Emerging scholarship has put forward trans-speakerism as a transformative conceptual approach designed to subvert the entrenched native-speakerist ideologies prevalent in language education. This study critically probes the representation of English speakers and linguistic varieties in six Japanese junior high school (JHS) textbooks for English as a Foreign Language (EFL)—responding directly to Hiratsuka’s (2024a) call for investigating textbook content as a key area of potential reform via trans-speakerism. Through a content analysis of the most widely used JHS English textbooks, our research brings to light a stark representation landscape, demonstrating an overwhelming dominance of Inner Circle and Japanese characters, with minimal representation of Outer Circle and non-Japanese Expanding Circle speakers. Thus, the findings exposed serious deterrents to trans-speakerism’s core doctrines of linguistic speaker diversity, equity, and inclusivity. As a result, this study evinces the continued dominance of native-speakerist ideologies in Japanese EFL textbooks and calls for adopting a trans-speakerism approach for global English education.