Please follow these conventions when writing and editing articles related to Japan.

For more general guidance on editing conventions, see Wikipedia:Manual of Style. For standardized translations of some common Japanese terms, see Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style (Japan-related articles)/Translation note.

English words of Japanese origin

The English Wikipedia is an English-language encyclopedia. An English loan word or place name of Japanese origin should be used in its most common English form in the body of an article, even if it is pronounced or spelled differently from the properly romanized Japanese; that is, use Mount Fuji, Tokyo, jujutsu, and shogi, instead of Fuji-san, Tōkyō, jūjutsu, and shōgi. However, the romanized Japanese form should always be listed in the opening paragraph.

Pluralization

Some Japanese loan words are usually pluralized according to English grammar rules, although this usage may sound odd to Japanese speakers. A few examples are tsunami, tycoon, and futon, which take the plurals tsunamis, tycoons, and futons. In the case of more specialized Japanese words such as koi, sushi, haiku, anime, ronin, manga, or dojo, English-language speakers are often familiar with Japanese word usage, and the words usually lack distinct plural forms. For a few words, such as geisha and kamikaze, both forms of pluralization are acceptable. When in doubt, it is probably best to use a dictionary for reference. Helpful tools include the Merriam Webster website for American-English usage and the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary for British-English usage.

Capitalization of words in Roman script

Titles of songs, and the names of singers, companies and so forth are often capitalized when written in Roman script within a Japanese-language context or (in flyers, posters, etc.) for a Japanese audience, and the relevant publicity departments or fanbases may vehemently insist on the importance of the capitalization. However, these names and name elements are not excluded from the guidance provided by the main manuals of style for English-language Wikipedia, listed above. Words should not be written in all caps in the English Wikipedia. For example, although the title of the manga Bleach is always written as "BLEACH" in Japanese (e.g. in its article within Japanese-language Wikipedia), it should be written as Bleach within the English-language Wikipedia.

Using Japanese in the article body

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March 18, 2006
(3 years, 10 months and 20 days ago)

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