Try the Quiz : COUNTRIES & CONTINENTS (KUNI to TAIRIKU)

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Usage of Japanese Scripts

• There are 3 Japanese scripts : Hiragana, Katakana & Kanji. Mostof the Japanese sentences are written in Hiragana, Katakana & Kanji, all three.
• Hiragana is used for the endings of verbs and for grammatical particles.
• Katakanais used for transcription of words borrowed from foreign languages(except Chinese), mostly English in origin, like country names, personal names, etc.
• Both Hiragana and Katakana are syllabaries in which each symbol represents a spoken syllable, representing exactly the same set of sounds.
• Kanji, which is a set of Chinese characters called sinograms, is used for the nouns and the radicals of verbs.
• The Hiragana script has a Kanji equivalent (excepts the endings of verbs and the particles).
• The Katakana script does not have a Kanji equivalent.
• Whereas Hiragana and Katakana are phonetic representations of sound, Kanji conveys sounds as well as meanings.
• A sentence in Japanese can be written in Hiragana and Katakana only (without Kanji).
• Romaji (Roman letters) is simply the transliteration of  Japanese in the Latin script. It is sometimes used for the convenience of foreigners, mostly on sign-boards and at stations.
• The Romaji vowelsā, ī, ū, ē signify emphasis, and hence are also written asaa, ii, uu et ee. ex. īe = iie
• The vowel ō becomes ou and not oo ex. gakkō = gakkou
• In Katakana, the emphasis on the vowel signifies a long sound written as ー. ex. nōto (notebook), will be written in katakana as : ノート

Example. The sentence 'Australia is a continent and a country too.' is written in :

Japanese Romaji : Ōsutoraria wa tairiku to kuni mo desu. ;

Japanese traditional (Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji) :  オーストラリアは大陸と国もです。; where
Kanji = 大陸 (tairiku = continent),国 (kuni = country) ; Katakana = オーストラリア (Ōsutoraria = Auastralia) and the rest is Hiragana.

Japanese Hiragana and Katakana (without Kanji) : オーストラリアはたいりくと くにもです。
Note - The Kanjis in the sentence written in Japanese traditional, 大陸 and 国 are replaced by their hiragana equivalentsたいりく (tairiku) andくに( kuni) respectively.

Note :
The Katakana vocabulary consists of words which are only to be written in Katakana, with the exception of some Hiragana words written in Katakana for the sake of foreigners. 
ex. Milk (gyūnyū) is a Hiragana word , also written in Katakana Romaji (miruku) in restaurant menus and supermarkets.

Some words are written as a combination of  Hiragana and Katakana.
South Africa = みなみアフリカ where, South (basically a Hiragana word) = みなみ and Africa = アフリカ (Katakana)
North America = きたアメリカ where, North (basically a Hiragana word) = きた and America = アメリカ (Katakana)

Most countries are written in Katakana with the exception of Japan, China, Korea and the continent Antarctica which are written in Hiragana / Kanji.
Japan - Nihon (にほん / 日本)
China - Chūgoku (ちゅうごく / 中国) 
Korea - Kankoku (かんこく / 韓国)
Antarctica - Nanyokutairiku (なんきょくたいりく / 南極大陸)

Romaji Vocabulary  Hiragana Vocabulary   Katakana Vocabulary  Kanji Vocabulary  

Hiragana Alphabets   Katakana Alphabets   Kanji Characters Tables