The aim of the MA thesis is to critically analyze the notion of the Japanese “women’s language” from a sociolinguistic perspective. The critical analysis has been carried out by discussing and evaluating different Anglophone and Japanese scholars’ interpretations and often opposing views of the way language, gender and ideologies operate in society. Although the findings of Anglophone scholars have been used in the analysis as valuable resources and primary references, the thesis emphasizes that the studied notions are culture-specific and thus need to be considered with caution. The thesis exposes gender differences identified at different linguistic levels and examines how they refer to gender roles and identities. The main argument is that “women’s language” determines, maintains and reveals women’s position in the Japanese society. The analysis of the corpus has identified Japanese women’s language as a sensitive sociocultural and linguistic index, in which linguistic features operate as an index of femininity and the female gender and as a reflection of femalespecific values, attributes and social roles. The relationship between different notions, such as gender, language, power, politeness, affect and identity has revealed the presence of a language ideology with a great cultural significance in Japan. The analysis has revealed issues of empirical research on “women’s language” and thus expressed the need for future consideration of real-life context of use.