The Signboard as Classroom: Japanese Restaurant Toponyms as Authentic Materials for Context-Based Japanese Language Learning in Bali

Abstract

This study explores the pedagogical implications of Japanese restaurant toponyms in Bali as authentic materials for context-based Japanese language learning. Building on prior findings that classified 95 restaurant names into five typologies and identified their gastropological representation, the study treats the culinary linguistic landscape as a pedagogical resource. It employs a descriptive-qualitative method with a qualitative content analysis design; the corpus of 95 names, collected through field observation, signage documentation, and digital tracing across Denpasar, Kuta, Sanur, and Jimbaran, was analyzed for its pedagogical affordances by mapping linguistic and cultural features to learning objectives relevant to Japanese for tourism and hospitality. The findings identify four pedagogical affordances: authentic vocabulary learning through the culinary lexicon; cultural understanding through the semantic analysis of philosophical-symbolic names; morphological and orthographic awareness through hybrid and anthroponymic names; and environment-based authentic learning that positions Bali's tourist areas as a living language laboratory. These affordances are consistent with the view that the linguistic landscape provides authentic input for second language acquisition. The study proposes a context-based learning model in which restaurant toponyms function as needs-based authentic materials for students in tourism and hospitality programs, bridging classroom instruction and real-world language use. It concludes that culinary toponymy constitutes a sustainable, locally available, and motivating resource for Japanese language education grounded in the tourism context.