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Japan, Tokyo – “Easy Japanese,” first devised as a linguistic tool that could be used to assist foreigners with an elementary understanding of Japanese in times of disaster, is now being adopted by municipal governments in light of increasing inbound tourists and workers, and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.
Easy Japanese was developed by a research group led by Kazuyuki Sato, a sociolinguistics professor at Hirosaki University, following the Jan. 17, 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, when it emerged that many foreigners with little to no understanding of Japanese were unable to receive crucial information on evacuation and relief services. Though there is no hard and fast definition on what constitutes Easy Japanese, in general, honorific forms of Japanese phrasing are avoided, as well as the passive voice, regional dialects and double negatives. The language is kept easy enough that third-graders at Japanese elementary schools can understand.
Source and full English article: The Mainichi
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20190302/p2a/00m/0na/024000c
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