Abstract:
While the Japanese business community continues to be perceived as male dominated, the
majority of students of Business Japanese in Australian universities are female. This paper
examines Business Japanese textbooks from both macro (social practices) and micro (linguistic
discourses) level perspectives, using critical discourse analysis as an analytical tool, to assess the
adequacy of the textbooks to be used in a primarily female student community. The analysis
reveals that the textbooks present a stereotypical and exaggerated version of social practices of
the Japanese business community, based on idealised native-Japanese norms. Female characters
in the textbooks have less access to managerial positions, and fewer opportunities to
participate in business, than in reality. The analysis also highlights the invisibility of non-
Japanese female characters in the textbooks. Female students using the textbooks are not
provided with role models or spaces to acculturate into. These textbooks do not grant adequate
learning tools for non-Japanese female students. The paper calls for textbooks which provide
more diverse perspectives of the Japanese business community, where non-Japanese female
students are able to construct their own social identities accompanied by relevant use of the
Japanese language.
