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

• Node Titles should use the name order used in the popular press.
  • Modern figures usually follow western order: Junichiro Koizumi, Hideki Tojo, Ichiro Suzuki
  • Classical or historic figures should always use Japanese (surname then given name) order: Tanaka Kakuei, Miyamoto Musashi, Tokugawa Ieyasu
• All biographical writeups should display the person's name in Japanese order using kanji (see using unicode below). For example, Matsuo Basho would have the following displayed at the top of his writeup:

  松尾芭蕉

• Please note that these same naming conventions should be used for other Asian languages - Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean, etc. - according to the most common usage.
  • Traditional: Gong Li, Chow Yun Fat
  • Modern: Bridgette Lin, Jackie Chan

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.
    • Thus Fujisan preferred to archaic Huzisan
• 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:
  • Lake Biwa over Biwako, Shinano River over Shinanogawa, Mount Fuji over Fujisan or Fujiyama.
  • Mention the Japanese name in the writeup, with kanji if you can.
  • In a few (very rare) cases, the Japanese name has become accepted into English, such as Kawanakajima, Iwo Jima. Unless you are very sure, assume your node is not in this category, and use the English name.
• Titles of creative works should be in English.
  • Thus Essays in Idleness instead of Tsurezuregusa, Tale of the Heike instead of Heike Monogatari.
  • The writeup should contain the original Japanese name, in kanji if possible.
• Wherever possible, hyphenated forms of Japanese terms should be avoided. Instead, treat the hyphenated word as a single compound word.