3.1  Hiragana

Hiragana are a set of 46 phonetic symbols, plus a couple of diacritic devices for voiced and p sounds; e.g. あ (a), か (ka), が (ga), ぬ (nu), ほ (ho), ぼ (bo), ぽ (po). They were created from the cursive style of kanji (Chinese characters) with similar sounds; e.g. 安→あ (a), 加→か (ka), 奴→ぬ (nu), 保→ほ (ho). They are chiefly used for particles (e.g. で de for location), inflected parts (e.g. 行った itta ‘go-past,’ 若い aoi ‘young-nonpast’), adverbs (e.g. ゆっくり yukkuri ‘slowly’), and auxiliaries (見ている mite iru ‘is seeing’). Train station names also appear in hiragana, as well as in kanji, on signs.

The sound and the symbol do not match for the particles wa (topic), e (‘to’), and o (direct object). The symbols は (ha), へ (he), and を (originally wo) are used respectively. Palatal sounds are written with normal size i-row symbols of the hiragana chart, followed by small ゃ (ya), ゅ (yu), or ょ (yo).

きゃ

kya (ki+small ya)

しゅ

shu (shi+small yu)

りょ

ryo (ri+small yo)

ぴょ

pyo (pi+small yo)

3.2  Katakana

Katakana are a set of 46 phonetic symbols, a vowel elongation symbol (ー), and a couple of diacritic devices for voiced and p sounds; e.g. ア (a), カ (ka), ガ (ga), ヌ (nu), ホ (ho), ボ (bo), ポ (po). They were created by taking a fragment of kanji (Chinese characters) with similar sounds; e.g. 阿→ア (a), 加→カ (ka), 奴→ヌ (nu), 保→ホ (ho). Some katakana symbols are based on the same kanji as those on which the corresponding hiragana symbols are based, but not all of them. Katakana symbols look angular, compared to the curvy hiragana.

Katakana is used mainly for loan words (especially those from countries other than China), to represent sounds (onomatopoeia), to express special nuances of words, including slang expressions, and to make a sound or word stand out from the rest.

ア メ リ カ Amerika ‘America’

コ ン ピ ュ ー タ （ー） konpyuuta(a) ‘computer’

ゴ ツ ン gotsun ‘thump!’

ワ ン ワ ン wanwan ‘bowwow’

ヒ ロ シ マ Hiroshima ‘Hiroshima’ (as the internationally recognized city)

キ ツ イ kitsui ‘difficult, harsh’ (special meaning; originally ‘tight’)

モ ノ と コ ト は 使 い 方 が 違 う 。 ‘Mono’ to ‘koto’ wa tsukai kata ga chigau. Mono (‘thing’) and koto (‘thing’) are used differently.

Palatal sounds are written with normal size i-row symbols of the katakana chart, followed by small ャ (ya), ュ (yu), or ョ (yo).

キャ

kya (ki+small ya)

シュ

shu (shi+small yu)

リョ

ryo (ri+small yo)

ピョ

pyo (pi+small yo)

To accommodate foreign sounds, some combinations of katakana have been devised that do not exist in hiragana.

ウォ wo (u+small o): ウォーター wootaa ‘water’ (or ウオーター uootaa)

ティti (te+small i): ティーバッグ tii baggu ‘tea bag’

デュdyu (de+small yu): デュース dyuusu ‘deuce’ (or ジュース juusu)

トゥ。tu (to+small u): トゥー tuu ‘two’ (or ツー tsuu)

ファ。fa (fu+small a): ファイトfaito

‘fighting spirit’

3.3  Kanji (chinese characters)

Kanji are logographic (word-representing) characters borrowed from Chinese since the fifth or sixth century. They are used for nouns and substantive parts of verbs and adjectives; e.g. ‘wife,’ ‘language,’ ‘interpreter,’ ‘work’ (in ‘working’) in the first example in this section, ‘(My) wife works (Lit. is working) for the UN as a French (language) interpreter.’ To be literate in Japanese, one needs to know a little over 2,000 characters (called jooyoo kanji ‘Chinese characters for daily use’), which children learn during their nine years of compulsory education. Young children’s books are written in hiragana, and it is common for children to use hiragana to write words for which they do not yet know the kanji. Among adults, there are individual preferences even for the same words. Some people like to use kanji, while others do not.

3.4  Roomaji (Roman alphabet)

Roomaji is used mainly for acronyms (e.g. BBC, CD, OL ‘office lady’), station names (for foreigners’ benefit), and some brand names. Recently, it is becoming more and more common to write the names of pop artists (JUJU, Superfly), bands (e.g. GReeeeN, HY, SMAP), and songs (e.g. Love) in romaji (or English).