Wikizilla:Romanization

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The romanization of Japanese in the representation of Japanese text using Latin characters. Wikizilla follows its own romanization scheme, largely adapted from Hepburn.

Translation of names

When translating the names of Japanese people in to English, plain text should be prioritized and diacritics avoided, especially in page titles. For example, "Ishiro Honda" is preferred over "Ishirō Honda."

Name order

In Japanese, names are formatted in surname-given name order, opposite to American names. Thus, Eiji Tsuburaya's name in Japanese is Tsuburaya Eiji. When translating, the name order should be switched to reflect that of American names.

• Banno Yoshimitsu ❌ → Yoshimitsu Banno ✔️
• Tanaka Tomoyuki ❌ → Tomoyuki Tanaka ✔️
• Takarada Akira ❌ → Akira Takarada ✔️

Preferred names

Some Japanese people, often actors or singers, may stylize their names in English. In this case, the person's preferred name should be used as opposed to the direct translation. Examples of this include:

• Toh EnJoe, not To Enjo
• Tetsuro Tamba, not Tetsuro Tanba
• Tohl Narita, not Toru Narita
• Noriyoshi Ohrai, not Noriyoshi Orai

This does not apply to the names of fictional characters, however. Kiriko Tsujimori's surname should be written Tsujimori, despite her helmet in the film reading "Tuzimori."

Long vowels

As mentioned above, the method by which long vowels are romanized depends on whether or not both vowels are apart of the same morpheme. In the example of Masaaki Tezuka, "Masaaki" is written with two A's due to each vowel being apart of a separate morpheme:

まさ	あき
昌	明
Masa	aki

The first kanji of his surname, 昌, is pronounced masa (まさ) and the second, 明, as aki (あき). Thus, romanizing as "Masaki" is not appropriate in this situation.

• Eichi Asada ❌ → Eiichi Asada ✔️

Eiichi: Ei (えい) + ichi (いち)

• Tadaki Watanabe ❌ → Tadaaki Watanabe ✔️

Tadaaki: Tada (ただ) + aki (あき)

• Yasuyuki Inoe ❌ → Yasuyuki Inoue ✔️

Inoue: Ino (いの) + ue (うえ)

• Tomo Haraguchi ❌ → Tomoo Haraguchi ✔️

Tomoo: Tomo (とも) + o (お)

On the other hand, Nisan Takahashi's given name is not written using two I's. This is due to both vowels being apart of the same morpheme:

にい	さん
二	三
Nī	san

The first kanji, 二, is pronounced nī (にい), the combination of ni (に) and i (い). Because both I's are apart of the same morpheme, they are represented in romaji as a single I with a macron ( ī ), or in plain text as a simple I.

• Eizou Kaimai ❌ → Eizo Kaimai ✔️

Eizo: Ei (えい) + zō (ぞう)

• Kazuki Oomori ❌ → Kazuki Omori ✔️

Omori: Ō (おお) + mori (もり)

• Haberu Katou ❌ → Haberu Kato ✔️

Kato: Ka (か) + tō (とう)

• Shuuzaburou Araki ❌ → Shuzaburo Araki ✔️

Shuzaburo: Shū (しゅう) + zabu (ざぶ) + rō (ろう)