undergradly.
Major · Foreign Languages & Linguistics

Language, literature, and the JLPT ladder: Japanese Language and Literature

Japanese Language and Literature (CIP 16.0302) builds reading, listening, and speaking proficiency in modern Japanese alongside coursework in literature, linguistics, and the cultural and historical context of Japan. The major reports 589 completions across 128 institutions, with bachelor’s graduates earning a median of $51,719 in five-year tracked wages.

Schools offering
128
Annual completions
589
Typical degree level
Associate's + Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$52k

About this major

Japanese Language and Literature (CIP 16.0302) prepares students in modern Japanese language proficiency, Japanese literature and film, and the linguistic, philological, and cultural study of Japan. The CIP definition spans philology, ancient through modern Japanese, dialects, and applications in business, science, technology, and other settings. Programs typically build outward from foundational grammar, kanji, and conversation toward advanced reading and translation, content seminars on classical and modern literature, Japanese cinema and popular culture, and the linguistic structure of the language. Most strong programs include a study-abroad semester or year in Japan through partnerships at universities such as Waseda, Sophia, or Doshisha, and many require sustained reading in original texts by the senior year.

The major rewards students who enjoy slow, cumulative skill-building, who can sit with grammatical patterns that do not map cleanly onto English, and who want their humanities degree to feel intellectually demanding. Memorizing thousands of kanji and parsing keigo (formal speech registers) takes years rather than semesters, and the payoff arrives later, when you can read a novel by Murakami or watch a film by Kurosawa without subtitles. Students who pair Japanese with Business, Computer Science, International Relations, or Engineering tend to broaden their post-graduation range substantially.

The field is small in federal data: 589 total completions across 128 institutions, with a five-year median wage of $51,719 for bachelor’s graduates. Top producers cluster at large public research universities and one major Pacific institution: the University of Hawaii at Manoa (34) leads, followed by UC Davis, Ohio State, and the University of Washington-Seattle (17 each), with UCLA (15), UNC Charlotte (14), and Cal State Monterey Bay (12) close behind. Community colleges such as Pasadena City College (17) and Foothill College (12) anchor the associate’s pipeline. The named BLS destinations include interpreters and translators at $59,440, secondary school teachers at $64,580, and postsecondary foreign language and literature teachers at $77,010, the last requiring a doctorate. Off-data, the major also feeds the JET Program, government language work, gaming and anime localization, and graduate study.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

Occupation Median wage Job growth Typical education
Secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education $65k -1.6% Bachelor's degree
Interpreters and translators $59k +1.7% Bachelor's degree
Foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary $77k -0.2% Doctoral or professional degree
Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$52k

Who this major is for

You may thrive here if you have a genuine interest in Japan that predates the major rather than a fleeting one, you are willing to commit to a study-abroad semester or year and the long climb toward JLPT N2 or N1 proficiency, and you have a clear post-graduation target — JET, government language work, localization at a gaming or anime publisher, or graduate study — that rewards depth in one language. The major also fits students planning to double-major or minor with Business, Computer Science, International Relations, or Engineering, since pairing Japanese with one of those credentials opens international roles that a humanities degree alone rarely reaches. Students drawn to literary analysis, film, and the slow craft of reading classical Japanese tend to make the most of the academic side.

Reconsider this route if your goal is a defined entry-level job straight out of undergrad, since the named direct destination, interpreters and translators at $59,440, projects only 1.7 percent growth and the bottom of the general-purpose translation market is being compressed by machine translation. Think twice if you dislike sustained memorization, because thousands of kanji and the layered grammar of keigo are unavoidable. Anyone considering government language tracks should also weigh the clearance-eligibility requirement, which excludes non-citizens and applicants with disqualifying background factors. Finally, students who only want some Japanese exposure are usually better served completing it as a minor or second major alongside a credential with stronger labor-market traction.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Japanese Language and Literature

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
University of Hawaii at Manoa Honolulu, HI 0 34 34
Pasadena City College Pasadena, CA 17 0 17
University of California-Davis Davis, CA 0 17 17
Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH 0 17 17
University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA 0 17 17
University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA 0 15 15
University of North Carolina at Charlotte Charlotte, NC 0 14 14
Foothill College Los Altos Hills, CA 12 0 12
Austin Community College District Austin, TX 12 0 12
California State University-Monterey Bay Seaside, CA 0 12 12
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

English Language and Literature, General

26,983 completions/yr

Spanish Language and Literature

4,864 completions/yr

Foreign Languages and Literatures, General

1,740 completions/yr

Linguistics

1,672 completions/yr

French Language and Literature

882 completions/yr

English Language and Literature/Letters, Other

803 completions/yr

Classics and Classical Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, General

692 completions/yr

American Sign Language (ASL)

433 completions/yr
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What do Japanese majors actually study day-to-day?
Coursework moves from foundational grammar, kanji, and conversation toward advanced reading in modern and classical Japanese, with content seminars on Japanese literature, film, linguistics, and Japan’s political and cultural history. Most programs require four to six semesters of language work and many include a study-abroad year in Japan, often through partner programs at universities such as Waseda, Sophia, or Doshisha. Advanced students translate short stories and essays directly and write seminar papers using primary sources.
Do I need a bachelor’s, or is an associate’s enough?
Both pathways exist in federal data, but they serve different purposes. Community colleges such as Pasadena City College (17 completions), Foothill College (12), and Austin Community College (12) offer associate’s tracks that build elementary to intermediate Japanese and transfer cleanly into a four-year major. The named bachelor’s destinations — translation, government language work, and teaching — generally require four years of language study to reach the proficiency employers test for.
What does a useful proficiency level look like, and how is it tested?
The Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) sets the universally-recognized employer benchmark, with N5 as elementary and N1 as near-native fluency. Most translation, localization, and government roles list N1 or N2 as the practical hiring threshold, and a strong undergraduate program typically takes graduates to N2-level reading and listening, with N1 reachable through study abroad and post-graduation immersion. Coursework alone rarely closes the gap to N1 without sustained time in Japan.
What jobs do graduates actually land?
The bachelor’s alone rarely points to one defined career, which pushes most graduates toward graduate school, government work, or roles where Japanese stacks on top of another credential. The BLS-tracked destinations include interpreters and translators at $59,440 with 1.7 percent growth, secondary school teachers at $64,580 with -1.6 percent growth and state certification required, and postsecondary foreign language and literature teachers at $77,010, which requires a doctorate. Off-data destinations include the JET Program (a transitional teaching year in Japan), translation and localization at gaming and anime publishers with US offices such as Bandai Namco, Sega, and Square Enix, and clearance-eligible language roles at the State Department, FBI, CIA, and NSA where JLPT N1 or N2 is valued.
How is AI changing the translation and interpretation market?
Machine translation has compressed the bottom of the market for general-purpose written translation, and the BLS projection of 1.7 percent growth for interpreters and translators reflects that pressure. The durable specializations are literary, legal, medical, and patent translation, where stakes and ambiguity reward human judgment, along with conference and court interpreting, where real-time spoken work resists automation. Localization of games, anime, and manga also remains a human-centered niche because cultural and tonal calibration matters more than literal accuracy.
How does this differ from a broader East Asian Languages major?
East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, General (CIP 16.0301) lets students survey across Japanese, Mandarin, and Korean with less depth in any one. Japanese Language and Literature goes deep into one language and the literary, cinematic, and historical world it carries. Choose Japanese specifically if you have a clear target — JET, government language work, localization, graduate study in Japanese literature or linguistics — that rewards depth over breadth. Choose the East Asian umbrella if you are still deciding between languages or want flexibility across the region.