Some questions to the Japanese Federation of the Deaf

June 12, 2012

The Japanese Federation of the Deaf (JFD) held its 60th national conference of the Deaf in Kyoto on June 6 - 10, attracting over 5,000 participants from across Japan.

A vlog was posted by a Deaf participants, Ezoe Satoshi-san, questioning about one of the sessions he attended.

1. What does it mean by the "only one sign language" in Japan as JFD has proposed the sign language bill? Which sign language does JFD intend as the "only one sign language": Japanese Sign Language (JSL), Signed Japanese, or Japanese Dialect Signs?

2. At the session on sign language which Ezoe-san attended, few discussions were possible. Instead there was a quiz on sign language with some prizes. What was the purpose of the session?

3. Takada Eiichi-san, former JFD President, has mentioned at the session that a Deaf person good at written Japanese would be fluent in sign language, and that a Deaf person poor at written Japanese would be poor at sign language, too. On what evidence could he make such a remark?


Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7H_HLvZ1Vk&feature=player_embedded#!
JSL/English caption