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<h3>Japanese Language</h3>
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<p>Pronounce Japanese vowels like Italian: <b>a</b> as in "father," <b>e</b> as in "sled," <b>i</b> as in "free," <b>o</b> as in "no," <b>u</b> as in "fool." Consonants are like English, with <b>g</b> as in "girl," and <b>j</b> as in "juice."
Words tend to be accented on the first syllable, for example, "<b>O</b>-saka" not "O-<b>sa</b>-ka."

<p>Japanese names are written family name first, personal name second - "Toyotomi Hideyoshi" is "Hideyoshi" (personal name) of the Toyotomi family. "No" means "of," and appears frequently in older personal names. For example,
Fujiwara no Yorimichi = Yorimichi of the Fujiwara Clan.

<p>Japanese nouns have the same form in singular and plural: "bushi" = "warrior" or "warriors," depending on the context. Written Japanese is greatly complicated by the historical use of Chinese characters. Kanji is the native system of writing.

<p>Honorific speech is frequently encountered (<b>o-cha</b>, "honorable tea"). See, for example, <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honorific_speech_in_Japanese>Honorific Speech In Japanese</a> on Wikipedia.

<p>Japanese frequently creates compound words by putting simpler words together. For example, "bushi-do" is "the way of the warrior," and "yama-bushi" means "mountain warriors." Compounds are sometimes hyphenated in English transcription, but not consistently: "bushido" is much more common than "bushi-do", but "To-ji" and "Toji" are about equally common.

<p><u>Useful Combining Words:</u>
<p><b>bushi</b> = warrior
<br><b>den</b> = hall
<br><b>dera</b> = temple   
<br><b>do</b> = way, road, hall
<br><b>dori</b> = street
<br><b>go-</b> = 
"the second", in Imperial names (Go-Daigo = Daigo II)
<br><b>ji</b> = temple
<br><b>jima</b> = island
<br><b>jo</b> = castle
<br><b>mon</b> = gate
<br><b>no</b> = of
<br><b>o</b> = honorific
<br><b>san</b> = mountain
<br><b>san, sama</b> = honorific
<br><b>to</b> = east
<br><b>yama</b> = mountain

<p><u>Additional Minor, but Interesting, Points</u>
<p><b>1</b>. When spelled in English, the Japanese language  distinguishes pretty strongly between between long "o" and short "o". The Japanese long "o" used to be written as <b>oh</b>, but with modern typesets the preferred writing is <b>ō</b>. For example, <b>Noh</b> = <b>Nō</b>.

<p><b>2</b>. When a Japanese combining word falls at the end of a compound, English will often translate the end-word. That's ok, as long as you don't double it. For example, "Kiyomizu-dera" is often written in English as "Kiyomizu-dera Temple." But this doesn't make sense, because -dera already means temple! It is like saying "Kiyomizu Temple Temple." The proper way to write it is  either "Kiyomizu-dera" or "Kiyomizu Temple." 

<p><b>3</b>. Alert readers will, no doubt, find many violations of the above points on this website. Due to the practicalities of English language (guidebooks, computer search, etc.) I've kept many spellings that are, technically, incorrect but yet so common in English that it would be futile to try to correct them.  
                  
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