Cultural Agency Seeks Public Opinions on Unified Romaji Style; Mulling 1st Style Change in 70 Years

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:58 JST, January 10, 2025

The Cultural Affairs Agency, which is considering establishing a unified writing style of romaji — romanized Japanese — has begun seeking public opinions on its proposal that the Hepburn style, which has a pronunciation system similar to English, become the standard.

In a Cabinet announcement in 1954, the “kunrei” style was recommended as a basic style. If the change is made as proposed, it will be the first amendment in about 70 years. The Council for Cultural Affairs plans to submit a report on this matter as early as this spring.

There are two major romanization systems: Hepburn and kunrei. Some Japanese letters have different romanizations, such as “si” in kunrei, which follows the pattern of the 50 Japanese hiragana characters, and “shi” in Hepburn. In schools, the kunrei style has mainly been taught in line with the Cabinet’s announcement, but the Hepburn style has been more widely used in society.

Among the examples is the standalone “n” sound before b, m and p such as in “amman,” steamed buns filled with red bean paste, which is recommended to be written as “anman.” However, for notations that have been well-established in society, such as “shimbun,” which means newspaper in English, the agency intends to handle such cases appropriately with consideration to customary practice.

The agency has additionally proposed uniform rules for spelling long vowels, regardless of whether they are in Hepburn or kunrei.

The agency is soliciting public opinions until Monday through the government’s “e-Gov” portal and other means.