Systèmes toponymiques au Japon : une histoire de complexité et de domination

Traditionally, toponyms have been a somewhat minor field of study, typically pursued by historical linguists, geographers, folklore scholars, or local historians. Today, place names attract more attention in sociolinguistics as they share many features that illustrate that space is not simply neutrally present and waiting to be named. Processes of contact, colonization, language modernization, and reform are at work. Moreover, toponyms give rise to specific identities and practices. Places and the names that designate them exert agency over those populating them. This article illustrates the rise and fall of toponyms, the naming of a new train station on the Yamanote Line in Tōkyō, and the colonial renaming strategies employed in Hokkaidō and the Ryūkyūs.