Last year, more than 10,000 people spoke out against the government's apparent disregard for Japanese-language education when it submitted a bill to effectively abolish the National Institute for Japanese Language.
The semigovernmental institute, established in 1948 by the government, has been researching the spoken, written and other aspects of the language as it is actually used today. It is the most authoritative research entity on the language and promotes its study by tracking modern usage and providing raw data crucial to the management of national language policy.
It also compiles a linguistic database that can serve as the basis for Japanese-language education.