Japan

Tokyo Japanese

also: Hyōjungo, Standard Japanese

The Tokyo-area variety that forms the basis of Standard Japanese (Hyōjungo). Carried nationwide by broadcasting, education, and government use.

Kansai-ben

also: Kansai dialect, Kinki dialect, Osaka-ben

The major dialect group of the Kansai region, with Osaka as its modern centre. Strongly distinct from Tokyo Japanese in pitch accent, copula forms, and idiom. Kyoto-ben is treated separately here.

Kyoto-ben

also: Kyō-kotoba, Kyoto dialect

The Kyoto variety of Kansai Japanese. Historically the prestige speech of the imperial court, marked by softer cadence, distinct honorific forms, and a long literary heritage.

Hakata-ben

also: Fukuoka dialect

The dialect of Fukuoka and the Hakata district on northern Kyushu. Recognisable for sentence-final particles like "to" and "tai".

Tōhoku-ben

also: Tōhoku dialect, Zūzū-ben

The dialects of north-eastern Honshu around Sendai. Distinguished by reduced vowel contrasts and merged sibilants — historically caricatured as "zūzū-ben".

Hokkaido-ben

The variety spoken across Hokkaido. A relatively young dialect shaped by 19th-century settlement, mostly close to Standard Japanese but with Tōhoku and coastal influences.

Hiroshima-ben

also: Geibi dialect

The Chūgoku-region dialect of Hiroshima and surrounding Geibi area. Known to many Japanese viewers through Hiroshima-set film and television.

Nagoya-ben

also: Owari dialect

The dialect of Nagoya and the Owari plain. Sits between the Tokyo and Kansai regions and shares features with both, while keeping a distinct vowel inventory.

Miyakoan

also: Miyako, Miyako Ryukyuan, Miyako language

A Southern Ryukyuan Japonic language of the Miyako Islands in Okinawa Prefecture. Not mutually intelligible with Standard Japanese; preserves distinctive Ryukyuan phonology and is severely threatened by shift to Japanese.

Ainu

A language isolate of the indigenous Ainu people of Hokkaido and historically Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. Critically endangered with only a handful of native speakers; subject of an active revitalisation effort.