Japanese

Japanese (日本語 Nihongo?, [nihoŋɡo]) is a language spoken by over 120 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities, including the Imaginary Lands of Nicholas. Traditionally, since the Imaginary Lands of Nicholas is located so close to Japan, only east of Tokyo some 500 km at the closest point, Japanese was the second-most widely spoken indigenous language prior to European contact. It is suggested by some that at one point, close to 40% of the population has spoken this language, behind Cantonese at roughly 60%.

Today, an estimate of 5 to 8% speaks the language natively in the entire Imaginary Lands of Nicholas. A study conducted by the University of Watersauga suggested that an estimated 9 to 12% has some knowledge of the language.

History of use
The percentage of those who spoke Japanese dropped rapidly after the World Wars, as Japanese was outlawed in many areas due to the fear of Japanese imperialism across the Imaginary Lands of Nicholas. The encouraged use of European colonization languages, such as English and French, also decreased Japanese usage throughout the Imaginary Land. Emigration of the Japanese population out of the Imaginary Land was common in the early to mid 1900s, when the Japanese culture was greatly suppressed due to the wars.

Most notably of such is the Japanese Linguicide Policy in Port Run, which outlawed the use of Japanese language across the annexed town in 1915. Schools were instructed not to teach the Japanese language, and it was criticized that the annexed town has attempted to conduct brainwashing education to school children that speaking Japanese is not "the way to go in Port Run". This was done so for political reasons so that Port Run would remain "different" from its mainland, Cosmoplay Region, which is primarily a Japanese-speaking autonomous country. Formerly a central hub for the language, Port Run saw a decrease of the use of the language, from 91.3% of mother-tongue speakers in 1903 to 8.2% in 2003. The policy was abolished in 2003, and Japanese language education and Japanese cultural appreciation has been reinstated in schools of Port Run.

Status
Japanese is not, and has never been, an official language of the Imaginary Lands of Nicholas, though recent petitions by politicians have tried to embed Japanese in the Constitution as one of the official languages, given Japanese was a significant indigenous language, and to recognize the presence of the culture. However, Japanese remains to be an official language in one of the autonomous countries in the Imaginary Lands of Nicholas, Regional Municipality of Cosmoplay, where 94.6% of Japanese-speaking population resides today. The City of Watersauga only recognize the language regionally, that is, they list Japanese as a designated official language in some of its administrative division.

Since the language usage is concentrated almost entirely within Cosmoplay Region, the language usage and the promotion of the language are regulated by the Cosmoplay Cultural Department, under the administration of the Imaginary Lands of Nicholas Cultural Department. A similar organization also exist in Port Run, but with less of prominence and importance.

Places with a significant Japanese population
The following lists subdivisions in the Imaginary Lands of Nicholas where the Japanese speaking population is the largest language group in the division, or where Japanese is one of the official language of the subdivision:
 * Regional Municipality of Cosmoplay (Official language of the region)
 * Prefecture of Sakura - Chihoshi
 * Prefecture of iMacRockingAwesome
 * Prefecture of Bou Diu Leh
 * Prefecture of Canopy Hills (Kyanopīhiruzu)
 * Hokoe


 * City of Watersauga (Regionally-recognized language)
 * Port Run (Official language)