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lead=yes, also known as the Monbusho system (named after the endonym for the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) or MEXT system, is a romanization system for transcribing the Japanese language into the Latin alphabet. Its name is rendered Kunreisiki in the system itself. It is taught in the Monbushō-approved elementary school curriculum. The ISO has standardized Kunrei-shiki under ISO 3602.
Kunrei-shiki is based on the older Nihon-shiki romanization, which was modified for modern standard Japanese. For example, the word かなづかい, romanized kanadukai in Nihon-shiki, is pronounced kanazukai in modern standard Japanese and is romanized as such in Kunrei-shiki. The system competes with the older Hepburn romanization system, which was promoted by the SCAP during the Allied occupation of Japan after World War II.
The Japanese government gradually introduced Kunrei-shiki; which appeared in secondary education, on railway station signboards, on nautical charts, and on the 1:1,000,000 scale International Map of the World;" Romanization in Japan." ( Archive) (Paper presented by Japan) United Nations Economic and Social Council. 8 July 1977. p. 3. English only. Retrieved on 15 May 2013. as well as literature and educational material for tourists.Horvat, Andrew. " The Romaji (Roomaji) Conundrum." ( Archive) – Excerpt from Horvat's book: Japanese Beyond Words: How to Walk and Talk Like a Native Speaker. Hosted at the David See-Chai Lam Centre for International Communication of Simon Fraser University. Retrieved on 13 May 2013. Nevertheless, unofficial use of Nihon-shiki and modified Hepburn continued concurrently because of support from individuals.
After Japan's defeat in the Pacific War in 1945, General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP), issued a directive, dated 3 September 1945, that stated that Modified Hepburn was the method to transcribe Japanese names. Some editorials printed in Japanese newspapers advocated for using only Hepburn. Kunrei-shiki had developed associations with Japanese militarism, and the U.S occupation was reluctant to promote it. Supporters of Hepburn denounced pro- Kunrei-shiki and pro- Nihon-shiki advocates to the SCAP offices by accusing them of being inactive militarists and of collaborating with militarists. Unger said that the nature of Kunrei-shiki led to "pent-up anger" by Hepburn supporters. During the postwar period, several educators and scholars tried to introduce romanized letters as a teaching device and a possible later replacement for kanji. On 9 December 1954, the Japanese government re-confirmed Kunrei-shiki as its official system but with slight modifications.Gottlieb, p. 78. Eleanor Jorden, an American linguist, made textbooks with a JSL romanization, which were used in the 1960s in courses given to U.S diplomats. The use of her books did not change the U.S government's hesitation to use Kunrei-shiki.
As of 1974, according to the Geographical Survey Institute (now the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan), Kunrei-shiki was used for topographical maps, and Modified Hepburn was used for geological maps and aeronautical charts.
As of 1978, the National Diet Library used Kunrei-shiki. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, and many other official organizations instead used Hepburn, as did The Japan Times, the JTB Corporation, and many other private organisations.
Despite the official status of Kunrei-shiki and its use in Japanese elementary schools, Hepburn romanization remained the primary romanization system used in Japanese government and by other groups in Japan.
Kunrei-shiki has been recognised, along with Nihon-shiki, in ISO 3602:1989. Documentation—Romanisation of Japanese (kana script) by the ISO. It was also recommended by the ANSI after it withdrew its own standard, ANSI Z39.11-1972 American National Standard System for the Romanization of Japanese (Modified Hepburn), in 1994.
In January 2024, the Cultural Affairs Agency proposed revising the 1954 Cabinet Order to make Hepburn the standard romanization system of Japan. A draft of changes was published in June 2025.
| + Example: tat-u |
| tat-a- |
| tat-o- |
| tach-i |
| tats-u |
| tat-e- |
| tat-e |
Despite its official recognition, the Japanese commonly choose between Nihon-shiki, Kunrei-shiki and Hepburn systems for any given situation. However, the Japanese government generally uses Hepburn, especially for passports, road signage, and train signage. Most Western publications, as well, and all English-language newspapers use some form of Hepburn.Powers, John. "Japanese Names", The Indexer Vol. 26 No. 2 June 2008. . "It Hepburn can be considered the norm as, in slightly modified form, it is followed by the great majority of Western publications and by all English-language newspapers."
J. Marshall Unger, the author of Literacy and Script Reform in Occupation Japan: Reading between the Lines, said that the Hepburn supporters "understandably" believed that the Kunrei-shiki "compromise" was not fair because of the presence of the "un-English-looking spellings" that the Modified Hepburn supporters had opposed. Andrew Horvat, the author of Japanese Beyond Words: How to Walk and Talk Like a Native Speaker, argued that "by forcing non-native speakers of Japanese with no intentions of learning the language to abide by a system intended for those who have some command of Japanese, the government gave the impression of intolerant language management that would have dire consequences later on." Because Kunrei-shiki is based on Japanese phonology rather than the actual phonetic realization, it can cause non-native speakers to pronounce words incorrectly. John Hinds, the author of Japanese: Descriptive Grammar, describes that as "a major disadvantage."
Additional complications appear with newer kana combinations such as ティーム (チーム) team. In Hepburn, they would be distinguished as different sounds and represented as tīmu and chīmu respectively. That gives better indications of the English pronunciations. For some Japanese-speakers, however, the sounds ティ "ti" and チ "chi" are the same phoneme; both are represented in Kunrei-shiki as tîmu. Such complications may be confusing to those who do not know Japanese phonology well. Use of an apostrophe (t'îmu), sometimes seen in Wāpuro rōmaji, may be a possible solution.
Today, the main users of Kunrei-shiki are native speakers of Japanese, especially within Japan, and linguistics studying Japanese. The main advantage of Kunrei-shiki is that it is better able to illustrate Japanese grammar, as Hepburn gives the impression of certain conjugations being irregular (see table, right). The most serious problem of Hepburn in this context is that it may change the stem of a verb, which is not reflected in the underlying morphology of the language. One notable introductory textbook for English-speakers, Eleanor Jorden's , uses her JSL romanization, a system strongly influenced by Kunrei-shiki in its adherence to Japanese phonology, but it is adapted to teaching proper pronunciation of Japanese phonemes.
| こ コ ko | きゃ キャ kya | きゅ キュ kyu | きょ キョ kyo | ||||
| そ ソ so | しゃ シャ sya | しゅ シュ syu | しょ ショ syo | ||||
| と ト to | ちゃ チャ tya | ちゅ チュ tyu | ちょ チョ tyo | ||||
| の ノ no | にゃ ニャ nya | にゅ ニュ nyu | にょ ニョ nyo | ||||
| ほ ホ ho | ひゃ ヒャ hya | ひゅ ヒュ hyu | ひょ ヒョ hyo | ||||
| も モ mo | みゃ ミャ mya | みゅ ミュ myu | みょ ミョ myo | ||||
| よ ヨ yo | |||||||
| ろ ロ ro | りゃ リャ rya | りゅ リュ ryu | りょ リョ ryo | ||||
| を ヲ o | |||||||
| ご ゴ go | ぎゃ ギャ gya | ぎゅ ギュ gyu | ぎょ ギョ gyo | ||||
| ぞ ゾ zo | じゃ ジャ zya | じゅ ジュ zyu | じょ ジョ zyo | ||||
| ど ド do | ぢゃ ヂャ zya | ぢゅ ヂュ zyu | ぢょ ヂョ zyo | ||||
| ぼ ボ bo | びゃ ビャ bya | びゅ ビュ byu | びょ ビョ byo | ||||
| ぽ ポ po | ぴゃ ピャ pya | ぴゅ ピュ pyu | ぴょ ピョ pyo | ||||
| しゃ sha | し shi | しゅ shu | しょ sho |
| つ tsu | |||
| ちゃ cha | ち chi | ちゅ chu | ちょ cho |
| ふ fu | |||
| じゃ ja | じ ji | じゅ ju | じょ jo |
| ぢ di | づ du | ||
| ぢゃ dya | ぢゅ dyu | ぢょ dyo | |
| くゎ kwa | |||
| ぐゎ gwa | |||
| を wo |
The exceptional clause is not to be confused with other systems of romanization (such as Hepburn) and does not specifically relax other requirements, such as marking long vowels.
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