Addressing the common misconception that Japan is a mono-ethnic, mono-cultural, and monolingual society, this article focuses on several areas of sociolinguistic concern. It discusses: (1) the bimodalism of the Japanese deaf population between Japanese Sign Language as native language and Japanese Spoken Language as acquired second language; (2) the bidialectalism with diglossia situation that encompasses the switch between Japanese dialectal varieties according to social and psychological variables; (3) the explicit and implicit linguistic modes of urban and rural Japanese children, respectively; (4) the Ainu and the Koreans, both ethnic minorities in Japan whose linguistic situations point to the danger imposed by Japan's cultural parochialism; and (5) the need for foreign language education that enhances intercultural communication while fostering inter-group understanding and in-group maintenance. The benefit of a bicognitive approach which supports the coexistence of culturally, ethnically, and linguistically different groups is advanced. (Author/J)