Abbreviated and contracted words are a common feature of Japanese. Long words are often contracted into shorter forms, which then become the predominant forms. For example, the University of Tokyo, in Japanese Tōkyō Daigaku (東京大学) becomes 東大, Tōdai, and "remote control", rimōto kontorōra, becomes rimokon. Names are also contracted in this way. For example Takuya Kimura, in Japanese Kimura Takuya, an entertainer, is referred to as Kimutaku. Takuya Kimura (木村 拓哉 Kimura Takuya, nicknamed Kimutaku) (born November 13, 1972 in Chiba) is a Japanese actor and a member of the pop group SMAP. He starred in many TV dramas such as Love Generation, Long Vacation, Gift, Beautiful Life, HERO, Good Luck!! and Pride. ...

The names of some very familiar companies are also also contractions. For example, Toshiba is a contraction of "Tokyo Shibaura", and Nissan is a contraction of "Nippon Sangyo". Jump to: navigation, search Toshiba Corporation (東芝, Tōshiba) (TYO: 6502) is a Japanese high technology electrical and electronics manufacturing firm, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. ... Nissan Motor Co. ...

The contractions may be commonly used, or they may be specific to a particular group of people. For example the "Kokuritsu Kankyo Kenkyujo" (国立環境研究所, National Institute for Environmental Sciences of Japan, NIES) is known as Kanken (環研) by its employees, but this terminology is not familiar to most Japanese.

Patterns of contraction

In contracted kanji words, the most common pattern of contraction is to take the first kanji of each word and put them together.

In loanwords and names, the most common pattern is to take the first two moras of two word, in other words the first two kana, and form a new word from the four moras put together. For example "family restaurant", famiri resutoran, becomes famiresu. Japanese writing Kanji 漢字 Kana 仮名 Hiragana 平仮名 Katakana 片仮名 Uses Furigana 振り仮名 Okurigana 送り仮名 Romaji ローマ字 For other meanings of Kana, see Kana (disambiguation). ...

Yōon sounds, sounds represented using a kana ending in i and a small ya, yu or yo kana, such as kyo count as one mora. Japanese long vowels and sokuon (small tsu) count as two moras, and may disappear; Harry Potter, originally Harī Pottā, is contracted to Haripota, or otherwise be altered; actress Kyoko Fukada, Fukada Kyōko, becomes Fukakyon. Jump to: navigation, search Yōon (拗音) is a feature of the Japanese language in which a mora is formed with an added y sound. ... In linguistics, vowel length is the duration of a vowel sound. ... The sokuon (Japanese: 促音) is a Japanese symbol consisting of a small hiragana or katakana tsu. ...

These abbreviated names are so common in Japan that many companies initiate abbreviations of the names of their own products. For example, the animated series Pretty Cure marketed itself under the four-character abbreviated name purikyua. Futari wa Pretty Cure (ふたりはプリキュア) (often shorted simply to Pretty Cure or PreCure) is a magical girl anime series, currently one of the most famous, running in Japan. ...

The English equivalent of the contraction words are three letter acronyms, or TLAs. This article describes three-letter acronyms. ... The TLA (three-letter acronym or three-letter abbreviation) is the most popular type of abbreviation in technical terminology, and is also very common in general language. ...

Long kanji names

For other meanings, see Hepburn (disambiguation). ... For other meanings, see Hepburn (disambiguation). ...

Loanwords

Four character loanwords

For other meanings, see Hepburn (disambiguation). ... For other meanings, see Hepburn (disambiguation). ...

Abbreviations

For other meanings, see Hepburn (disambiguation). ... For other meanings, see Hepburn (disambiguation). ...

Created words

Futari wa Pretty Cure (ふたりはプリキュア) (often shorted simply to Pretty Cure or PreCure) is a magical girl anime series, currently one of the most famous, running in Japan. ... Taiko: Drum master (U.S. title) or Taiko no tatsujin (太鼓の達人;　Taiko master) is a drumming game for arcade and PlayStation 2. ... Namco is a company based in Japan, best known for developing video games. ... This articles is about cross-dressing in general, that is the act of wearing the clothing of another gender for any reason. ...

Contractions of names

For other meanings, see Hepburn (disambiguation). ... For other meanings, see Hepburn (disambiguation). ... Takuya Kimura (木村 拓哉 Kimura Takuya, nicknamed Kimutaku) (born November 13, 1972 in Chiba) is a Japanese actor and a member of the pop group SMAP. He starred in many TV dramas such as Love Generation, Long Vacation, Gift, Beautiful Life, HERO, Good Luck!! and Pride. ... Bae Yong Jun (born August 29, 1972), is a Korean actor. ... Ken Matsudaira (松平 健 Matsudaira Ken, born November 28, 1953) is a Japanese actor from Toyohashi, Aichi, Japan. ... Jidaigeki (時代劇) is a genre of film and television in Japan. ...

Highways and railway lines

Many highways and railway lines have names that are contractions of the names of their endpoints. For example, the Tomei Expressway takes one kanji (東) from Tokyo and the other (名) from Nagoya (its pronunciation changes from the kunyomi na to the onyomi mei). The Tokyu Toyoko Line links Tokyo and Yokohama, taking part of its name from each city. The Tōmei (東名) Expressway runs alone the Pacific Coast of Honshū, Japans main island, from Tōkyō (東=東京) to Nagoya (名=名古屋). ... Long a symbol of Tokyo, the Nijubashi Bridge at the Kokyo Imperial Palace. ... Nagoya Castle Nagoya (名古屋市; -shi) is the fourth largest (third largest metropolitan region) and the third most prosperous city in Japan. ... The characters for Kanji, lit. ... The characters for Kanji, lit. ... The TōkyÅ« Tōyoko Line (東急東横線) is a major commuter train service connecting Tokyo (Shibuya) to Yokohama. ... Japans tallest building, the Landmark Tower, is in the Minato Mirai 21 district of Yokohama. ...

The railway tunnel linking Aomori and Hakodate is called the Seikan Tunnel (青函トンネル, Seikan Tunnel?), using the first kanji from Aomori, 青森, and Hakodate, 函館. Aomori Waterfront Aomori (青森市; Aomori-shi) is the capital city of Aomori Prefecture (青森県; Aomori-ken), the north end of HonshÅ«. The city faces Mutsu Bay connecting Tsugaru Channel and the Hakkoda Mountains lie in the southern part of Aomori. ... View of Hakodate from Mountain Hakodate (函館市; -shi) is a city and port located in Oshima, Hokkaido, Japan. ... The Seikan Tunnel (青函トンネル Seikan Tonneru) is currently the longest railway tunnel in the world, at 53. ... The Seikan Tunnel (青函トンネル Seikan Tonneru) is currently the longest railway tunnel in the world, at 53. ...