Studying Italian as a heritage language in Tokyo

For a long time, Japan was considered to have a high degree of ethnolinguistic homogeneity, and since the Meiji reforms, the concept of kokugo has played a central role in the construction of Japan’s national identity (Gottlieb, 2005; Calvetti, 1999). However, recent works have shown that what had been considered a monolithic realm is de facto a constellation of minorities that use a language other than Japanese on a daily basis (for an overview of Japan’s linguistic minorities, see Noguchi & Fotos, 2001; Maher & Yashiro, 1995). Oneoftheseminoritiesconsistsofchildrenbornintointerlingualfamilies,“familieswithtwoormorelanguagesinvolved”(Yamamoto,2001: 1), such as international marriages. The dynamics of language in such contexts has been analyzed in depth (Noguchi, 2001; Yamamoto 2001, 2002 among others). However, the majority of the researchers have focussed on the Japanese-English language pair, and studies that explore other language pairs, especially other European languages, are scarce. This paper is an extract from the author’s doctoral dissertation, which consists of an analysis of Japanese-Italian bilingualism in two contexts: Milan and Tokyo. I will outline here the results of my research in Tokyo, examining the linguistic circumstances of children of Italian descent living in Tokyo, who attend an Italian Saturday school, Scuola Italiana Marco Polo. First, I will provide some demographic data regarding Italians in Tokyo and will describe briefly Scuola Italiana Marco Polo. Then I will comment on the results of a questionnaire survey and describe the school’s linguistic background. Finally, I will discuss some considerations about Italian language maintenance in Tokyo.