Modern Japanese uses a combination of four different writing systems. The oldest form, Kanji, borrows heavily from classical Chinese. Before the 5th century, Japanese was not a written language. However, after Chinese characters were introduced through trade, the Japanese incorporated this writing system into their language. Initially, the Japanese used Chinese characters to describe Japanese words phonetically. Eventually, Kanji was simplified and evolved into two separate syllabic alphabets. Kanji is still used in Japan to depict nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Although there are thousands of Kanji characters, reading Japanese fluently requires only around 2100 Kanji characters. Contemporary writing also contains elements of the newer writing systems, Katakana and Hiragana.

1. Adam Porcher

2. Modern Japanese uses a combination of four different writing
systems. The oldest form, Kanji, borrows heavily from classical
Chinese. Before the 5th century, Japanese was not a written
language. However, after Chinese characters were introduced
through trade, the Japanese incorporated this writing system into
their language.

3. Initially, the Japanese used Chinese characters to describe
Japanese words phonetically. Eventually, Kanji was simplified
and evolved into two separate syllabic alphabets. Kanji is still
used in Japan to depict nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Although
there are thousands of Kanji characters, reading Japanese
fluently requires only around 2100 Kanji characters.
Contemporary writing also contains elements of the newer
writing systems, Katakana and Hiragana.

4. Hiragana contains 46 characters that each represent a symbol
or phonetic sound. This writing system became popularized
during the 10th century. It was initially used to translate
Chinese characters into Japanese pronunciation. In modern
times, Hiragana may appear above or beside a Kanji character
that may not be well-known by the average person. In 1946,
the Japanese government standardized the form of Hiragana
used today. Since Hiragana is simplified, it is also used instead
of Kanji in children’s media. However, Japanese children are
expected to be fluent in Kanji by the time they finish secondary
school.

5. Hiragana characters have a curved appearance and are usually
pronounced as a consonant sound followed by a vowel. Five
Hiragana characters represent vowel sounds. The sole
consonant present in Hiragana is n, which is always placed at
the middle or end of a word. Unlike Kanji, texts written in
Hiragana do not leave spaces between words. Due to its origin
as the writing system of choice for aristocratic women,
Hiragana can also denote femininity. Hiragana is only used to
express Japanese words, typically articles, prepositions, and
other grammatical devices.

6. Loanwords from other languages are written in the other
Japanese script, Katakana. Compared to Hiragana, Katakana is
more angular and takes more of its shape from the original
Kanji. Due to this stylistic difference, Katakana is believed to be
a more masculine writing system. It is also not used in
combination with Kanji in everyday writing. Still, the writing
systems share similarities. Katakana is made up of 46 phonetic
syllables that represent the same sounds present in Hiragana.
Katakana usually appears in advertising and text-based
communications like email. It is also used to phonetically
express commonly-used foreign words, like country names or
foreign holidays. Katakana sentences or phrases may contain
spaces represented by a small dot.

7. The final writing system, Romaji, is not a new script. Instead
Japanese have written phonetically using the Latin alphabet. It
developed after the arrival of Portuguese missionaries during
the Edo period. The system was later standardized by James
Hepburn, an American missionary. The Hepburn system is
commonly used by English-speaking Japanese learners. Romaji
sentences contain spaces between words. While this system can
help learners decipher the meaning of a message, language
educators do not advise relying on the system as it can lead to
pronunciation errors. Further, Romaji is rarely used in authentic
Japanese communications.