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1.3.4. What are the systems of romanization of Japanese?

The third main system is Nippon-shiki (日本式) romanization. This has the advantage of a one-to-one correspondance between kana and rōmaji, whereas the kunrei and Hepburn systems sometimes have the same romanization for two different kana.

For example, the Nippon-shiki and the Kunrei systems romanize as ta ti tu te to what the Hepburn system romanizes as ta chi tsu te to: the Hepburn system is less regular but is closer to the usual English spelling of the sounds.

Nippon-shiki romanization was presented by physicist Aikitsu Tanakadate in 1885. See 1.3.4.1. What is Nippon-shiki romanization? for full details.

See 1.3.4.5. A table of romanizations for a full table of romanization differences.

Other variations in romanization systems

• Sometimes "dzu" is used to romanize a tsu with a nigori or dakuten mark. This is used, for example, in the English name "adzuki" beans. In fact, though, the Japanese pronunciation of the word is identical to azuki
• "n" before b or p sounds is sometimes written as "m" because of the change in pronunciation. (See also 7.1. What are the differences between kana writing and pronunciation?). For example, shinbun, newspaper, is often written as shimbun in roomaji.
• "ei" is usually written as "ee" and "ou" is usually written as "oo" because in fact they are pronounced in this way, that is there is no tongue movement between the two vowels. (See 7.1. What are the differences between kana writing and pronunciation?). The version which is often used on newsgroups of prefering `ei' and `ou' to `ee' and `oo' is known as waapuro (wordprocessor) roomaji because although it is not phonetically accurate it is more suitable for entry into a word processor.

  OH SHI MIZU A vending machine uses "OH" for the long vowel

• Sometimes the double vowel "oo" is written as "oh". This is quite common in Japanese people's names. (See 9.3. How do Japanese names work? for more about how Japanese people's names are formed.)
• "wo", "ha" and "he" when they are used as particles are sometimes written "o", "wa" and "e", because this represents their pronunciation better. "He" used as a particle is sometimes also written with the "e" kana in Japanese. (See 7.1. What are the differences between kana writing and pronunciation?)
• In romanizing Japanese, it is common to drop Japanese double vowels. For example Tookyoo becomes "Tokyo", Kenkyuusha becomes "Kenkyusha".
• When romanizing Japanese, an "n" followed by a vowel, such as "n'o" should be distinguished from "no" by an apostrophe.
• The ye in "yen" is an artifact. See 1.1.2. Is there a kana symbol for ye or yi? and 5.2. Where does the word yen come from? for more details.

Web links

• Roomaji Soudanshitsu (ローマ字相談室) ("Romaji Advisor") by Chio Kaizo. In Japanese. Contains reference materials such as copies of Hepburn's original dictionaries.

Sub-pages

• 1.3.4.1. What is Nippon-shiki romanization?
• 1.3.4.2. What is Kunrei or Kunrei-shiki romanization?
• 1.3.4.3. What is wapuro romaji?
• 1.3.4.4. Other systems of romanization
• 1.3.4.5. A table of romanizations

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