Japan Plans to Replace Kunrei With Hepburn After 70 Years

A new alphabet standard for familiar Japanese names

Japan is preparing to change its official rules for writing Japanese in the Latin alphabet for the first time in seven decades. As of August 21, 2025, the Agency for Cultural Affairs has formally recommended replacing the longstanding Kunrei-shiki system with Hepburn, the system already widely used on road signs, in passports and in materials intended for international readers.

The change is expected to receive approval within the current fiscal year. A subcommittee of the Council for Cultural Affairs has recommended the switch following a review that the agency began in 2022. The proposal would bring official spelling rules closer to the forms many people already recognise: Shibuya instead of Sibuya, Aichi instead of Aiti, and sushi instead of susi.

The practical issue is straightforward. A student can learn one spelling in a Japanese classroom, then encounter another on a street sign or in an international document. Both represent the same Japanese word, but they give someone unfamiliar with the language different clues about how to pronounce it.

Schools, publishers and government agencies would have time to adjust. The proposed transition would take place gradually over several years, with room for individuals and organisations to retain their preferred spellings. Long vowels, which are held for longer when spoken, would also have several permitted forms.

The reform concerns how Japanese is represented in another alphabet. Japanese itself is traditionally written using kanji, characters of Chinese origin, together with kana, the scripts that represent its syllables. Romanization provides a way to write those words using Latin letters for readers, documents and devices that need them.

Why shi, chi and fu make a difference

Romanization is known in Japanese as rōmaji. Its everyday uses include street signs, passports, textbooks and digital devices. For people who cannot read Japanese scripts, those Latin letters can be their first guide to a place name, a person's name or a familiar food.

Hepburn was designed around English sound patterns, making many Japanese spellings more intuitive for English speakers. Kunrei follows the organisation of the Japanese syllabary more closely. A syllabary is a writing system whose symbols represent syllables, such as combinations of a consonant and a vowel.

SoraNews24 explains the difference through the arrangement of kana into consonant and vowel rows. Kunrei preserves that regular pattern in Latin letters, writing si for the syllable Hepburn writes as shi, and ti for chi. The same contrast appears in hu and fu. The regularity is useful to someone who understands the Japanese sound system, while an English speaker may read those letters differently.

The proposal would standardize familiar Hepburn spellings, including shi, chi, tsu and fu. Several examples show what this means in practice:

• Shibuya in Hepburn corresponds to Sibuya in Kunrei.
• Aichi in Hepburn corresponds to Aiti in Kunrei.
• Fukushima in Hepburn corresponds to Hukusima in Kunrei.
• Sushi in Hepburn corresponds to Susi in Kunrei.

Fukushima illustrates two differences in a single name: Hepburn uses fu where Kunrei uses hu, and shi where Kunrei uses si. For an international reader, such choices affect how a word looks and how that reader is likely to say it.

How Japan reached this point

Japan's use of the Latin alphabet reaches back to the 16th century, when Portuguese missionaries developed a system to help spread Christianity. Several approaches emerged over time, reflecting different ideas about how best to represent Japanese sounds and writing.

James Curtis Hepburn, an American missionary, introduced his influential system in the late 19th century. He compiled a Japanese-English dictionary for Western readers, and the spelling approach associated with his name became especially useful for people approaching Japanese through English.

Some Japanese scholars in the early 20th century advocated replacing the entire Japanese writing system with romanization. That movement never gained widespread support. The government instead established Kunrei-shiki as the standard in 1937 and reaffirmed it through a Cabinet notification in 1954.

Kunrei was valued for its regular structure and its close relationship with the kana syllabary and Japanese grammar. As Japan's international connections grew and English became a global common language, Hepburn became the preferred approach in many settings involving foreign readers.

The main stages leading to the current proposal are:

• 16th century: Portuguese missionaries developed an early way to write Japanese using Latin letters.
• Late 19th century: James Curtis Hepburn introduced the system associated with his Japanese-English dictionary.
• 1937: The Japanese government established Kunrei-shiki as its standard.
• 1954: A Cabinet notification reaffirmed Kunrei.
• 2022: The Agency for Cultural Affairs began reviewing the rules.
• August 21, 2025: The recommended move to Hepburn awaits approval, expected within the current fiscal year.

Three systems, different priorities

Hepburn, Kunrei-shiki and Nihon-shiki are the three main systems described in Japan's romanization debate. Each starts with Japanese, but each makes different choices about what Latin letters should communicate.

Hepburn gives particular weight to the way English speakers interpret letters. That helps explain its widespread use in international communication and its familiarity to visitors reading signs or Japanese names abroad.

Kunrei-shiki gives greater weight to the internal organisation of Japanese. The Japan Times notes its relationship with the language's grammar, word formation and etymology, meaning the origins and development of words. Its consistent spelling patterns help preserve connections that may be less obvious in a system designed around English pronunciation.

Nihon-shiki follows kana even more strictly. It is used mainly by linguists and some religious groups. Its place in the discussion shows that romanization can serve different purposes, from helping visitors say a name to helping specialists examine the structure of a language.

Why the official rules and daily use diverged

Kunrei has remained in school textbooks and some official documents, while Hepburn has become dominant in much of public life. Road signs, passports and most materials written in English already use Hepburn. Many Japanese people also use those spellings in everyday situations, particularly when communicating with foreigners.

Kyodo News describes confusion arising from this gap in settings ranging from school textbooks to passport processing. The reform responds to a situation in which the official standard and the spelling people commonly encounter have followed different paths.

A child learning susi at school may later see sushi on a menu intended for international customers. A visitor reading Aiti may be less certain how to pronounce the prefecture's name than someone reading Aichi. Aligning the rules would reduce the need to learn two forms for the same word.

Kunrei's durability nevertheless has an educational explanation. Its regularity helps show how Japanese syllables and grammatical patterns fit together. Some traditionalists argue that this remains useful when teaching the structure of Japanese, even if Hepburn is more accessible to people unfamiliar with that structure.

The proposed reform gives greater weight to communication across languages. It also retains flexibility for names and allows time for existing materials to be updated, addressing concerns about the practical effects of changing a standard that schools and public institutions have used for decades.

What the proposed spelling rules would allow

The new guidelines would use Hepburn forms such as shi, chi, tsu and fu. Asahi Shimbun describes rules that also cover doubled consonants and long vowels, two features that affect how Japanese words are pronounced and written.

A doubled consonant would be represented by repeating the consonant letter. The example given is teppan, written in Japanese as てっぱん. The double p signals a feature of the Japanese pronunciation that would be missed by writing only one p.

Long vowels could be marked with a macron, the horizontal line placed above a vowel, or by repeating a letter. For かあさん, the examples are kāsan and kaasan. Both forms indicate that the a sound is held longer than a short vowel.

Electronic devices create a practical difficulty because typing a macron can take extra steps. The proposal therefore accommodates spellings without those marks, such as judo instead of jūdō. It also allows an added h in forms such as Ohtani, the spelling used by baseball star Shohei Ohtani.

Personal and organisational names would retain room for individual preference. A common standard would give schools and public institutions a reference point, while people and organisations could choose how their own names appear in Latin letters.

That flexibility matters because a person's established spelling may already be used in documents and international communication. The proposal combines more consistent basic syllable spellings with alternatives for features that are harder to represent conveniently on a keyboard.

Schools and agencies would change gradually

The Agency for Cultural Affairs' recommendation is expected to be approved by the education minister. Hepburn would then gradually replace Kunrei in educational materials and official documents. Schools, publishers and government agencies would adapt over several years rather than changing every existing item immediately.

Teachers would be able to focus on spellings that more closely match those students encounter outside the classroom. The reform is intended to reduce confusion and make pronunciation easier to learn, particularly where Japanese romanization meets English education.

Publishers would need to reflect the new standard in educational materials, while government agencies would use it when preparing relevant documents. Because Hepburn is already common in public signage and passports, much of the change would bring the formal rules into line with established practice.

The agency has opened a public comment period for citizens and stakeholders. Officials have explained that the proposed system is intended to provide a clear, consistent reference for official and educational use while leaving room for other popular approaches.

As of August 21, approval is still expected within the current fiscal year. No exact approval date or detailed timetable for each stage of the transition has been given.

What changes for visitors and digital users

Visitors, foreign residents and business travellers depend on consistent place names when navigating Japan. A shared spelling standard would make it easier to connect what appears on a sign with what appears in a document or other material written for international readers.

Japanese companies, organisations and individuals also use Latin letters to present their names and products internationally. Hepburn gives many of those names spellings that English speakers find easier to pronounce, while the flexibility proposed for names allows established choices to continue.

Language Log points to the growing use of romanization in computer input and international communication. Computers and smartphones make Latin letters part of everyday Japanese writing, giving spelling conventions a role beyond printed signs and school lessons.

The guidelines' treatment of long vowels responds to that digital setting. Users could choose an accepted form suited to the device or document they are using, including repeated vowels or familiar spellings without macrons.

The reform's intended benefits span education, signage, documentation and digital communication. In each case, the practical aim is to reduce avoidable differences between the official rules and the spellings already familiar to many users.

Support for clarity, with respect for Kunrei

Linguists and educators have generally welcomed the proposal as a step toward greater consistency. An unnamed language expert quoted by The Japan Times praised the Agency for Cultural Affairs and described how a small number of spelling differences can produce considerable confusion:

The agency can only be congratulated for its bold proposal. The differences between the two systems concern only a handful of syllables, and yet they are the source of much confusion.

Traditionalists place more weight on Kunrei's educational value and its connection to Japanese grammar and sound patterns. Their concern is about retaining a useful way to explain the language's structure, while supporters of Hepburn focus on making its Latin spellings easier to recognise and pronounce internationally.

Public reaction has been described as largely positive, with many Japanese people welcoming the prospect of an official standard that matches the spellings they already see on signs, in passports and in international media.

The government's immediate work is to finalize the guidelines, gather public input and prepare the gradual introduction in schools and official documents. The proposal brings a long established international practice closer to Japan's formal rules while preserving flexibility for names and practical spelling choices.

Key Points

• As of August 21, 2025, Japan is preparing to replace its official Kunrei-shiki romanization standard with Hepburn.
• The Agency for Cultural Affairs began reviewing the rules in 2022, and approval is expected within the current fiscal year.
• The proposed standard uses familiar forms such as Shibuya, Aichi, Fukushima and sushi.
• Hepburn is already widely used on road signs, in passports and in materials written for international readers.
• Schools, publishers and government agencies would adjust gradually over several years.
• The guidelines allow alternatives for long vowels and flexibility in personal and organisational names.
• A public comment period is open, and the reform is intended to reduce confusion between official spelling rules and everyday usage.