An approach to the study of numeral quantifiers in Japanese reveals some fundamental properties of Japanese, especially those pertaining to movement. Using numeral quantifiers, a demonstration shows that the subject of unaccusative verbs in Japanese originates in the object position and moves to the subject position at S-structure. It is also demonstrated that the unaccusative hypothesis readily accounts for the Japanese "subject" verbal compounds without abandoning the First Sister Principle. In addition, it is concluded that the data and analysis presented provide a clear justification for the noun phrase trace, an unusual result since such clear empirical evidence for this category is rarely found. (MSE)