This volume covers the language situation in Japan, Nepal and Taiwan, as well as the modernisation of Chinese characters in China, explaining the linguistic diversity, the historical and political contexts and the current language situation, including language-in-education planning, the role of the media, the role of religion, and the roles of non-indigenous languages. Two of the authors are indigenous and the other two have been participants in the language planning context in these countries. The purpose of the volumes in this series is to present up-to-date information on polities that are not well known to researchers in the field. A longer range purpose is to collect comparable information on as many polities as possible in order to facilitate the development of a richer theory to guide language policy and planning in other polities that undertake the development of a national policy on languages. This volume is part of an areal series which is committed to providing descriptions of language planning and policy in countries around the world.