Punctuation
Languages such as English are notorious for being very strict when it comes to punctuation rules (句読法). Sometimes, dialects of the same language can differ in how punctuation operates, especially the use of commas and periods. Punctuation marks (約物) also exist in Japanese, but unlike so many languages, there are no concrete guidelines that govern how punctuation should operate. In fact, it is hardly ever a talking point in Japanese language studies (国語) in schooling.
In the modern era, text (文章) is viewed as being made up of sentences (文), which form phrases (文節) that then form paragraphs (段落). While this basic framework in which punctuation operates may seem universal, this is not the case whatsoever.
What even defines a word (単語) is not universally constant, so the combination of words in a logical fashion, then, is necessarily dictated by what is deemed logical within individual language communities.
In the context of Japanese, words are heavily modified, especially those which function as predicates. This characteristic, along with its script being a mixed system of logograms and syllabaries, has resulted in spacing (分かち書き) itself largely being absent, as spaces (スペース) would be limited to where divides would not break up unbreakable chains.
Even the most basic punctuation marks in English – the period (.), comma (,) and question mark (?) – are functionally redundant in Japanese grammar, with the period’s function being covered by the 終止形, the comma being covered by conjunctive particles (接続助詞) or the 連用形, and the question mark being covered by the particle か.
Even once we have what can be defined as a paragraph, English and Japanese still do not meet eye to eye. There are two forms of paragraphing present in Japanese, with one arguably mirroring the way paragraphs are formed in the English-speaking world:
- 意味段落: A chunk of text that constitutes one meaning=thought.
- 形式段落: Several sentences that could stand as individual thoughts, and thus their own paragraphs, but are consolidated into one block to paint a bigger picture.
Of these styles, 意味段落 describes how the majority of Japanese text is structured, with 形式段落 matching what English readers are more accustomed to seeing.
In this lesson, we will study the various punctuation marks that are in use in Modern Japanese, with some even being unique to Japanese. While the use of some marks may not be as rule-bound as their English equivalents, punctuation still provides a rich layer of nuancing power, and there are still generalizations that can be studied to help you, as a learner, to use them in Japanese-like fashion.
Another very important preface to make is that while punctuation is not as rigidly codified in Japanese as it is in other standardized languages, it is also not a free-for-all as is purported by educators, natives, and learners alike. To approach punctuation as objectively as possible, real life examples as well as citations from the Ministry of Culture’s (文化庁) most recent attempt at punctuation guidelines—公用文作成の考え方（建議）(2022)—will be incorporated.
The Period: 句点・まる
The formal means of referring to the period in Japanese is the 句点, but depending on whether you are referring to the English period (.) or the Japanese period (。), the typical naming convention will pivot toward ピリオド and まる respectively.
Generally speaking, the Japanese period 。is used in both horizontal and vertical text, following a norm established during the Meiji Restoration. However, a Western-adopted alteration of the English “.” – its full-width variant ．has been present in predominantly horizontal text in varying capacities. While attempts to restrict the Japanese variety to vertical text and the Western variety to horizontal text have been made, even in official documentation, in reality, the Western ．has hardly seen use, to the point that as of 2022, 。has become the default period in official use1.
In English and Japanese, periods denote the end of a statement and/or sentence, even when the statement/sentence is inverted.
1. 大雨の影響で三重県内では桑名市で少なくとも７棟の住宅が、菰野町で１棟が床上まで水につかりました。
Due to the effect of heavy rain there are 7 houses at least in Kuwana City inside Mie Prefecture and one house in Komono Town where they are submerged in water above floor level.
2. 来た、来た、あの猫が。
It came, it came, that cat.
4. おいしい、これ。
This is delicious.
Even so, Japanese, especially when paragraphing norms mean that nothing immediately follows, full stops are not always present, and it is not the case that the presence of tacked-on text in paragraphs affects the lack of a period.
5. このことは、すでに第四章で説明した（六十七頁参照)
This is already explained in Chapter 4 (See Pg. 67) .
6. HPが１秒ごとに最大値の5％ずつ減少（ダメージ軽減不可）
HP decreases by 5% of maximum value per second (damage cannot be reduced).
When the sentence constitutes a quote, the period is placed before the closing quotation mark. In non-American English varieties, the opposite is true, with the closing quotation mark coming before the period.
In Japanese second-language education, punctuation within quotes composed of only one phrase/sentence are frequently seen, but this arguably to get learners used to seeing 「」(known as 鍵括弧; see below) and not a direct reflection of how periods are used in conjunction with them. This is because the use of any form of quotation mark, parentheses, etc. used in Japanese is entirely avoided in mainstream Japanese learning textbooks2. This results in examples like:
7a. 「どっちへ。」「葛飾まで。」
7b. 「どっちへ」「葛飾まで」
“To where?” “To Katsushika”
In actual practice, 7b, which does not feature 。, is deemed the norm found in well-written writing3. When more than one phrase is present, non-final phrases which are ended by full stops are marked by 。, but for the final phrase/sentence, the norm is, just as we see in Ex. 7b., to NOT use 。, especially when narration follows4, with the closing quotation mark functioning as both a comma and as a line break following Japanese paragraphing norms.
8. 「男同士の話し合いだ。君が口を出すことはないだろう」
弘治はぴしゃりと言った。
“Men are talking. There is no need for you to interject,”
Koji said sharply.
From 『水の炎』by 松本清張.
As for the relationship between 。and parentheses （）, a great reference would be the guidelines issued in 2022 via the 公用文作成の考え方（建議）(Recommendations on How to Approach the Preparing of Official Documents) .
※The translations of the examples given are meant to not reflect the norms established in the Japanese text, as that would defeat the purpose of comparing and contrasting the biases between the Japanese norms being outlined and the norms used in English that one would have to use anyway to naturally translate the text.
- Whenever a sentence ends within a parentheses, use a 。. Do not, however, use a period when using parentheses in quotations or non-sentences (nouns, words, emphatic phrases, dates, etc.). Also, do not use a period when the sentences ends with a noun.
This rule explains the lack of periods in Exs. 5-6. In addition, the example provided in this guideline is punctuated as follows:
9a.（以下「基本計画」という。） 「決める。」と発言した。
9b. 議事録に「決める」との発言があった。「決める」という動詞を使う。
9c. 国立科学博物館（上野） 「わざ」を高度に体現する。
9a. (They) made the statement, that they would “decide on it,” (hereinafter referred to as the “Master Plan”) .
9b. The remark “(we) will decide (on it)” was in the record—utilizing the verb “to decide.”
9c. The National Museum of Nature and Science (Ueno): Highly embodies “waza” (skill).
- Differentiate the relationship between parentheses and periods in sentence-final position. When the end of a sentence occurs within parentheses, if it is a partial annotation, place a period after the closing parentheses. If it is annotation of two or more sentences or an entire piece of text, place a period between the end of the last sentence and the parentheses.
The examples provided are as follows:
10. 当事業は一時休止を決定した。ただし、年内にも再開を予定している（日程は未定である。）。
(We) have decided to temporarily suspend the project. However, we plan to resume it sometime this year (date to be determined)5.
11. 当事業は一時休止を決定した。ただし、年内にも再開を予定している。(別紙として、決定に至った経緯に関する資料を付した。)
We have decided to temporarily suspend this project. However, we plan to resume it sometime this year. (Please see the attached document for details on how we have reached this decision.)
The ピリオド
Whether the ピリオド blanketly replaces 。in horizontal writing is left to a writer’s discretion, it does find itself used in dates and as a decimal point. In these contexts, the choice between the full-width ．and the half-width . is contingent on the width of the surrounding numbers.
12. 99.4.5 (Half-Width)
March 5, 1999
13. ９５．３５ (Full-Width)
95.35
読点（とうてん） & コンマ
The Japanese-style comma 、is formally referred to as the 読点, or colloquially simply as テン, whereas the Western-style comma which appears in its full-width form ，is referred to as the コンマ.
Just as we learned with the period, generally speaking, the Japanese comma 、is used in both horizontal and vertical text, following a norm established during the Meiji Restoration.
14. 出た，出た，月が。
It’s out, it’s out, the moon.
However, the Western-style “，” been present in predominantly horizontal text in varying capacities. While attempts to restrict the Japanese variety to vertical text and the Western variety to horizontal text have been made, even in official documentation, in reality, the Western ，has hardly seen use, to the point that as recently as 2022, that 、has become the default period in official use.
At a basic understanding, the comma is used at the writer’s discretion to denote a pause, with the most intuitive place that English and Japanese share being after dependent clauses, sentence-initial conjunctions, sentence-initial interjections, and many sentence-initial adverbial phrases, many of which are topicalized expressions. Of course, listing things out is also a core function that is often shared, even in colloquial texts in which punctuation is least rigid in Japanese.
15. でも、その古い教育をまだやってるバカ教師がいる。
But, there are still some stupid teachers who educate in that old-fashioned manner.
In recent decades, it has become increasingly common to omit commas after sentence-initial conjunctions in English, but for the purpose of showcasing areas of overlap between English and Japanese comma use, a comma is duly placed after “But” in the translation above.
16. 最近体調崩してたみたいだけど、治った？
I heard you haven’t been feeling well lately, but have you gotten better?
Due to the structure of Japanese dependent clauses, the 、comes after the conjunctive particle けど, but this is still parallel with how the , comes before “but” in English.
17. 東京、名古屋、大阪、福岡、などが日本では大都市である。
Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka, etc. are major cities in Japan.
In many contexts, such as listing involving the deletion of parallel particles, sentence-initial interjections such as in Ex. 18, many adverbial clauses like in Ex. 19, etc. involve obligatory commas (絶対読点6).
18. ごめん、変なことを聞いちゃったかもしれない。
Sorry, that might have been a weird question for me to ask.
19. 「主人」「旦那」「奥さま」には本来、差別的な意味はない。
The words, “shujin,” “danna,” and “okusama,” inherently, do not have discriminatory meanings.
20a. 私は、反対です。（△）7
20b. 私は反対です。
As for me, I’m against it.
Provided that the particle は is used in its contrastive nuance, Ex. 20a is not necessarily unnatural in Japanese, but it turns out that such topicalized phrases do not always get a 、 after them if the rest of the sentence is notably short. In fact, this is true of any sentence that is deemed too short, in which cases natural pauses are highly unlikely. A similar phenomenon regarding sentence length and commas can be found in English too.
ii. In the US(,) that’s true.
21. これさ、バイデンが悪い、トランプが悪いって両方聞くけど、正直どちらに問題があるかわからない。
So, about this, I hear how “Biden is bad” and how “Trump is bad,” but, honestly, I don’t know which one is at fault.
Had there been more than two indirect quotes listed beyond “Biden is bad” and “Trump is bad,” commas would have necessarily demarcated the boundaries between each thing listed in English, but in Japanese, we see that this number restriction of three(+) does not exist.
iii. So, about this, I hear how “Biden is bad,” Trump is bad,” and that “Jill Stein is bad” like the rest of them, but I don’t know who to point blame at.
22. もし、落語に興味があるならば、新宿廣亭とか、浅草演芸場（とか）がおすすめ。
If… you’re interested in rakugo, I recommend Shinjuku Hirotei, Asakusa Engeijo, etc.
Following up on how 、can appear in lists of less than three explicitly stated references, this includes when the particles responsible for listing in Japanese are partially dropped. We also see how the sentence-initial adverb もし is accompanied with a 、, which is similar to how “…” is used in the English translation.
Naturally, pauses also occur after the 終止形, as its purpose is to mark the end of an independent clause. From an English mindset, 。would seem like the only logical punctuation choice, but this is actually not the case.
23a. 父も喜び、母も喜んだ。
23b. 父も喜んだ、母も喜んだ。
My father and my mother were joyous.
As Ex. 23b. demonstrates, 、often takes the place of where a period or semi-colon might be structurally placed in English (provided the translation is faithful to the original layout of the sentence(s)). This and other examples like Exs. 24-25 can be explained as indicating a continuation of a “single” thought that just so happens to be composed of multiple sentences.
24. おかしいな、乗る電車のホーム側にいたはずと思ったのにな。
That’s strange. I could’ve sworn I was on the platform side of the train I was going to board.
25. こういうことに厳しいから、だから英語でもアメリカ以上にスペルミスを減点するの。
That’s because they’re strict on those sort of things, which is why they deduct points more heavily for spelling mistakes, even in English, more than they do in America.
In Ex. 25, [こういうことに厳しいから] is a complete sentence responding to the previous statement made by the other party, which is then immediately followed by the next sentence but which continues the thought. In doing so, だ encompasses the meaning of [こういうことに厳しいから].
In all fairness, this does happen to an extent in English, if one is willing to allow loose adherence to the rule that ALL independent clauses must end in a period.
iv. Come on. I told you this would happen.
v. Come on, I told you this would happen.
vi. Come on; I told you this would happen.
v. is, by far, the prevalent means of punctuating here, but in the past, depending on the complexity of similar phrases such as “come on,” a comma, semi-colon, or even an exclamation point would have likely prevailed.
Inverted sentences such as Ex. 14 and Ex. 26, incidentally, cause the use of 、 to seem less unnatural to an English reader, even though if the same rules of English punctuation were applied, that would be contradictory.
26. 聞いたか、僕のいうことを？
Did you hear… what I said?
Even within the environments shown so far, the degree as to how far Japanese goes with commas exceeds that of the constraints set in American English. In Japanese, commas can theoretically appear after any complement at any point in a sentence. This does not mean, however, that the commas are mandatory or that they will always appear in the same locations in structurally analogous sentences.
27. 私、ネイティブでもなんでもない英語の先生に、文末の「.」が鉛筆はかすれて少し「,」に見えたっていう理由で減点されたことある。
My English teacher, who was even remotely a native speaker, would deduct points from me because my “.” at the end of sentences would look like “,” when my pencil would smudge.
Ex. 27 shows several structural differences between English and Japanese, which also relates to how commas appear differently in the two languages. 、appears after 私 partially due to the zero-particle phenomenon at play, in which commas are almost always present. Meanwhile ,, appears around the modifier of “My English teacher” due to being placed after it, whereas this word order triggering of commas to appear is not possible in Japanese.
28. 「今、成田？あ、ロサンゼルスか。あんまり綺麗でもない空港だった記憶がある」
“Are you in… Narita right now? Oh, Los Angeles. I remember as not being the prettiest airport (I’ve been to).”
While [今、成田？] is incredibly short for a sentence, the 、is an obligatory comma due to emphasis on the now leading into the next detail. Structurally, 今、is very much like 私、in Ex. 27, in that 今 is not the overarching topic of discussion, and so the speaker does not opt to use the particle は, and the raising of the time phrase to the front suffices in providing the needed emphatic affect.
29. 落とした場所が、道路を封鎖してイベントやってる場所だったの。
I dropped it where this event was going on that had the road closed off.
In Japanese, the 、appears after the sentence-initial subject, but even if the English faithfully mirrored the Japanese wording, a , would not be placed after “the place where I dropped it” unless it was incorporated in a dependent clause:
i. As for where I dropped it,
30. 先生の字も、はねてないのに
Even though my teacher’s handwriting didn’t have hooks.
Setting aside how periods are often not used at all in single-sentence responses in casual writing, which is also true in English texting, we see that 、after [先生の字], which can be viewed as a topicalized expression despite , not appearing in the English despite being far more parallel in structure. This goes to show how “topicalized expressions” is not so much a parameter as clausal structures are in English as to whether a comma will appear.
31. １２月に、オースティンに引っ越す予定だよ。
I’m planning to move to Austin in December.
In December, I’m planning to move to Austin.
Conversely, we find commonality between English and Japanese when it comes to moving certain complements to the front of the sentence, most notably time and location phrases. In Japanese, it just so happens that this raising of certain complements is completely natural in most contexts, whereas in English, that is far from being always the case (with the first translation being more natural than the latter). However, the point is in regard to comma placement.
32. 音楽も大きかったから落としたことに気づかなかったんだと思う。
I think I didn’t notice that I dropped it because of how loud the music was.
While the lack of a 、may seem perfectly natural to an English speaker upon having accounted for the difference in word order, not always placing a comma after the conjunctive particle から would still prove to be a challenge in practice.
33. この真心が天に通じ、人の心をも動かしたのであろう。彼の事業はようやく村人の間に理解されはじめました。
This sincerity must have the reached the heavens and touched the hearts of the people, for his work finally began to be understood by the villagers.
Here, we see a reordering of sentence boundaries between English and Japanese, but the placement of 、after the 連用形 is not difficult for English learners to predict and use in practice.
34. 昨夜、帰宅以来、お尋ねの件について（、）当時の日誌を調べてみましたところ、やはり（、）そのとき申し上げた通りでありました。
Last night, after returning home, in regards to matter I was asked, just when I looked through my diary at the time, it was as to be expected just as I had said then.
Here, we have an example in which extensive comma use is present in both languages and in parallel fashion. As noted by the parentheses, however, that is still contingent on the writer’s preference (as far as the Japanese is concerned).
35. 坊や、おいで。
Get over here, boy.
While the word order present in the Japanese and English are inversions of each other, the comma use present is intuitively the same.
36. こんにちは、いいお天気ですね。
Hello, the weather sure is nice, isn’t it?
Just as is the case in English, the 、is quite natural and intuitive to use after aizuchi.
When there is more than one attribute, the first attribute is typically marked by a comma when the attributes are listed without the aid of the conjunctive particle て.
37. クジャクは、長い、美しい尾を扇のように広げました。
The peacock expanded its long, beautiful tail like a fan.
Oddly enough, there are also instances of 、immediately between modifiers and what they are modifying.
38. でも、私達みたいな、”legal immigrants”や、純粋にアメリカで研究開発をしている外国人も怯えて暮らしているんだけど。
But even people like us, “legal immigrants”/”foreigners who are genuinely working in research and development in the US,” are living in fear, though.
While there are several other unique points to be made about the punctuation differences between the original text and the English translation here in Ex. 35, the reason for why 、appears after [私達みたいな] is so that it modifies all of [“legal immigrants”や、純粋にアメリカで研究開発をしている外国人].
While not necessarily in conflict with English norms when word order differences are accounted for, English learners often find 、appearing inside participial phrases jarring, with the jarring impression greater when more than one clause composes the greater participle, as the English mind is prompted to then expect an independent clause when, in fact, the Japanese has yet to finish describing what is, in fact, one big phrase.
39. [毛利氏が、永禄初年に備中国をほぼ手中にした]ことはすでに述べた通りであるが、…
As already mentioned, the Mori Clan had gained control of most of Bitchu Province in the early years of the Eiroku Period.
In Ex. 39 there are three primary reasons for why 、is present:
- The complement [毛利氏] is being emphasized, and that emphasis is naturally accompanied with a pause.
- The modifier [毛利氏が、永禄初年に備中国をほぼ手中にした] itself is long, and the longer any phrase gets in Japanese, the more likely commas will appear.
- While the modifier is technically a participle modifying こと, dummy nouns – or any noun serving a grammatical purpose, especially when ending a subordinate clause – commas can appear in the same sort of clauses in English, albeit following its own set of rules.
While complement emphasis alone does not necessitate comma use in English, contexts such as Ex. 39 can still be found in English, and there are other factors such as listing that can help normalize the presence of 、within participles in general.
40. 今までが、そうじゃなかっただけで・・・
It’s just that until now, I haven’t had to…
41. 三十四、五の、背の高い紳士だった。
(He) was a tall gentleman, about thirty-four or thirty-five years old.
42. 康子の字は、丸みを帯びた、かわいらしい字だった。
Yasuko’s handwriting was rounded and cutesy.
In Ex. 42, the 、would never be omitted, and this is the case of any conjugated modifier that is not immediately before the noun it modifies, so that all modifiers present are marked as going with said noun.
Ultimately, 、 appearing after a given complement within a complex modifier is to be expected, but where its usage can be erroneous is when structural ambiguity comes into play, which involves multiple possible clausal boundaries, as clauses can be within clauses which can be within clauses, and where one draws the lines between them can change the meaning of the sentence.
In both languages, commas are used to help avoid such ambiguity. Consider the following.
43.その蝶々はヒラヒラと舞いながら、[落ちてくる]木の葉の中を飛んだ。
As the butterflies fluttered, they flew through the falling leaves.
44. その蝶々は、[ヒラヒラと舞いながら落ちてくる]木の葉の中を飛んだ。
The butterflies flew the leaves, which fluttered in the air as they fell.
In Ex. 43, the butterfli(es) are fluttering, but in Ex. 44, it is the leaves that are fluttering as they fall. Incidentally, conjunctive particles are notorious for possibly being within the scope of a modifier or not, and 、help definitely say which interpretation is possible. While encountering bad writing is possible in Japanese, as it is in any language, the placement of 、is meant to alleviate such confusion, not to exacerbate confusion.
43′. その蝶々はヒラヒラと舞いながら、落ちてくる木の葉の中を飛んだ。??
Intended Meaning: The butterflies flew the leaves, which fluttered in the air as they fell.
Misplaced commas like in Ex. 43′ exemplify many cases of badly written Japanese. While context may ultimately still alleviate confusion to the writer (who has a bias for what they wrote due to their inner monologue already dictating what was meant) and reader, Japanese speakers are adept masters at figuring out the intended meaning of a structurally ambiguous statement, even when written down. However, such instances of bad writing normally do not make it into print on account of sloppiness depreciating the value of a work.
45. 二重に曲げて、くびにかける数珠。
A rosary that is double layered and worn around the neck.
In this simple example, the use of 。and the lack of anything else helps make it clear that the entirety of [二重に曲げて、首にかける] modifies 数珠. As the conjunctive particle ながら has demonstrated and what て is now showing us is that they are not just the boundary between a “dependent clause and an independent clause,” but they can also serve that function within a modifier. Granted, the particle て happens to be highly sensitive to context in how it is interpreted, but those relationships can still be found within complex modifiers due to Japanese allowing sentences of any length and complexity to be morphed into a modifier.
In the spoken language, punctuation naturally does not exist, which begs the question how speakers discern these boundaries, so much so that when it comes down to putting things to paper, this all begs the question whether 、correspond to natural divisions divided on semantic lines or simply to pauses (and from there discerning what the pauses indicate). In reality, both cases are true, and how the spoken language facilitates all this is via intonation. Arguably, it is the written language that makes structural ambiguity so apparent for the very reason that we cannot hear how the sentence was uttered, robbing us of all the verbalized cues that would have deleted most ambiguity that would arise on paper.
Be that as it may, we are forced to limit our discussion to the written language and the textualized rendition of the spoken language.
45′. 二重に曲げて、首に懸ける数珠。
A rosary that is double layered and worn around the neck.
It also goes without saying that there was a subtle issue of ambiguity in Ex. 45 caused by spelling 首 as くび in which the use of kanji would alleviate said ambiguity. As for what the source of ambiguity is, if a comma were not present, てくび could be interpreted as 手首.
Going back to more basic tendencies regarding the presence of 、, you may expect to see it before 「 as well as after 」と.
46. 徳山専務は、それを見送って弘治に、「常務がわれわれの事業にあれほど興味をしめしたんです。間違いないと思いますな」と、ご機嫌だった。
After seeing off the Managing Director, Senior Executive Director Tokuyama tells Koji in high spirits, “their Managing Director there has shown us considerable interest in our business. I’m sure there’s no doubt about it.”
From 「水の炎」by 松本清張.
47.「もちろんですとも」と、徳山は、弘治の手をかたく握った。
“Of course,” Tokuyama says, shaking Koji’s hand firmly.
From 「水の炎」by 松本清張.
Commas are notably used with numbers in (official) documents, in which case using ，as opposed to the more ubiquitous 、is common. Whichever is used, a comma is expected every three digits, following how commas are placed in English.
48. 二，三〇〇円
Two, three hundred yen
49. 三五六，五六七，三五二人
356,567,352 people
As for Ex. 48, the comma should also be expected to avoid ambiguity, as 二三〇〇円 would instead mean 2,300 yen. Meaning, the use of ，in Ex. 48 and Ex. 49 ought not to be perceived as the same environment.
However, for large numbers like 356,567,352, it is far more common to have Japanese units such as 万 (10^4), 億 (10^8), 兆 (10^12) to intervene, and when this happens, commas are notably absent to avoid confusion.
50a. 1億2,644万3,000人 ？
50b. 1億2644万3000人 ◎
126, 443,000 people
感嘆符
Also known by the English-derived name エスクラメーションマーク8, a ！ is used to show great exclamation. In Japanese writing, the full-width version is predominant.
51. 一体全体どうなってるんだ！
What on earth!
It is also quite common to see !! as one glyph or as ！！.
52. だめだ！！
No!!
The 疑問符
Also known by the English-derived name クエスチョンマーク9, a ？, usually seen as such in its full-width form, is used to denote a question emphatically, as the particle か suffices to denote a question in Japanese. By including ？ anyway, the writer can better indicate a sharp rise in intonation. If, however, the particle か is dropped, ？ helps the reader understand that the sentence is a question.
53. えっ、どういうこと？
Huh, what do you mean?
？ may also be used in tandem with ！, in which case the typical ordering is ！？, but ？！ may also be used to highlight doubt. In Japan, ！？, which also frequently appears in its half-width form !?, is the prevailing variant.
54. え、本当！？
What, really?!
55. え、どうしたの？！
Huh, what’s the matter?!
リーダー
Usually three dots (三点リーダー) or more to indicate silence, elapsing of time, emotional reaction, ellipsis, etc.
56. えっと・・・何？
Uh….what?
57. 「それからね・・・・・・いやいや、もうなんにも申し上げますまい」
“Then,…….no, no, I already don’t want to say anything any more.”
58. ・・・・・・そして１０分後。
……10 minutes later.
59. ついに敵を倒した・・・かと思いきや・・・・・・
Just when… (I) thought I had finally taken down the enemy……
60. ん・・・
Hm……
When lengthened to a whole chain, it is then called a 点線, “a line of dots.” This is used frequently to show that there is an omission of text afterward or to context text in chart(-like) text including titles and page numbers in table of contents.
61. 第百章………………………………..567ページ
Chapter 100………………………..Page 567
中線
The 中線, ―, which is often longer, is essentially the Japanese version of a dash. As the exact 中線 seen so much in Japanese literature is often not available in typing, it is usually replaced with two dashes (ダッシュ). As far as terminology is concerned, 中線 ＝ ダッシュ. This is only a typographical difference.
The 中線, which is the official term for this punctuation mark, is often used to denote cut-off speech to provide a lingering effect.
62. 「それはね、――いや、もうやめしましょう。」
“That,….no, let’s just quit already.”
63. 「まあ、ほんとうにおかわいそうに――。」
“Well, [subject] really is pitiful.”
In the place of 「」, it may separate text from the main body of the sentence, but it is more detached.
64. これではならない――といって起ちあがったのが彼であった。
The one saying that this won’t work and got up was him.
It may also be used to show spatial/temporal distance. In this sense, it can also function as から～まで.
65. 五分―十分―十五分
Five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes
66. 上野―新橋
Ueno to Shinbashi
It can also be used in the sense of すなわち.
67. 心持―心理学の用語によれば情緒とか気分とか状態意識とかいうのであるが、
Feeling—according to psychological terminology is things like emotion, mood, and situation awareness, but…
It may set things aside for explanatory emphasis, mean “from…to…”, and set numbers or names apart in Japanese addresses. It should be written vertically in vertical text.
It is worth noting that ― has nothing to do with the 長音符 used with かな to denote vowel elongation, and their glyphs are, in fact, distinct. Whereas ― was imported from European languages, the 長音符 is derived from right-hand side of 引 in vertical writing, having been in use well before the 明治時代 (Meiji Period).
中黒
The 中黒10, also 中点, may juxtapose similar items, act as a decimal, show the date, juncture foreign compound words, and separate titles, names, and positions.
68. 一四・七
14.7
69. ヒラリー・クリントン
Hillary Clinton
70. 平成一三・五・二六
May 26, Heisei 13 (2001)
71. 安心と信頼・品質をあなたへ
Peace of mind and trust/quality to you
72. 全銀協会長・永易克典
Japanese Banker’s Association Head, Katsunori Nagayasu
73. 東京・大阪
Tokyo-Osaka
74. 大阪・京都・神戸
Osaka-Kyoto-Kobe
傍線
The 傍線11, also known as the 脇線, is a line that directs the reader’s attention to a certain section in a text, making it the equivalent of underlining. In vertical text, such lines would go to the right of the text, but in horizontal text, such lines go below the text.
75. そう考えられる。
The 脇点（わきてん）
The 脇点12 is a comma-like italic punctuation mark in Japanese vertical text that is used to direct some sort of special attention to what it is beside. It can also appear like a period.
スペース
While Japanese is largely known for its lack of spacing, spaces (スペース) are utilized to some extent.
76. スペースは かなのみでの ぶんに つかわれているよ。
Spaces are only used in kana-only sentences.
Spaces may also appear after ！and ？; however, such spacing becomes unnecessary when these marks appear within quotation marks.
77. 何？ 分かりません。
What? I don’t understand.
Spaces may also help demarcate segments of a title or name.
78. 大和銀行 大阪支店
Yamato Bank, Osaka Branch
79. 藤原 恵子
Keiko Fujiwara
The 鉤括弧 & 二重括弧
The 鉤括弧 is the true Japanese quotation mark and is seen as 「」 in horizontal texts and is rotated 90° in vertical texts. When quotations are within a quotations, you must use double quotation marks, 『』.
80. 「こんにちは」
“Hello.”
81. 国歌「君が代」
National Anthem “Kimigayo”
82. 「さっきお出かけの途中、『なにかめずらしい本はないか』とお立ち寄りくださいました」
“Just a while ago while heading out, [he] stopped by and [asked] “are there any rare books?”
You may also encounter〝 〟demarcating important phrases much in the same way “” can be used for that function in American English.
83. 時代も〝平成〟から〝令和〟へと変わることを受けて、あらためてブログの活用に取り組みたいと思いました。
With the era changing from “Heiwa” to “Reiwa,” I wanted to once again challenge myself to using my blog.
The ” “13 (引用符) is typically used as quotation marks for short phrases and is often equated to “so-called. “
84. これは有名な”東京タワー”です。
This is the so-called famous Tokyo Tower.
The 丸括弧14
While（） may be used to denote the readings of kanji, they are typically used in the same way as in English, denoting annotation, which also includes quotes and paraphrases. In vertical writing, （）appear horizontally oriented.
85. 広日本文典（明治三十年刊）
Kounihon Grammar (Published Meiji Period Year 30)
86. （その一）（第二回)
(The first)(second time)
87.
(イ)
(a)
（） may also denote coordinates in geometry, the argument of a function, etc.
Other Brackets
| Bracket | Name(s) | Description |
| [] | 角括弧15 | Its use in literature is almost nonexistent, but it is used in many specialized fields16. For instance, it may close a mathematical interval, be seen in chemical formulas, in phonetic transcription, coding, etc. |
| 〈〉 | 山括弧17 | Used in coding and physics as well as frequently in titles. |
| ≪≫ | 二重山括弧 | Used to have text within some form of brackets stand out. |
| 〔〕 | 亀甲括弧 | Encases abbreviations of some sort. |
| ｛｝ | 波括弧18 | Encloses words for the purpose of having them stand out. |
| 【】〖〗 | 隅付き括弧19 | 【】is most frequently used to denote important details that need to be emphasized. In kanji education, 〖〗may be seen to denote kanji taught in elementary school. |
88. 【お知らせ】
NOTICE:
89. 「かつてアメリカは≪新世界≫と呼ばれた」
“America was once called the ‘New World.'”
90. ＜日本の少子化対策について＞
“Regarding Japan’s Measures to Combat its Declining Birthrate”
二重ハイフン
Also known as the ダブルハイフン, the ゠ is used primarily to denote boundaries in foreign compounds. If, for whatever reason, (foreign) text gets broken up by a line break, = indicates that no spacing would otherwise be present.
91.
サルハ トウトウ ジブ=
ンガ ワルカッタト ア=
ヤマリマシタ。
The monkey finally apologized and said that he was the one at fault.
92. ラ・ガレンヌ゠コロンブ
La Garenne-Colombes
In Ex. 92, it is clear how ・and ゠, in the context of transliteration of foreign proper nouns, are distinct.
波ダッシュ
Also known as the 波形, 波線, or even にょろ, ～ has the following functions:
- Denotes “from…to…”
- Separating subtitles from titles within the same line.
- Replacement of dashes.
- Replacement of から.
- Denotes an emphatic elongation of a word
- Denotes the continuation of a musical note.
93. あ〜〜〜
Ahhhhhh
94. ♬ 〜
(Musical effect)
95. フランス〜
From France
96a. 5時～７時
96b. 5～７時20
From 5-7 o’ clock
97. 〜概要〜
-Outline-
98. 東京〜大阪
From Tokyo to Osaka
コロン & セミコロン
Colons are used in showing time when using Arabic numerals.
99. ３：４６
3:46
A semicolon can be used in place of a ナカテン in horizontal text.
100. 静岡；浜松；名古屋；大阪，京都，神戸；岡山；広島を
Shizuoka, Hamamatsu, Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, Okayama, Hiroshima
Ditto Marks
There are numerous ditto marks (踊り字21) in Japanese.
| 々 | 同の字点 | Also called ノマ（点）to distinguish it from 仝, it doubles a kanji. | 時々 |
| 仝 | 同の字点 | Old form and replacement of 同. | 仝上 |
| ヽ | 一の字点22 | Doubles a カタカナ. | ハヽ |
| ヾ | 一の字点 | Doubles a voiced カタカナ. | タヾ |
| ゝ | 一の字点 | Doubles a ひらがな. | つゝ |
| ゞ | いちの字点 | Doubles a voiced ひらがな. | すゞき |
| 〻 | ニの字点 | Doubles a 漢字. | 各〻 |
| 〳〵 | くの字点 | Doubles previous phrase. | 見 る 〳〵 |
| 〴〵 | くの字点 | Doubles previous phrase containing 連濁. | 離 れ 〴 〵 |
| 〃 | ノノ字点 | In charts, stands as repetition of prior or above line. |
As for when multiple kanji are doubled with ditto marks, the norm in Modern Japanese is to have the ditto marks used on the individual word level as opposed to the individual kanji level.
100a. 部分々々 ◎
100b. 部々分々 ?
Each and every part
The ditto marks for kana are largely out of use, but examples can still be found in literature as well as in famous proper nouns.
101. 夏目漱石の「こゝろ」を読んだことがあります。
I have read “Kokoro” by Natsume Soseki.
102. いすゞ製の車であります。
It is an Isuzu vehicle.
Miscellaneous Symbols
| Symbol | Name | Description |
| 〓 | 下駄記号23 | Sometimes used instead of a ・ but typically denoting kanji glyphs not registered in a computer’s version of Unicode. |
| ※ | 米印24 | Used to denote annotations, which can then be subsequently numbered. |
| ＊ | アステリスク25 | English-like version of the asterisk. |
 | スターマーク | Used on push-button telephones or call boxes. |
| 〆 | しめ | Denotes the end of a letter26. |
| ♪♫♬♩ | 音符 | Musical notes |
| →←↑↓ | 矢印 | Arrows point in their respective direction. |
| ♡ ♥ | ハートマーク | Denote affection. |
| 〒 | 郵便マーク | The Japanese postal mark. |
| ♨ | 温泉マーク | Hot spring mark. |
| 卍27 | まんじ | Denotes Buddhist temples. |
| 〽 | 庵点 | Used to mark the beginning of a waka, haiku, and the like. |
参照
公用文作成の考え方（建議）by the 文化庁
読点の使用とその決定要素について―「構造」と「長さ」から― by 岩畑貴弘.
- Stipulations such as academic texts still allow for ．, preventing the full-scale utilization of 。to be truly codified despite it more or less existing in that capacity. ↩︎
- As an example, in An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese, dialogues which start each chapter, feature dialogue in the following format:
Character A: …。…。
Character B: …。…。
This representation of speech within narration (地の文) is not unnatural, but it avoids how text would otherwise be represented in everyday mediums such as text messages, novels, etc. ↩︎ - In the wild, you will encounter 。」, but as style guides have begun to solidify in modern usage, 」is more or less the rule. ↩︎
- Unlike in American English in which a citation verb, embellished by whatever the speaker wishes to put into context how the quote is/was uttered, in Japanese discourse, the narrator often jumps to the speaker’s thoughts on the matter, which would certainly prompt an American English reader to use a period regardless of however many sentences are in the quote, but this is simply not the norm in Japanese. The grammar, quotation mark, and line breaking would all suffice, even in isolation. ↩︎
- In Ex. 10, 日程は未定である within the parentheses constitutes a complete sentence, whereas the natural phrasing in English “date to be determined” is not, thus avoiding .). which is not so common in English. ↩︎
- The opposite of which would be 相対読点. ↩︎
- The use of 、in Ex. 18a. is actually rather unnatural in isolation due to how the sentence structure is simply XはYです. Further reasoning for demonstrating contrast would need to be present for the lack of length of the sentence to be overlooked. ↩︎
- Other colloquial names include ビックリマーク, 雨だれ, バン, as well as スクリーマー. ↩︎
- Other colloquial names include 耳垂れ and はてな（マーク）. ↩︎
- Also colloquially known as the 中ぽち, 中ぽつ, or even 黒丸（くろまる）. ↩︎
- Double side lines are known as 二重傍線, a side line split up into a broken up chain is known as a 破線, if dots are used to create a sideline, it is known as a 点線, and if the side line is wavy, it is known as a 波線. ↩︎
- Also known as the 圏点 or 傍点. They may also be called ビュレット・ブレット (bullets) when shaped as such. ↩︎
- Also colloquially known as ノノカギ. ↩︎
- Also known as パーレン or 小括弧. ↩︎
- Also known as 大括弧. ↩︎
- In Japan, the ordering of brackets is as follows: （｛ ｝）. However, as this conflicts with most of the international community, both the use of 大・中・小 in the alternative names of these brackets along with this incongruent ordering are gradually falling out of use. ↩︎
- Also known as アングルブラケット, 山鉤, or even 山パーレン. ↩︎
- Also known as ブレース, カーリブラケット, カール, or even 中括弧. ↩︎
- Colloquially also known as 隅付きパーレン, 太亀甲, or even 黒亀甲. ↩︎
- The first instance of a counter may be omitted in writing before ～. ↩︎
- Also known as 送り字, 繰り返し符号, 重ね字, 揺すり字, 重字, 重点, or even 畳字. ↩︎
- Also known as ひとつ点. ↩︎
- Named for resembling grooves left by geta and relating said grooves to printing. ↩︎
- Duly named for resembling the kanji 米. ↩︎
- Alternatively also called アスタ（リスク）or 星印. ↩︎
- 〆 can also stand for しめ as shorthand for wherever it may appear in the Japanese lexicon, often for comedic effect, as is the case in 〆る (to sum up/to crack down on/to kill (fish, etc.) and 〆鯖 (vinegared mackerel). ↩︎
- This has been the designation for temples on maps since the late 1800s, and it is very much still in use to this day. ↩︎