A sociolinguistic analysis of English loan words in use in the 1990s in the discourse of young Japanese people is presented. The study drew data from a 1993 survey of undergraduate students at two Osaka (Japan) higher education institutions, one for men and one for women, which asked what loanwords students used and heard often. The report first discusses the formation and phonetic and semantic aspects of the loan words, then analyzes the survey's results. Findings show that the most common loan words students used were nouns, with only a few verbs and adjectives found. Categories and distribution of loan words differed by institution, therefore by gender group. Many coined words are constructed with English. Loan words are generally adopted even when there is a Japanese equivalent, apparently when there is a need to distinguish between the functions of the English and Japanese words. Many of the adjectives used by males were coined words. Students reported hearing fewer loan words than they reported using, and the largest category that they heard referred to social phenomena. Not many of the loan words commonly found in commercial films, magazines, and books appeared in students' usage. Possible reasons for adoption of loan words are considered briefly. Contains 19 references. (MSE)