That is to say, in Japan, at which point in time, was it declared that
official documents had to be written in the Japanese language?

I am also looking for any additional information like where it was decided,
how was is decided, who decided that, etc...
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2012-06-14T14:10:32.920
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For how long has Japanese been the official language of Japan?
According to the
[wikipedia](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E8%AA%9E), there
is no law that declares official documents should be written in Japanese, or
stating that Japanese is the official language in Japan.

But there are some laws that requires the use of Japanese is certain
situations, e.g. in court.
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2012-06-14T14:19:57.730
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I asked my Japanese teacher why there wasn't an official language in Japan.
She asked me why there would be. HHhhmmm.... If you follow the [wiki
link](http://houseikyoku.sangiin.go.jp/column/column068.htm) you recover these
facts (straight from the japanese gov')

> 日本の国語は日本語であるとか、公用語は日本語であるなどと定める条文はないんだ。
> まあ、日本国内で普遍的に使用されている言語は、日本語しかないから、日本語が我が国の国語であり、また、公用語であるということになるよね。

So basically, yeah, there is no need. Except for the court-room-language
clause:

> 「裁判所では、日本語を用いる」（裁判所法（昭和22年法律第59号）第74条）

All though whose to say what "日本語" is.
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2012-06-20T22:56:17.553
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