Other units

Apart from shakkanhō and the metric system, other units are also commonly used in Japan. The most common unit found is the inch. Inches are used in the following:

Japanese bicycles are based on a British system, and the tyre sizes are measured in inches rather than centimetres.

Inch sizes are commonly used in the computer industry for the sizes of parts, connectors, and semiconductor wafers.

Inches and feet are used for the width and length of magnetic tape.

Inches are used for the size of television screens. Because inches are not a legally recognized unit in Japan, instead of writing the word "inch", Japanese companies substitute "-gata" (型). Thus, a television with a 17 in diagonal measure is described as 17型.

The sizes of photographic prints are based on the inch, though rounded to the nearest millimetre.