Learning Japanese (Basic) Japanese (日本語 Nihongo), [nihõŋgo], [nihõŋŋo] is an East Asian language spoken by about 125 million speakers, primarily in Japan, where it is the national language. It is a member of the Japonic (or Japanese-Ryukyuan) language family,whose relation to other language groups, particularly to Korean and the suggestedAltaic language family, is debated. v; Wikipedia