Research Guides: Japan Studies: Japanese Language Rules

Romanization of Japanese (romaji)

Table of Modified Hepburn
(Romanaization system used in major databases)
*The letters highlighted in yellow are commonly mistaken.

あ a	い i	う u	え e	お o	や ya	ゆ yu	よ yo
か ka	き ki	く ku	け ke	こ ko	きゃ kya	きゅ kyu	きょ kyo
さ sa	し shi	す su	せ se	そ so	しゃ sha	しゅ shu	しょ sho
た ta	ち chi	つ tsu	て te	と to	ちゃ cha	ちゅ chu	ちょ cho
な na	に ni	ぬ nu	ね ne	の no	にゃ nya	にゅ nyu	にょ nyo
は ha	ひ hi	ふ fu	へ he	ほ ho	ひゃ hya	ひゅ hyu	ひょ hyo
ま ma	み mi	む mu	め me	も mo	みゃ mya	みゅ myu	みょ myo
ら ra	り ri	る ru	れ re	ろ ro	りゃ rya	りゅ ryu	りょ ryo
わ wa	ん n	("は") wa	(" を") o	("へ") e	(ヴァ) va	(ヴィ) vi	(ヴォ) vo
が ga	ぎ gi	ぐ gu	げ ge	ご go	ぎゃ gya	ぎゅ gyu	ぎょ gyo
ざ za	じ ji	ず zu	ぜ ze	ぞ zo	じゃ ja	じゅ ju	じょ jo
だ da	ぢ ji	づ zu	で de	ど do
ば ba	び bi	ぶ bu	べ be	ぼ bo	びゃ bya	びゅ byu	びょ byo
ぱ pa	ぴ pi	ぷ pu	ぺ pe	ぽ po	ぴゃ pya	ぴゅ pyu	ぴょ pyo

Pay special attention to:

Long vowels: Omit them.
- 大阪 (おおさか) Osaka: <wrong> Oosaka / {correct} Osaka
- 研究 (けんきゅう) research: <wrong> kenkyuu / {correct} kenkyu
Double consonants (small っ): Repeat the succeeding consonant.
- 日本 (にっぽん) Japan: Nippon
- ホットドッグ hotdog: hottodoggu
  - Exception: Double consonants "cc" are transcribed as "tc."
    - 一丁 (いっちょう) one piece: <wrong> iccho / {correct} itcho
    - 坊ちゃん (ぼっちゃん) a boy: <wrong> bocchan / {correct} botcha
"ん" is always transcribed as "n," not "m."
- 新聞 (しんぶん) newspaper: <wrong> shimbun / {correct} shinbun
- 短編 (たんぺん) a short story: <wrong> tampen / {correct} tanpen
A continuous string of Japanese words must be divided into word units.
- 日本の政治と社会 Japanese politics and society: Nihon no seiji to shakai
- 日本史 Japanese history: Nihon shi

*To maximize your search results, input different romanized forms or word divisions. For example, "nihon shi" and "nihonshi" for 日本史.

*See this ALA-LC PDF guideline on Japanese romanization (American Library Association-Library Congress, revised March 2012) for more about the word division, capitalization and use of hyphens.