page_title: Hepburn romanization
section_title: Variants
hierarchical_section_title: Hepburn romanization / Variants
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: 豊岡駅の駅名標
context_page_description: Hepburn romanization is the most widely-used system of romanization for the Japanese language. Published in 1886 by American missionary James Curtis Hepburn, it uses consonants that approximate those in English and vowels that approximate those in Italian. The "modified Hepburn system", also known as the "standard system", was published with revisions in 1908.
  Although Kunrei-shiki romanization is the style favored by the Japanese government, Hepburn remains the most widely-used method of Japanese romanization. It is learned by most foreign students of Japanese, and is used within Japan for romanizing personal names, locations, and other information such as train tables and road signs. People who speak English or Romance languages will generally be more accurate in pronouncing unfamiliar Japanese words romanized in the Hepburn style compared to other systems.
context_section_description: There are many variants of the Hepburn romanization. The two most common styles are as follows:
  The Traditional Hepburn, as defined in various editions of Hepburn's dictionary, with the third edition (1886) often considered authoritative (although changes in kana usage must be accounted for). It is characterized by the rendering of syllabic n as m before the consonants b, m and p: Shimbashi for 新橋.
  Modified Hepburn (修正ヘボン式, Shūsei Hebon-shiki), also known as Revised Hepburn, in which (among other points) the rendering of syllabic n as m before certain consonants is no longer used: Shinbashi for 新橋. The style was introduced in the third edition of Kenkyūsha's New Japanese-English Dictionary (1954), was adopted by the Library of Congress as one of its ALA-LC romanizations, and is the most common version of the system today.
  In Japan itself, there are some variants officially mandated for various uses:
  Railway Standard (鉄道掲示基準規程, Tetsudō Keiji Kijun Kitei), which mostly follows the Hyōjun-shiki Rōmaji, however syllabic n is rendered as m before b, m and p. Japan Railways and other major railways use it for station names.
  Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Standard, how to spell Roman letters (Hepburn style) of road signs, which follows the modified Hepburn style. It is used for road signs.
  Ministry of Foreign Affairs Passport Standard (外務省旅券規定, Gaimushō Ryoken Kitei), a permissive standard, which explicitly allows the use of "non-Hepburn romaji" (非ヘボン式ローマ字, hi-Hebon-shiki rōmaji) in personal names, notably for passports. In particular, it renders the syllabic n as m before b, m and p, and romanizes long o as oh, oo or ou (Satoh, Satoo or Satou for 佐藤).
  Details of the variants can be found below.
caption: Former Japan National Railways-style board of Toyooka Station. Between the two adjacent stations, "GEMBUDŌ" follows the Hepburn romanization system, but "KOKUHU" follows the Nihon-shiki/Kunrei-shiki romanization system.
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