Tanaka explores the language used in Japanese parliamentary interactions to shed light on the use of language as a tool by politicians to convince, negotiate, persuade, as well as deliver aggression and criticism. By looking at the speech of politicians in the parliament of Japan, Tanaka demonstrates the unbreakable link between language and politics. As a result of cabinet members flouting Grice’s Maxims of Cooperation, the book also shows the ways in which politicians deliver face-attacks and demonstrates that impoliteness can be delivered without insults or open aggression, using extremely polite language, honorifics, or sarcasm and irony.