Japan continues to draw an unspoken but influential boundary ¡ª one that sorts and evaluates people according to whether they can speak Japanese ¡°like a native.¡± Even highly proficient speakers often find themselves kept at arm¡¯s length, judged against an imagined linguistic ideal that few can meet. The result is a narrowing of possibilities not only for learners, but for Japanese society.
This sits uneasily with the government¡¯s own Reference Framework for Japanese-Language Education ¡ª a national guideline created in 2021 that uses six levels from A1 to C2 and focuses on what learners can actually do with the language ¡ª which does not position native speakers as the default model.
Yet the expectation remains: Those who live or work in Japan should sound ¡°like a Japanese person.¡± Many learners internalize this pressure. The question, then, is why this contradiction endures.
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