Page Content
- Script Basics: Mixed Characters
- Test Sites
- Fonts by Platform
- Activate Utilities for Typing
- Long Vowels (Macrons) for Rōmaji
- Typing the Yen Sign
- Web Development
- Language Code:
ja
(notjp
for Japan)
- Language Code:
- Links
- Ainu Language and Katakana Extensions New Page
- Katakana Unicode Chart New Page
- Hiragana Unicode Chart New Page
Script Basics: Mixed Scripts
Modern Japanese writing mixes four different scripts, including the Latin alphabet,
depending on the word and context of the material. The four major scripts
used in Japanese are:
- Katakana (カタカナ)- One of the native phonetic syllabaries (each character is a syllable).Katakana is used for foreign words, some company names, new Japanese wordsand other words in which a pronunciation needs to be specified.
- Hiragana (ひらがな)- The other native phonetic syllabary (each character is a syllable) which is used for specifying certain grammatical endings. Hiragana (literally "women’s writing") is circular with larger loops. Katakana is more angular and resembles a streamlined printed Chinese character. Case endings or grammatical endings written in Hiragana are called Okurigana.
- Kanji (漢字) – The Japanese name for Chinese characters used in writing many Japanese words.
- Romaji (Rōmaji) – The Japanese name for the Roman (English) alphabet which has been adopted as part of the writing system. Note that the Romaji includes long marks (macrons) on vowels.
In addition to the scripts listed above, Japanese writing can also include these scripts.
- Half-width Katakana (カタカナ) – a more narrow version of Katakana used in older Japanese computing systems (see sci.lang.japan article). The narrow style enabled Japanese to have the same width as Western letters which are narrower than Japanese characters. Half-width forms can be found in systems like cash registers, printers for mailing systems, some banking computing systems and retro typography.
- Furigana/RUBY – A style of Japanese writing in which phonetic Katakana and Hiragana are placed above Kanji (Chinese) characters in order to provide a pronunciation hint. The RUBY specification for vertical writing systems is designed primarily for Furigana writing.
Note: "Hurigana" is an alternate spelling of Furigana. - Hentaigana – An older, more ornate form of Hiragana used in formal Japanese documents such as diplomas and shop names.
- Emoji – Picture icons used in Japanese text messages similar to emoticons, but also including weather symbols, holiday symbols, food and drink symbols and more. The use of symbols is so popular in Japan, that many are scheduled to be included in future versions of Unicode.
Some References
- Omniglot Japanese
- Ancient Scripts: Japanese
- Wikipedia Japanese Writing System – see links on right for additional Wikipedia pages
Test Sites
If you have your browser configured correctly, the Web site below should display the correct characters.
If this site is not displaying correctly, see the Browser Setup page for debugging information.
Fonts by Platform
Both Windows and Mac (and mobile platforms) provide a set of Japanese fonts, but more decorative versions may be found through font vendors or font download sites.
- Windows – MS Mincho, MS Gothic, MSPGothic, MSPMincho, MSUIGothic, Meiryo (Vista +)
- Mac OS X – AquaKana, Hiragino Kaku Gothic Pro W3,W4,W6,W8, Hiragino Pro W3,W6, Osaka, Osaka Mono
Activate Utilities for Typing
In Windows, Macintosh/iOS and Droid, input options for all the Japanese scripts are available. See the links below for more information.
Windows
Macintosh
Mobile
- iPhone (Bustle Blog)
- Japanese Input on the iPad, iPhone & iPod Touch Video
- Google Japanese Input App
You can also view generic documentation for
Long Vowels (Macrons) for Rōmaji
When Japanese is transliterated into English in the Romaji systems, long marks are used to indicate long vowels. These can be written in one of several ways depending on the operating system.
Windows Microsoft Word ALT Codes
Vwl | ALT Code |
---|---|
Ā | ALT+0256 Cap long A |
Ē | ALT+0274 Cap long E |
Ī | ALT+0298 Cap long I |
Ō | ALT+0332 Cap long O |
Ū | ALT+0362 Cap long U |
Vwl | ALT Code |
---|---|
ā | ALT+0257 Lower long A |
ē | ALT+0275 Lower long E |
ī | ALT+0299 Lower long I |
ō | ALT+0333 Lower long O |
ū | ALT+0363 Lower long U |
Notes on the Codes
- These work only in Microsoft Word
- You must use the numeric keypad. More detailed instructions
about typing accents with ALT keys are available. - The font in your document must be set to one that includes these characters.
- If this is not available, you can use the Character Map to insert the characters in a master document, then cut and paste as needed.
Macintosh OS X Extended Keyboard
You can activate the ABC/Extended Roman keyboard to type the long marks.
ACCENT | SAMPLE | TEMPLATE |
---|---|---|
Macron | ā, Ā | Option+A, V |
For example, to insert lower long O ō, you would type Option+A, then O.
Typing the Yen Sign
Below are the codes for typing a Yen sign in different platforms.
Platform | Description |
---|---|
Windows | Type Alt+0165. You must use the numeric keypad. See details on the Alt Key page. |
Macintosh | Type Option+Y |
HTML | Use the code ¥ to specify a Yen symbol. See details on the HTML code page. |
Web Development
Historical Encodings
Unicode (utf-8
) is the preferred encoding for Web sites. However the following historical encodings may still be encountered,
shift_jis
euc-jp
Language Tags
Language Tags allow browsers and other software to process text more efficiently.
- Japanese –
ja
(notjp
for Japan) - Ainu –
ain
- Okinawan/Ryuku –
ryu
- Other Ryukan Varieties
Vertical Text
See the Vertical Text page for information on vertical Japanese text.
Links
Japanese Computing
Windows
- CosCom – Instructions for multiple Windows version, including Windows 10
- Yes Japan Installing Japanese on Vista/Windows 7
- Declan Software – Windows 7 to Windows ME
- Jim Breen Japanese Computing Links
Macintosh
Mobile
- iPhone (Bustle Blog)
- Japanese Input on the iPad, iPhone & iPod Touch Video
- Apple Support Forum: Input Japanese on iPhone
- Google Japanese Input App for Droid
Other Platforms (Including DOS/Unix)
- Localizing Japan Blog
- Enabling Japanese in Gentoo Linux
- Ubuntu Japanese Team (in Japanese)
- Tokyo Linux Users Group
Japanese Writing System
- Omniglot Japanese
- Ancient Scripts: Japanese
- Wikipedia Japanese Writing System – see links on right for additional Wikipedia pages
Web Development Tips
- Computing with Accents Web Development Tips
- Japanese Text Encoding – Technical overview of Japanese encoding
- Unihan Database from Unicode