Romanization, the writing or the typing of Japanese words in English with roumaji (Roman letters) in this case, can be tricky and I know that at times, I will commit a mistake or be inconsistent. Still, I have done my best typing up the words with a consistent system. There are several points to remember on how I romanized Japanese words here.

1. All Japanese people listed here will follow the eastern format. That is, last name first and first name after, as in "Seki Tomokazu-san". This applies to Chinese and Korean people as well (and while I'm at it, in the scenario of the Chinese, I will bring out a name like "Mui Yim Fong", but for their westernized names, I have kept the western format like "Anita Mui").

Oh. I better mention this. Seeing that some Japanese staff members spell their names in different ways, I will spell them the traditional way. That is, I will spell Matsumoto Rika-san's name the way I showed it just now instead of "Matsumoto Rica-san".

2. I will be using the world wide Hepburn system when I'm speaking in English. For example, I will say "Shouma" instead of "Syouma", as in the baseball player of the "Justice Gakuen" series. Instead of "Sinobu", I'll say "Shinobu". Oh and instead of "Rabu Hina", I'll just say "Love Hina", okay? This is because one, I learned through the Hepburn system and two, not all of us happen to be Japanese. I mean, chances are that someone who's not Japanese after seeing the spelling Shinobu's name as "Sinobu" will make that person uncomfortable. So, I will use the Hepburn system. I might as well say that I'll use the Hepburn system no matter what throughout the site.

Oh. If you want my take, the system's a blessing and a curse. For some of you, you can pronounce words with more ease, but you are bound to make mistakes more easily when bringing forth certain words.

While we are at it, I better say this. I will use the Wade-Giles system. Also, because I have never mastered the accent replacement system if I should be saying that and since I'm talking about it, the accent system overall, I will say words without the accents. For example, you would see a sentence like "Wo shi Bata-kun". (This is like saying "Watashi wa Bata-kun desu," or since I want to match the kanji up, "Ware wa Bata-kun desu".) Chinese people should easily know what I am saying 9 times out of 10 I am guessing, but if you just took only one lesson of Chinese, you're in trouble.

If you're going to say "girl", spell it as "shoujo", not "shojo" because that means "virgin". A lot of people make the mistake of saying "shojo" if they originally wanted to say "girl", but now that you know what I have said, you will not commit that same mistake. "Shoujo" means "girl" and "shojo" means "virgin".

What else can I say about macrons? Macrons are not used in commonly used Japanese words outside of Japan, names with a spelling used for the English edition of a form of entertainment or names that are not proper, making them used in the English language. Want some examples?

"Tokyo" does not need a macron anywhere since we, as in the people who don't live in Japan, mention this city a lot. Mentioning a place like say, Toukyou Daigaku or Toudai for short, the school "Love Hina's" Keitarou wants to attend, needs macrons however. "Tokyo University" does not need macrons, since that's not the official name of the school.

In regards of Chinese and the marks, here's the problem. I was never taught about the replacement system and again, I don't know if one exists. Before anyone tells me that I should have the stress marks in, let me say a statement. Japanese does have stress marks, but it's not as emphasized as in Chinese; to give an example, if I go to a dining place and ask "Hashi wa doko desu ka?" the waiter/waitress will know what I'm talking about. I should also mention that with macrons, at least I know how to spell/speak out a word in the alternate way; the name "Kouichi" can be spelled like that or by having the "u" dropped and having the bar over the "o". By the way, in relation to the statement I said with Matsumoto Rika-san as my example, I will spell Koshiro Yuuzou-san's name the way I spelled it just now instead of "Koshiro Yuzo-san", but I will keep the worldwide spelling of companies. Down below is a chart of some companies with their respective traditional spellings.

Well-known spelling - Traditional spelling

Nintendo - Nintendou

Kodansha - Koudansha

Taito - Taitou

Shueisha - Shuueisha

Haikyo - Haikyou

4. As far as titles go, for the most part, I will list the Japanese and English name of a series, but there will be cases in which I will put down a shorter name of a series as in "Gekka no Kenshi". It's simple to know that in some cases, the official name of a series is in English if I don't give a Japanese name of a title as in "Final Fantasy", but if I don't give an English name, it's either because I don't know what it is or I have some other reason that I would like to keep to myself. After I list the Japanese and English name of a series once, I will use the Japanese name of that particular series, so that it will make my job easier.

5. In the event I don't know the official spelling of a name, I will just show the roumaji. I will not bother with guessing. There will be times I will bring out the roumaji of a subject with the official spelling.

6. Wa/ha, e/he and o/wo. Oh boy. Long story short, I'll use the former of each pair.

Oh. Last minute questions? I might as well place them now.

Which English title will you use for each series, if there are any?

I'll use the title or set of titles I am more used to hearing.

Do you recognize the "v" and the other unusual characters when you give out the roumaji of a subject?

Where do I begin on this issue? Japanese education systems talk about this matter quite a bit. Actually, they talk about this a lot. Though I respect the existance of the unusual characters, I personally don't use them because one, remembering those characters can and will chew me up and two, by using these characters, I can end up making a person confused. Plus, I'm so traditional, I pretend that the issue was never brought up. As weird as this may sound, it's effective.

So, if I want to talk about say, Vanessa from "KoF", I say "Banessa" even though it's officially shown with the "v" character. While we're at it, I would say, "'Ebanjerion' o mimasu soshite ato de, ribon o agemasu". If you don't know what I just said, it's "I am watching "Evangelion" and later, I'll give the ribbon".

I know this guide is real confusing, but if you just sit down and read it over for a little bit, you'll be fine. If you still don't understand it, that's okay. You can contact me if you have a question about what I have said here.

Last update - 2006/10/20

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