English Purge in Japan

[kurohinge1]

More English words targeted for purging from Japanese

... The National Institute for Japanese Language is seeking to eliminate the use of 32 English words or phrases that have become a standard part of the daily Japanese language.

In its third meeting on alternative words, the institute brought its list of purged English to 141, with future meetings still in store ...

Those words or phrases no longer given official status in Japanese are: accountability, initiative, ... governance, ... compliance, ... skill, ... solution, ... public comment, priority, breakthrough, etc.

Some may argue that the concepts themsleves have also been thrown out

... Institute officials decide which borrowed words to eliminate based on the degree of understanding they have among Japanese speakers 60 or older. Each of the purged words was misunderstood by at least one third of the unspecified number of 60-somethings the institute canvassed ...

Why not make this the benchmark for all things. That way we could eliminate DVD recorders, mobile phones, computers-smaller-than-a-room and continence.

[Taro Toporific]

....Those words or phrases no longer given official status in Japanese are: accountability, initiative, ... public involvement, public comment....frontier, portfolio, bottleneck manpower...

Hmmm, "accountability,""initiative," and "bottleneck manpower" ... now there are some nasty un-Japanese words that need to be banned.

[Unspoken]

Hah hah, that's a great list of evil gaijin words, and an even better rule-of-thumb for deciding what's acceptable and what's detrimental to the "Japanese spirit and way of life": if our over-60 elders don't like it, it's out of here!

[Blah Pete]

Jeez, I thought it was a joke when they mentioned the over 60's.
So instead of giving the old farts a little eductaion they ban the words...

[Big Booger]

Makes total sense to me.. I mean, why waste resources on educating the ryojin.. Just let them walk around without a clue...

Perhaps a new dementia enducing drug can be manufactured.. then they could just stop teaching any language and resort to gestures...

[Mulboyne]

More of the same in a pretty lazy IHT article:

Is proper Japanese losing out amid a foreign invasion?

The sign outside a neighborhood coffee shop features a photo of a tempting dessert. The English bait: "It will become a fortunate feeling." A delivery truck whizzes by with a Web site advertisement for http://www.fallingbones.com. Falling Bones is a store for biker gear. A press release for a band's upcoming appearance at the Fuji "Lock" Festival proclaimed: "They finally flap to the world." A young girl in pigtails blithely strolls by in a T-shirt declaring: "Strip to your birthday suit." Another ingénue in pigtails strolls by, this one in a white cotton sailor's cap, blue jeans, tennis shoes, her pink T declaring: "Eat Me!" A full-page color magazine ad for Tokyo's Aoyama shopping district waxes poetic: "Another day is downing. What fits the awakening city is an exciting and throbbing encounter"...more...

See also the FG Thread: Katakana NG. FG Foramu OK!

[otakuden]

More of the same in a pretty lazy IHT article:

Is proper Japanese losing out amid a foreign invasion?
See also the FG Thread: Katakana NG. FG Foramu OK!

butbutbut that would mean no more engrish
sounds to me more like a pretty simple way to eek some kind of control over the masses. they say it's for the old folks, but i doubt the old folks care one way or the other. they're living out their happy retirement/old age doing whatever it is they do. this is definitely aimed towards the next generation(s) of japanese who combine tradition with modern japanese and foreign influences.
imo