“The World in a Sign: Written Communication in Japan’s Public Places”

Across the urban landscape of Japan we see advertisements, directives, warnings, and maps that aim to establish a fictitious relationship between the “voice” of the sign and the reader. How are we to apprehend the characters in these narratives? Who are they to us? And who are we to them? Public texts tell us much about how language and place combine to reinforce, re-invent, play upon, and sometimes undermine longstanding cultural and linguistic practices.

This lecture is offered as the Third Shirato Lecture on Japanese Language.