Literacy and Script Reform in Occupation JapanJ. Marshall Unger
Literacy and Script Reform in Occupation Japan
by J. Marshall Unger · first published 1996
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J. Marshall Unger's Literacy and Script Reform in Occupation Japan goes into details on this. There were kanji abolitionists and pro-kanji people in both the American and Japanese administrations, and it definitely wasn't just a popularity contest. Things happened such…
on “I used to know how to write in Japanese” ↗…moving to a phonetic script because they perceived it as more efficient and modern. Likewise, not every American administrator was in favour of reforming away the kanji, far from it. J. Marshall Unger's Literacy and Script Reform in Occupation Japan is a good treatise on the subject. EDIT: Also, this was published in 1877 if I did my date conversions right: https://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosho/bunko17/bunko17_d0035...
on “I used to know how to write in Japanese” ↗…with Japanese experts to discuss whether to abolish kanji entirely, and to consider the possibility of fully romanizing the Japanese language. Yet, they decided to keep Japanese. J. Marshall Unger's Literacy and Script Reform in Occupation Japan goes into details on this. There were kanji abolitionists and pro-kanji people in both the American and Japanese administrations, and it definitely wasn't just a popularity contest. Things happened such…
on “I used to know how to write in Japanese” ↗…and Unger[2] for post-WW2. Unger also maintains a bibliography on Japanese literate on his web site.[3] [1] Richard Rubinger. 2007. Popular Literacy in Early Modern Japan. [2] J. Marchall Unger. 1996. Literacy and Script Reform in Occupation Japan. [3] https://u.osu.edu/unger.26/books/literacy-and-script-reform-...
on “China’s tyranny of characters” ↗