Japanese Kana to Romaji Converter
Transliterate Japanese hiragana and katakana into Latin-alphabet romaji.
Output appears here as you type — decoded on your device.
Input is processed on your device. Nothing you paste is sent anywhere.
What is the Japanese Kana to Romaji Converter?
A kana to romaji converter transliterates Japanese syllabic characters — hiragana and katakana — into the Latin alphabet, producing the romanized spelling of how the text is pronounced.
Japanese uses two syllabaries alongside kanji: hiragana (ひらがな) for native words and grammar, and katakana (カタカナ) for loanwords, names and emphasis. Both are phonetic, with one character per mora, which makes them mechanically convertible to Latin letters in a way kanji is not.
The subtleties are in the modifiers. The small tsu (っ/ッ) doubles the following consonant, small ya/yu/yo form combined sounds like きょ = kyo, the katakana long mark ー stretches a vowel, and ん becomes n or m depending on what follows. This converter applies Hepburn romanization, the system used on Japanese road signs and in most dictionaries.
Japanese Kana to Romaji Converter at a glance
- System
- Hepburn romanization
- Input
- Hiragana and katakana (kanji not transliterated)
- Sokuon っ
- Doubles the next consonant (きっぷ = kippu)
- Long mark ー
- Extends the preceding vowel
How to use the Japanese Kana to Romaji Converter
- 1Paste or type Japanese kana into the input panel.
- 2The Hepburn romaji reading appears instantly, character by character.
- 3Copy the romaji, or edit the kana to compare readings.
When you would reach for it
- Reading a Japanese name or place name you can't yet pronounce.
- Building a romaji index for a dataset that stores names in kana.
- Checking your own kana reading while studying Japanese.
Japanese Kana to Romaji Converter — frequently asked questions
Last reviewed · questions or corrections: contact@decoder.tools