Bonin Islands - Demography, Language & Education

Demography, Language & Education

Virtually all of the Bonin Islands' inhabitants are Japanese citizens. This includes the significant proportion with ancestors from the United States, Europe and other Pacific islands, who can often be distinguished by their family names and ancestry, physical features or adherence to Christianity. During and after the US military occupation of 1946–68, a small minority of islanders opted for US citizenship and/or emigrated from the islands. However, most islanders with non-Japanese ancestry now appear to be reassimilating with the ethnic Japanese majority.

Japanese is the common language. Because settlers from United States, Europe and other Pacific islands preceded ethnic Japanese residents, an English-lexified pidgin (creole), the Ogasawara Mixed Language (OML) emerged on the islands during the 19th century. During the 20th century, most islanders used OML at home. This was the result of Japanese being hybridised with island English, resulting in a mixed language that can still be heard. However, during the early part of the 20th century, the islanders of Western ancestry increasingly mixed Japanese with the mixed language. Conversely, during the US occupation of 1946–68, the so-called "Navy Generation" learned modern US English at school, whilst using OML at home. While OML vocabulary was skewed toward English during this period, a trend towards Japanese resumed in 1968. Younger residents tend to be monolingual in a variety of Japanese closely resembling the Tokyo standard. A bilingual dictionary, Talking Dictionary of the Bonin Islands Language (with CD-ROM), was published in 2005.

The Ogasawara Village municipality operates public elementary and junior high schools, while Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education operates Ogasawara High School