What follows is the policy for noding all things Japan-related on E2, as determined by bakufu, the E2 usergroup created to handle such sticky questions. If you have a question regarding anything related to Japan, Japanese language and culture, or Japan-related noding that is not covered here, please /msg any member of the bakufu usergroup and we will be happy to assist you!


Naming Conventions

Use Unicode over EUC and Others

  • If you are going to use kanji, hanzi, hanja, hiragana, katakana, hangul, etc., be sure to read Using Unicode on E2.
    • The honorable gn0sis has laid out all the reasons at said node.
    • The honorable tongpoo has a javascript there to convert text into Unicode HTML entities, also in said node.
    • The honorable liveforever has javascripts at the hiragana and katakana nodes for typing out Unicode HTML entities for those scripts.
  • The honorable microlith suggests using Mozilla, as it automatically converts input to HTML entities. Microsoft Internet Explorer can display the entities with no problem, but will only input in Shift-JIS and JIS (depending on your IME settings).
  • For those whose OS does not support Japanese (Windows 98/Windows NT 4.0Eng) or isn't set up for it, microlith recommends getting JWPce at http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~grosenth/c_ main.html as it works on Windows and Linux (with the help of Wine). It's a decent word processor and has a built in Japanese/English dictionary based on EDict (as well as being GPL, for those interested). It does not save (yet) into unicode HTML entities, but provides a decent editing environment.

Node Titles

  • We do not represent Japanese long vowels in node titles. Get used to it.
    • NEVER use macrons or circumflexes in node titles.
    • Do not use long vowels "ou", "oo", "uu", or "aa" in node titles. Instead use "o", "u", or "a".
      • This means "Tokyo" instead of "Toukyou", "sumo" instead of "sumou", and "Osaka" instead of "Oosaka".
      • However, you are free (nay, even encouraged) to use long vowels within the body of your writeups for accuracy, just not within the node title
    • With the exception of long vowels noted above, always use Hepburn spellings in node titles.
  • For grammatic particles, use the modern transliterations of は, へ, and を:
    • In node titles, transliterate the particle を as "o", NEVER as "wo".
    • Transliterate the particle は as "wa", NEVER as "ha".
    • Transliterate the particle へ as "e", NEVER as "he".
    • Note that characters は and へ should still be transliterated as "ha" and "he" when they appear within other words, just not when they are particles.
  • For geographic features, use English names:
  • Titles of creative works should be in English.
  • Wherever possible, hyphenated forms of Japanese terms should be avoided. Instead, treat the hyphenated word as a single compound word.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.