify as hard-of-hearing because they were ashamed of being deaf.

Ayumi Hamasaki is the "Empress of J-pop" and she is deaf in the left ear.

How Many Deaf People are in Japan?

Bibliography

Yakami Aoi is a Famous Female Deaf Wrestler.

• 225/100,000 are hearing impaired
• 95% of the Deaf people in Japan know JSL

Fackler, Martin. "In Japan, a Beloved Deaf Composer Appears to Be None of the Above." The New York Times.

The New York Times, 06 Feb. 2014. Web. 12 Sept. 2014.

Harrington, Tom. "Deaf Statistics Tags: Deaf, Faq ." Asia, the Middle East, and Oceania. N.p., July 2004. Web. 10 Sept. 2014.

"Japanese Manual Syllabary." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Aug. 2014. Web. 10 Sept. 2014.

Stainbrook, Kaitlin. "A Short History Of Japanese Sign Language." Tofugu. N.p., 30 Nov. 2013. Web. 10 Sept. 2014.

Wallace, Matthew. "Japanese Deaf Culture." Japanese Sign Language. Lifeprint, 20 Aug. 2011. Web. 11 Sept. 2014.

Modern Life in Japan

Brief Overview of Important Deaf History in Japan

Mannerisms and Customs

Deaf people are very isolated in Japan. Not a lot of interaction. Once they graduate they either stop identifying as deaf or go with a group of deaf people.

Mouthing words to clarify their meaning is far more common in JSL than ASL. Also, they prefer to avoid video calls since it would allow the other person to see the inside of their homes, which the Japanese are more sensitive about. Lastly, their sign language is a lot less standardized than ASL, with different 'dialects' in the North, Tokyo, and the South.

Government Aid for Deaf

Deafness is actually part of the creation myths of humans on Japan. It is said that the first gods Izanagi. Izanami made the first of the smaller gods by walking around a pillar and shaking hands, they did it wrong and so Ebisu, a god that looked a lot like a leech was born. He was notably deaf and was the god of fishermen, merchants, and wealth. Despite the Tokugawa Shogunate sending warriors out to explore deafness in 1862, and the first deaf school being formed only 12 years later, deaf people have still been discriminated against till just recently 1950's where the JFD (Japanese Federation for the Deaf) sought to get more rights for the deaf persons in Japan.

• The Japanese Government only recently began encouraging people to learn JSL
• Closed Captioning is not widespread
• The Government doesn't do a lot to help Deaf people

Japan's Deaf Culture