Rômazi Aiueo

What is this site?

Rômazi Aiueo is the website for the purpose of understanding and dissemination of romanized Japanese (romaji). It is an effort that let Japanese people learn the basics of romaji and use it more widely.

Romaji is a basic knowledge of the Japanese language. The official writing system was established in 1937. Designed on the basis of linguistic theory, this system was highly praised by foreign linguists. This system became an international standard (ISO 3602) in 1989 and is now taught to all citizens in elementary schools.

However, we rarely have the opportunity to see this romanization system. This is because the Japanese government and companies use an English-like system, contrary to the shared international philosophy of respecting each country's culture and language. The public has forgotten the official system and writes in imitation of the romaji they see on billboards and advertisements. Trouble is, most of the explanations in the mass media and on the Internet are of low quality, so understanding of the romaji is not widespread.

The fact that Japanese people cannot write romaji correctly is an international embarrassment. This situation should be corrected. With this as the primary goal, this site is basically designed for Japanese people. However, we also expect foreigners to read this site. If foreigners understand and use the official romaji, Japanese people may be inspired to imitate it.

Contents

Pages on the Top Menu

• はじめに: introduction (top page)
• あらまし: overview
• なりたち: history of romaji
• いろいろ: various types of romaji
• かきかた: how to write romaji
• からくり: tools
• おさらい: teaching materials
• つながり: external links

Other Pages

• Kunrei System (cabinet order)
• Hepburn System (commonly used)
• Japanese System (pre-Kunrei System)
• Portuguese System (historical)
• Person's Names
• Words and Phrases
• Poems and Stories
• Romaji Movement
• Text Editor
• Sitemap

Screen Keyboard

If you need to input kanamoji (hiragana and katakana), please use this keyboard.

Gallery

Some pictures picked up from the contents. What do you think of the last one?

Terminology

Following words may confuse machine translation.

JP	EN
ローマ字	1) Latin alphabet, roman letters 2) romaji notation, romanized Japanese
ラテン文字	Latin alphabet, roman letters
ローマ字表記	romaji notation, romanized Japanese
ローマ字文	romaji sentence, Japanese sentences written in roman letters
ローマ字入力	romaji input, typing method to input Japanese using roman letter keys
ローマ字論	romaji theory, that claims that Japanese should be written in roman letters
ローマ字運動	romaji movement, social movement based on romaji theory
かな文字	kana characters
かな文字表記	kana character notation
かな文字文	kana sentence, Japanese sentences written in kana characters
かな入力	kana input, typing method to input Japanese using kana character keys
かな文字論	kana theory, that claims that Japanese should be written in kana characters
かな文字運動	kana movement, social movement based on kana theory
漢字	kanji, Chinese characters
漢字仮名交じり文	kanji-kana sentence, Japanese sentences written in kanji and kana characters
「英語」	English classes in school
「国語」	Japanese classes in school
ヘボン式	Hepburn system (romanization method), by J. C. Hepburn
訓令式	Kunrei system (romanization method), cabinet order
日本式	Japanese system (romanization method), pre-Kunrei system
標準式	Standard system, a variant of Hepburn system, extended version
「英語式」	English-like system, a variant of Hepburn system
99式	99-system, a variant of Kunrei system, proposed in 1999
「姓」	family name, last name
「名」	given name, first name
◯	good, correct, yes, recommended
△	good with conditions, acceptable
✕	bad, wrong, no, prohibited