Japanese Sign Language

“Sign language is universal across the world” is a very common misunderstanding of sign languages, like spoken languages, sign languages differ by countries and regions. Japanese sign language (JSL) or Nihon Shuwa (手話) is also a language of its own. There is another commonly used “sign language” Taiou Shuwa (manually coded Japanese), is not a unique language. It is signed Japanese, which borrows signs from JSL, however this causes conflicts in grammar from both languages, making Taiou Shuwa harder to understand for Deaf people in certain cases. It is usually used by people with acquired hearing disabilities, who still use spoken Japanese as part of their communication methods.

Elements of JSL

Similar to most languages, JSL consists of words (signs) and grammar linking the words together. Most signs originate from actions, appearance of objects, or even kanji (Chinese characters used in Japanese) shapes. Some signs also consists of mouthing (口話), which uses the movement and shape of the mouth for signs, especially to distinguish between signs of same gesture, which is much more common in JSL than in other sign languages, such as Americal Sign Language (ASL).

Action

Bicycle (自転車)

The JSL of bicycle resembles the movement of the pedals.

Demonstration

Appearance

Room (部屋)

The JSL of room resembles the walls of the room.

Demonstration

Kanji

Center/Middle/Medium (中)

The JSL of 中 resembles the shape of the same kanji.

Demonstration

Finger letter (指文字, yubimoji) is another important part of JSL, which is the set of hand gestures corresponding to the Japanese written characters - kana, unlike the written kana system with 2 sets of identically spoken but differently written kana, katakana and hiragana (see right image), yubimoji only has 1 set (see left image), like how kana is treated in spoken language. Yubimoji is mainly used to sign names, foreign words and unusual words.

In comparison to finger spelling in other languages, JSL has 46 signs (yubimoji), which is much more than that of most sign languages, for example, ASL, with 26 finger spelling signs only (see right image).

JSL Appearances in Recent Literatures

(Spoilers Alert!)

Babel (2006)

Babel (2006) was a highly acclaimed film nominated for multiple Academy Awards. Featuring multiple strands of stories and a relatively large number of characters, Babel was a complex, tragic story about humanity. JSL was one of the significant elements in the film as one of the major supporting characters, Chieko Wataya, was deaf and non-verbal.

A Silent Voice (2016)

A Silent Voice (2016) was a Japanese animated film base on a manga of the same name by Yoshitoki Ōima, who is a daughter of a sign language interpreter. The film portraits a former bully (Shōya Ishida), who decided to ask for forgiveness from the deaf girl (Shōko Nishimiya) he bullied and make amends. In the film, the protagonists often communicate in JSL.

Sign of Affection (2024)

Sign of affection was a manga series by Suu Morishita and was later adapted into an anime TV series in January 2024. The story revolves around a 19-year-old University fresher (Yuki Itose) with congenital hearing loss as she narrates her world, and the people around her. In the series, Yuki often uses JSL with her crush and some of her friends.

Sign Language Education in Japan

There are currently 110 public schools for Deaf or hard-to-hear (D/HH) students, however it is to be noted that around half of the deaf students enrolled in regular schools due to different circumstances. These special schools use a “total communication” approach where a mix of cued speech, Taiou Shuwa and JSL is used in teaching. Since most teaching staff are not D/HH, and the education direction decided by the government, most staff speak and sign at the same time, which Taiou Shuwa is better for. Although Taiou Shuwa is easier for the teaching staff, it is harder to understand for most deaf children, as it is unnatural as a language. The use of JSL or Taiou Shuwa in deaf education has been an ongoing debate for long, and it is to hope that an era of more JSL oriented schools would bloom, that deaf children in Japan could receive education best suited for them.