Japanese Language

The Japanese language has three sets of characters - hiragana, katakana, and kanji.

The Hiragana character set includes following characters ->

あ (A) い (I) う (U) え (E) お (O)

か (Ka) き (Ki) く (ku) け (Ke) こ(Ko)

が (Ga) ぎ (Gi) ぐ (Gu) げ (Ge) ご(Go)

さ (Sa) し (Shi) す (Su) せ (Se) そ (So)

ざ (Za) じ (Ji) ず (Zu) ぜ (Ze) ぞ (Zo)

た (Ta) ち (Chi) つ (Tsu) て (Te) と (To)

だ (Da) ぢ (Di) づ (Du) で (De) ど (Do)

な (Na) に (Ni) ぬ (Nu) ね (Ne) の (No)

は (Ha) ひ (Hi) ふ (Fu) へ (He) ほ (Ho)

ば (Ba) び (Bi) ぶ (Bu) べ (Be) ぼ (Bo)

ぱ (Ha) ぴ (Hi) ぷ (Fu) ぺ (He) ぽ (Ho)

ま (Ma) み (Mi) む (Mu) め (Me) も (Mo)

や (Ya) ゆ (Yu) よ (Yo)

ら (Ra) り (Ri) る (Ru) れ (Re) ろ (Ro)

わ (Wa) を (O) ん (N)


The Katakana character set includes following characters ->

ア (A) イ (I) ウ (U) エ (E) オ (O)

カ (Ka) キ (Ki) ク (ku) ケ (Ke) コ(Ko)

ガ (Ga) ギ (Gi) グ (Gu) ゲ (Ge) ゴ(Go)

サ (Sa) シ (Shi) ス (Su) セ (Se) ソ (So)

ザ (Za) ジ (Ji) ズ (Zu) ゼ (Ze) ゾ (Zo)

タ (Ta) チ (Chi) ツ (Tsu) テ (Te) ト (To)

ダ (Da) ヂ (Di) ヅ (Du) デ (De) ド (Do)

ナ (Na) ニ (Ni) ヌ (Nu) ネ (Ne) ノ (No)

ハ (Ha) ヒ (Hi) フ (Fu) ヘ (He) ホ (Ho)

バ (Ba) ビ (Bi) ブ (Bu) ベ (Be) ボ (Bo)

パ (Pa) ピ (Pi) プ (Pu) ペ (Pe) ポ (Po)

マ (Ma) ミ (Mi) ム (Mu) メ (Me) モ (Mo)

ヤ (Ya) ユ (Yu) ヨ (Yo)

ラ (Ra) リ (Ri) ル (Ru) レ (Re) ロ (Ro)

ワ (Wa) ヲ (O) ン (N)

Having knowledge of elementary Japanese can be helpful while commuting to different places in Japan. The stations, railway lines boards are normally shown in Kanji characters. But the on the top of the Kanji character, the reading of the Kanji is mentioned in Hiragana or Katakana characters. So knowing these Hiragana and Katakana characters we can read the names of places which makes life easier.

For example the JR Yamanote Railway line also known as "Loop line", traverses the following stations in a loop.

Shinjuku -> Yoyogi -> Harajuku -> Shibuya -> Ebisu -> Meguro -> Gotanda -> Osaki -> Shinagawa -> Tamachi -> Hamamatsucho -> Shimbashi -> Yurakucho -> Tokyo -> Kanda -> Akihabara -> Okachimachi -> Ueno -> Uguisudani -> Nippori -> Nishi-Nippori -> Tabata -> Komagome -> Sugamo -> Otsuka -> Ikebukuro -> Mejiro -> Takadanobaba -> Shin-Okubo -> and finally back to Shinjuku Station.

The knowledge of Hiragana and Katakana can be of great help. Suppose we are at station "高田馬場", on top of this set of Kanji characters the station name in Katakana is written as "タカダノババ". Referring to the character set for katakana given above we can easily identify the name of station as "Takadanobaba".

Similarly loop line name in Kanji is as "山の手" and katakana characters on top of this Kanji characters says "ヤマノテ", then we can easily identify that the loopline is "Yamanote" loopline.

Mastering Hiragana and Katakana makes life easier in Japan for those who have elementary knowledge of Japanese and one need not take tension of difficult kanji characters or pictographs.

Cheers