Your Name in Japanese
Surname First or Last: What to Write Where
Japan flipped its own romanized name order in January 2020. What that means for the order you write, and where a swapped name creates a mismatch.
Japan Know How archive
Author: Megan Rothwell
Writing & Language
Why the Second Alphabet Trips Everyone
Four look-alike pairs, a long-vowel bar with no hiragana equivalent, and words you have to decode back into English. Where katakana really breaks down.
Japanese Crafts
How a Square of Cloth Carries a Bottle
Two knots do most of the work. Which cloth size to buy, how to wrap a box, a bottle and a watermelon, and why the plastic bag fee revived the habit.
Japanese Eras
1 April 2019, and the Board Held Up
Suga held the card up before midday, thirty years after Obuchi did the same for Heisei. What happened in the room, and why the name stayed sealed.
Your Name in Japanese
How a Foreign Name Becomes a Carved Seal
A hanko is not a signature and not always required any more. What a katakana seal costs, where banks still ask for one, and which shops carve them.
Writing & Language
A Two-Day Schedule for 46 Characters
Five blocks a day, written by hand, reading real words by Sunday night. The order that works, and the three characters worth extra time on day two.
Japanese Crafts
The Law, the Mark, and the Price Difference
Japan certifies crafts by law: mostly handmade, a century-old technique, one named region. What the seal means, and why the real piece costs what it does.
Japanese Eras
Choosing Two Kanji for the Next Thirty Years
Scholars submit candidates, a cabinet picks one, and a country repaints its forms. The rules a new era name must pass and who actually signs off.
Your Name in Japanese
Every Japanese Form That Asks for Your Name
Residence card, bank, hotel, tickets: which field wants romaji, which wants katakana, and what happens when your two spellings stop matching.
Writing & Language
The First 92 Characters, in Order
Both kana sets in a working order, with the look-alike pairs flagged before they cause damage. A plan you can finish in a week without a subscription.