This is the first textbook on the structure of Japanese written in the framework of generative linguistics. It serves both as an introduction to Japanese linguistics for those who have no prior knowledge of linguistics, and as a reference book on Japanese for linguists in general. The book gives a comprehensive account of Japanese linguistics covering phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, language change, dialect variation and gender differences. The author introduces linguistic notions and terminology and discusses theoretical analyzes for linguistic phenomena in the language. A major focus is on phonology and syntax, where the formal approach of generative grammar is adopted.