（2）Measures on behalf of Problems Inherent in the Japanese Language

Heated debate over various measures to reform the Japanese language began as early as 1867 when Maejima Hisoka (1835 -1919) presented a memorial to the Shogun recommending abolition of the use of Chinese characters. From the last years of the Edo period the movement to reform both the Japanese language and Japanese script spread through various circles, culminating in the formation by the government of the Japanese Language Survey Committee (Kokugo Chosa Iinkai)(1902), the Extraordinary Committee to Survey the Japanese Language (Rinji Kokugo Chosakai) (1921), and the 1934 Council on the Japanese Language (Kokugo Shingikai) (1934). In the postwar period the problem of restricting the use of Chinese characters has been regarded as a key step in the reform of the Japanese language. Between 1946 and 1958 the Council on the Japanese Language submitted recommendations on such matters as a table of Chinese characters for daily use, a contemporary Japanese syllabary (kana) orthography, a table giving both the phonetic pronunciation and J apanese pronunciation of characters, a method of adding Japanese syllabary to Chinese characters in order to indicate the Japanese declension, and other reforms. Based on these recommendations standards for expression in the Japanese language were established. Additional research on problems in the Japanese language is being carried out by the National Research Institute of J apanese Language established in December, 1948.