Japanese to romaji converter
Paste Japanese text and get Hepburn romaji, with word spacing and a choice of long vowel style.
Japanese text
東京へ行きます。ありがとうございました。Romaji
Short answer
To convert Japanese to romaji, paste kanji, hiragana or katakana into the box above. The converter finds each word, reads it, and writes it in Hepburn romanization. You can switch word spacing on or off and choose macrons such as ō or plain vowels such as ou. It runs in your browser with no limit.
Romanization systems compared
This page writes modified Hepburn. Other systems exist.
| System | し | ち | つ | Where it is used |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hepburn | shi | chi | tsu | Textbooks, dictionaries, signs, passports |
| Kunrei-shiki | si | ti | tu | Japanese government standard, some school use |
| Nihon-shiki | si | ti | tu | Linguistics, strictly kana by kana |
How to convert Japanese to romaji
- Paste the text. Kanji, hiragana and katakana can be mixed.
- Choose the options. Turn word spacing on for readable output. Choose macrons for textbook style or plain vowels for easy typing.
- Copy the romaji. Press Copy romaji. The first run downloads about 17 MB of dictionary data, which your browser then keeps.
Particles are written as they sound
Three particles are spelled with one kana but pronounced differently. は is written wa, へ is written e, and を is written o. This converter checks the part of speech, so 私は is watashi wa while はな stays hana. Reading kana one by one without that check gives wrong results such as watashi ha.
Long vowels: macrons or plain
Hepburn marks long vowels with a macron: tōkyō, yūbin, onēsan. Many people cannot type those, so the plain option writes the vowels out as spelled in kana: toukyou, yuubin, oneesan. Both are readable, but pick one and stay consistent. Names on official documents often drop the mark altogether, giving Tokyo.
Other details
A small っ doubles the next consonant, so きって is kitte, with tch before ch: まっちゃ is matcha. The kana ん is written n, and n' when it comes before a vowel or y, as in しんよう, shin'yō. Readings of kanji come from the dictionary, so the notes about wrong readings on the kanji to hiragana page apply here too.
If you already have kana, use hiragana to romaji. To type Japanese from Latin letters, use romaji to hiragana.
Frequently asked questions
Which romanization does it use?
Modified Hepburn, the style used in most textbooks and dictionaries. し is shi, ち is chi, つ is tsu, and long vowels use macrons or doubled vowels depending on your setting.
Why use spaced words?
Japanese text has no spaces, so unspaced romaji is hard to read. The converter splits words with a dictionary and puts one space between them. Turn it off if you want a continuous string.
Is it free and private?
Yes. It runs in your browser, uses no scan quota, and your text is not uploaded. There is no sign-up, no daily limit, and nothing you type is stored on a server or logged anywhere.
Can it romanize names correctly?
Common names usually work, but the reading of a kanji name can differ from the dictionary guess. If the name's reading matters, enter it in kana instead.
What about Chinese or Korean text?
It is made for Japanese. Hanzi or Hangul will not be converted correctly. Chinese characters shared with Japanese may convert, but the readings will be Japanese ones, which is rarely what you want.
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