Mark Carroll's Journal

Posted by Victor Mair

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=72737&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-officialization-of-romaji

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=72737

Japan might finally switch to romaji system you already use

Japan Today (June 30, 2025)

I've read many articles of this sort, but I cite this one because it is fairly recent and is from a reputable newspaper.

If you’ve spent any time learning Japanese or just getting around Japan, you’ve probably come across romaji — the Roman alphabet version of Japanese. It shows up on signs, maps, train stations and in most textbooks for foreign learners. But not all romaji is the same. Depending on where you look, you might see shi spelled as shi, si or even something else.

Romaji (ローマ字) means “Roman letters,” using the Latin alphabet to write Japanese sounds. It’s not a full writing system like hiragana or kanji, but it’s a useful bridge for learners and travelers who can’t yet read Japanese….

Japan has more than one romaji system — and now, for the first time in 70 years, the government is considering switching its official system to something more globally friendly.

Romanization is widely used in Japan, not least for entering text in digital devices.  What makes it seem not so ubiquitous is the fact that there are competing systems, one government sanctioned, and one used popularly by a large proportion of the public.

Japanese has a few romaji systems; the two big ones are Kunrei-shiki and Hepburn.

The Hepburn system was developed in 1867 by American missionary James Curtis Hepburn. His goal was to help English speakers pronounce Japanese more accurately, so Hepburn spells kana like し, ち, and つ as “shi,” “chi” and “tsu,” matching their actual sounds.

Japan officially adopted the Kunrei-shiki system in 1937 as the government’s standard. Kunrei-shiki spells Japanese sounds based on their arrangement in the kana alphabet rather than how they sound to English speakers.

For example, it writes し as “si,” ち as “ti,” and つ as “tu” because they belong to the “s” and “t” groups in the kana chart, even though they sound like “shi,” “chi” and “tsu.”

However, after World War II, the American occupation under General Douglas MacArthur preferred the Modified Hepburn system, seeing Kunrei-shiki as linked to Japan’s militaristic past. It was probably also way easier to read for him. Despite Kunrei-shiki remaining the official system taught in schools, Hepburn became the more common style used in daily life and public signage.

While the Kunrei-shiki structure is logical for native speakers and linguists, it can be confusing for anyone relying on English pronunciation. If you saw “tikatetu (subway)” on a sign, would you read it as “chikatetsu”? Probably not.

Though Kunrei-shiki (Cabinet-order style) has been the official, government-mandated romanization system in Japan since 1937, frequently used in school education, official documents, and by the National Diet Library. However, it is largely being replaced by the widely used Hepburn romanization system for international purposes, travel, and public signage. (AIO)

Why Japan Might Make Hepburn Official

While the Kunrei-shiki system remains the official government standard and is still taught in schools for grammar, it’s not the version most people encounter daily.

Instead, Hepburn is widely used in places designed for readability and especially where international communication is important, like train stations, maps and tourist spots. Even outside of Japanese schools, most native Japanese people use the Hepburn system. That gap between policy and everyday practice is why Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs is reviewing the rules.

In a recent draft proposal, a government panel recommended officially switching to Hepburn as the standard romanization system because the Kunrei-shiki has never really caught on with the general public, while Hepburn has become the de facto norm.

This would make spellings like “Tokyo” (instead of “Toukyou”) the standard because that’s how most people actually write and read Japanese these days. This should help clear up confusion and make getting around Japan easier for everyone.

If the government goes ahead with the switch, you’ll start seeing familiar Hepburn spellings become the official standard on everything from textbooks to prefectural names. In truth, foreigners may not notice a change at all—when was the last time someone texted you to meet at “Sinzyuku station” instead of Shinjuku station?

Something you might find shocking, that occurs smack dab at the conclusion of the introductory "History" section of the major Wikipedia article on the "Romanization of Japanese", is a brief account of rōmaji "As a replacement for the Japanese writing system" that has this striking sentence:

Today, the use of Nihon-shiki for writing Japanese is advocated by the Oomoto sect and some independent organizations.

What is the Oomoto sect?

Oomoto (大本, Ōmoto; lit. "Great Source" or "Great Origin"), also known as Oomoto-kyo (大本教, Ōmoto-kyō), is a religion founded in the 1890s by Deguchi Nao (1836–1918) and Deguchi Onisaburō (1871–1948). Oomoto is typically categorized as a Shinto-based Japanese new religion. The spiritual leaders of the movement have always been women within the Deguchi family….

As we have been learning during the last few weeks and months, women have been at the forefront of phonetic writing, not just in Japan, but in China and Korea as well.

All Japanese who have attended elementary school since World War II have been taught to read and write romanized Japanese. Therefore, almost all Japanese can read and write Japanese by using rōmaji.

Selected readings

• "What good are kanji?" (10/21/25)
• "Women's script wins in the end"  (1/19/26)
• "Women's writing: dead or alive" (10/2/20)
• "Women's Romanization for Hong Kong" (8/17/19)
• "Japanese Romanization: they still haven't decided" (10/2/22)
• "Japanese Romanization: they still haven't decided, part 2" (11/8/22)
• "Rōmaji dialog between 'bread' and 'tea''" (8/9/15)
• "Differential retention of sinographs across East Asia" (12/12/25)
• "'Romanisation 'gives clarity'" (5/19/23)
• "How to learn to read and write Chinese" (8/13/19)
• "How to learn Mandarin" (7/17/18)
• "How not to learn Chinese" (4/16/17)
• "How to learn Chinese and Japanese" (2/17/14)

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=72737&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-officialization-of-romaji

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=72737