The Japanese script

The Japanese characters contain Hiragana　（ひらがな）, Katakana　（カタカナ） and Kanji　（漢字）.

Below is a list of hiragana and katakana characters.

Hiragana is used in normal writing. These are syllabic symbols, which are derived from Kanji by simplifying them. Japanese words are written either in Hiragana or Kanji, or both.

Katakana, also syllabic symbols, are derived from Kanji by using one side of a character. Katakana is used for:

• Words of foreign origin other than Chinese.
• Foreign names and other proper nouns.
• Names of originally foreign plants and animals.
• Onomatopoeia (and sometimes mimesis).
• Telegrams.

For example, restaurant is written as レストラン, not れすとらん as there are no restaurants (not exactly) in Japan traditionally.

Kanji are originally Chinese words. Most kanji have more than two readings, which are used in different contexts.
E.g. 日 can be read as にち or び (there are more).