Nippon-shiki

From Wacklepedia - The Free Encyclopedia

Nippon-shiki (日本式), or "Japan-style," is a system for rendering the Japanese language in the Latin alphabet (romaji). It conforms strictly to the kana writing system, and is easier for Japanese natives to interpret than the more anglicized Hepburn system: however, most foreigners find it to be unintuitive to pronounce.

Some examples:

English	Hiragana	Hepburn	Nippon-shiki
Mount Fuji	ふじさん	Fujisan	Huzisan
train	れっしゃ	ressha	ressya
kana spelling	かなづかい	kanazukai	kanadukai
tea	おちゃ	ocha	otya
governor	ちじ	chiji	tizi

The system was invented by physicist Akitsu Tanakadate in 1885. Since then, the Kunrei-shiki has been developed as a compromise between Nippon and Hepburn. The JSL system, which is targeted at foreign students of Japanese, is also based on Nippon-shiki.