The purpose of this paper is to point out the new directionality of research on Japanese language education while assessing and confirming the problems inherent therein from the viewpoint of special needs education. The method adopts the following three measures: (1) assessing the present conditions in the special needs education from the viewpoint of developmental disabilities, special educational needs, and inclusion, (2) confirming the problems in Japanese language education based on (1), and (3) pointing out the new directionality of research on Japanese language education based on (1) and (2).