ABSTRACT
There are things taken for granted in one's native language and culture. The Japanese orthographic system is such an example. Japanese children, however, grow up in such a literacy world and acquire necessary literacy skills. When formal schooling begins in the first grade, elementary school teachers teach their students step by step how to read and write these four different scripts according to the policies established by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). Japanese children first learn to read and write Hiragana. Katakana is taught in the second semester of the first grade and is completed by the end of the first semester of the second grade. Literacy instruction begins from Hiragana, moving on to Katakana and Kanji in a step-by-step manner in elementary school. Japanese as a Second Language instruction is established in schools in which there are a number of foreign students.
