Japanese punctuation
Encyclopedia
includes various written marks (besides characters and numbers), which differ from those found in European languages, as well as some not used in formal Japanese writing but frequently found in more casual writing, such as exclamation
and question mark
s.
Japanese can be written horizontally or vertically
, and some punctuation
marks adapt to this change in direction. Parentheses, curved brackets, square quotation marks, ellipses
, dashes, and swung dashes are rotated clockwise 90° when used in vertical text (see diagram).
Japanese punctuation marks are usually full width (that is, occupying an area that is the same as the surrounding characters).
Punctuation began to be used in Japanese when translations from European languages became common in the 19th century.
Various types of are used in Japanese. As in English, brackets are used in pairs to set apart or interject text within other text. When writing vertically, brackets are rotated clockwise ninety degrees. Each bracket occupies its own square when using genkō yōshi
.
Lenticular brackets
The is used in many contexts, principally for marking-off separate elements within a sentence. In horizontal writing, the comma is placed at the bottom right of the preceding character. In vertical writing, it is placed immediately below and to the right of the last character, in a separate square if using genkō yōshi. In horizontally written manuscripts that contain a mixture of Japanese and Western characters, the full-width comma
may be incorporated as well. No extra space is left after a comma.
Rules for using the comma are comparatively less strict in Japanese than in English. In Japanese, for example, a comma may be placed after the subject
(where it would usually be incorrect in English) at the author's discretion, for example:
Ellipses
(リーダー rīdā (leaders), 点線 tensen (dotted line), or てんてん ten-ten ("dot dot")) indicate an intentional omission or abbreviation, or a pause in speech, an unfinished thought or, at the end of a sentence, a trailing off into silence (aposiopesis
). Ellipsis was adopted into Japanese from European languages.
The ellipsis is often three dots or six dots (in two groups of three dots), though variations in number of dots exist. The dots can be either on the baseline or centred between the baseline and the ascender when horizontal; the dots are centred horizontally when vertical.
Other uses:
The is a small circle, called the "Ideographic Full Stop" by the Unicode consortium. (A Unicode character name does not always reflect usual terminology.) In horizontal writing, the full stop is placed in the same position as it would be in English, that is, at the bottom right of the preceding character. In vertical writing, it is placed immediately below and to the right of the last character, in a separate square if using genkō yōshi
. (Note the difference in placement with the Chinese full stop, which is always placed in the centre of the square.)
Unlike the Western full stop
, it is often used to separate consecutive sentences, rather than to finish every sentence; it is frequently left out where a sentence stands alone, or where text is terminated by a quotation mark instead. No extra space is left after a full stop.
In manuscripts that contain a mixture of Japanese and Western characters, the English full stop may be incorporated as well.
, a manga
by Shin Takahashi
, a Japanese pop group from Hello! Project
., a drama series (dorama
), produced and aired in 2005 by NTV
.
The or "katakana middle dot" (as the Unicode consortium calls it) is a small dot used for interword separation
. It is also known as nakapochi, nakapotsu and nakaten. It has a fixed width that is the same as most kana characters.
Uses include:
The part alternation mark (庵点 ioriten or 歌記号 utakigō) is used to indicate the beginning of a song, or the beginning of the next player's part.
It was most common in Noh
chanting books and Renga
(linked verse). In Noh books it is used to mark the beginning of each character's (or the chorus') parts. The opening square quotation mark (「) may also be used.
are used to mark quotes within quotes: as well as to mark book titles (italic type
is not used for this purpose in Japanese).
A space ( ) is any empty (non-written) zone between written sections. In Japanese, the space is referred to by the . An Ideographic Space is the same width as a CJK character.
In English, spaces are used for interword separation
as well as separation between punctuation and words. In normal Japanese writing, no spaces are left between words, except if the writing is exclusively in hiragana
or katakana
(or with little or no kanji
), in which case spaces may be required to avoid confusion.
In Japanese, a single space is often left before the first character in a new paragraph, especially when writing on genkō yōshi, and a space is left after non-Japanese punctuation marks (such as exclamation points and question marks). A space may be left between the family
and given name
s as well.
A fullwidth space may be used where a colon
or comma would be used in English: (Yamato Bank, Osaka Branch).
The resembles a lengthened tilde
.
Uses in Japanese include:
The consists of two equally sized dots centered on the same vertical line. As a rule, a colon informs the reader that what follows proves, clarifies, explains, or simply enumerates elements of what is referred to before. Although not a native Japanese punctuation mark, the colon is sometimes used, especially in academic writing.
As in English, the colon is commonly used in Japanese to indicate time (4:05, instead of or ) or for lists ( Day/time: March 3, 4:05pm).
The is usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or high volume, and generally marks the end of a sentence. A sentence ending in an exclamation mark is either an actual exclamation ("Wow!", "Boo!"), a command ("Stop!"), or is intended to be astonishing in some way ("They were the footprints of a gigantic hound!").
While there is no exclamation point in formal Japanese, it is very commonly used, especially in casual writing, fiction
and manga.
The question or interrogation mark
(疑問符 gimonfu, はてな hatena) replaces the full stop at the end of an interrogative sentence. The question mark character is also often used in place of missing or unknown data. There is no question mark in formal Japanese, but it is very commonly used, especially in casual and creative writing and in manga.
Exclamation mark
The exclamation mark, exclamation point, or bang, or "dembanger" is a punctuation mark usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or high volume , and often marks the end of a sentence. Example: “Watch out!” The character is encoded in Unicode at...
and question mark
Question mark
The question mark , is a punctuation mark that replaces the full stop at the end of an interrogative sentence in English and many other languages. The question mark is not used for indirect questions...
s.
Japanese can be written horizontally or vertically
Horizontal and vertical writing in East Asian scripts
Many East Asian scripts can be written horizontally or vertically. The Chinese, Japanese and Korean scripts can be oriented in either direction, as they consist mainly of disconnected syllabic units, each occupying a square block of space...
, and some punctuation
Punctuation
Punctuation marks are symbols that indicate the structure and organization of written language, as well as intonation and pauses to be observed when reading aloud.In written English, punctuation is vital to disambiguate the meaning of sentences...
marks adapt to this change in direction. Parentheses, curved brackets, square quotation marks, ellipses
Ellipsis
Ellipsis is a series of marks that usually indicate an intentional omission of a word, sentence or whole section from the original text being quoted. An ellipsis can also be used to indicate an unfinished thought or, at the end of a sentence, a trailing off into silence...
, dashes, and swung dashes are rotated clockwise 90° when used in vertical text (see diagram).
Japanese punctuation marks are usually full width (that is, occupying an area that is the same as the surrounding characters).
Punctuation began to be used in Japanese when translations from European languages became common in the 19th century.
Japanese punctuation marks
Brackets
- Main Japanese article: 括弧
Various types of are used in Japanese. As in English, brackets are used in pairs to set apart or interject text within other text. When writing vertically, brackets are rotated clockwise ninety degrees. Each bracket occupies its own square when using genkō yōshi
Genko yoshi
is a type of Japanese paper used for writing. It is printed with squares, typically 200 or 400 per sheet, each square designed to accommodate a single Japanese character or punctuation mark...
.
Braces
- ｛ ｝
Parentheses
- （ ）
Square brackets
- ［ ］
Others
- 【 】
Lenticular brackets
Comma
- Main Japanese article 読点
| Symbol | Unicode Unicode Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems... |
JIS X 0213 JIS X 0213 JIS X 0213 is a Japanese Industrial Standard defining coded character sets for encoding the characters used in Japan. This standard extends JIS X 0208. The first version was published in 2000 and revised in 2004 . As well as adding a number of special characters, characters with diacritic marks,... |
Encoding Character entity reference In the markup languages SGML, HTML, XHTML and XML, a character entity reference is a reference to a particular kind of named entity that has been predefined or explicitly declared in a Document Type Definition . The "replacement text" of the entity consists of a single character from the Universal... |
|---|---|---|---|
| 、 | U+3001 | 1-1-2 | 、 |
The is used in many contexts, principally for marking-off separate elements within a sentence. In horizontal writing, the comma is placed at the bottom right of the preceding character. In vertical writing, it is placed immediately below and to the right of the last character, in a separate square if using genkō yōshi. In horizontally written manuscripts that contain a mixture of Japanese and Western characters, the full-width comma
Comma
A comma is a type of punctuation mark . The word comes from the Greek komma , which means something cut off or a short clause.Comma may also refer to:* Comma , a type of interval in music theory...
may be incorporated as well. No extra space is left after a comma.
- ，
Rules for using the comma are comparatively less strict in Japanese than in English. In Japanese, for example, a comma may be placed after the subject
Subject (grammar)
The subject is one of the two main constituents of a clause, according to a tradition that can be tracked back to Aristotle and that is associated with phrase structure grammars; the other constituent is the predicate. According to another tradition, i.e...
(where it would usually be incorrect in English) at the author's discretion, for example:
- (Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia.)
Ellipsis
- Main Japanese article: リーダー (記号)
| Symbol | Unicode Unicode Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems... |
JIS X 0213 JIS X 0213 JIS X 0213 is a Japanese Industrial Standard defining coded character sets for encoding the characters used in Japan. This standard extends JIS X 0208. The first version was published in 2000 and revised in 2004 . As well as adding a number of special characters, characters with diacritic marks,... |
Encoding Character entity reference In the markup languages SGML, HTML, XHTML and XML, a character entity reference is a reference to a particular kind of named entity that has been predefined or explicitly declared in a Document Type Definition . The "replacement text" of the entity consists of a single character from the Universal... |
|---|---|---|---|
| U+2026 | 1-3-63 | … | |
| Symbol | Unicode Unicode Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems... |
JIS X 0213 JIS X 0213 JIS X 0213 is a Japanese Industrial Standard defining coded character sets for encoding the characters used in Japan. This standard extends JIS X 0208. The first version was published in 2000 and revised in 2004 . As well as adding a number of special characters, characters with diacritic marks,... |
Encoding Character entity reference In the markup languages SGML, HTML, XHTML and XML, a character entity reference is a reference to a particular kind of named entity that has been predefined or explicitly declared in a Document Type Definition . The "replacement text" of the entity consists of a single character from the Universal... |
|---|---|---|---|
| U+2025 | 1-3-63 | ‥ | |
Ellipses
Ellipsis
Ellipsis is a series of marks that usually indicate an intentional omission of a word, sentence or whole section from the original text being quoted. An ellipsis can also be used to indicate an unfinished thought or, at the end of a sentence, a trailing off into silence...
(リーダー rīdā (leaders), 点線 tensen (dotted line), or てんてん ten-ten ("dot dot")) indicate an intentional omission or abbreviation, or a pause in speech, an unfinished thought or, at the end of a sentence, a trailing off into silence (aposiopesis
Aposiopesis
Aposiopesis is a figure of speech wherein a sentence is deliberately broken off and left unfinished, the ending to be supplied by the imagination, giving an impression of unwillingness or inability to continue. An example would be the threat "Get out, or else—!" This device often portrays its...
). Ellipsis was adopted into Japanese from European languages.
The ellipsis is often three dots or six dots (in two groups of three dots), though variations in number of dots exist. The dots can be either on the baseline or centred between the baseline and the ascender when horizontal; the dots are centred horizontally when vertical.
Other uses:
- As a substitute for dashes
- In manga, the ellipsis by itself often represents speechlessness or a "pregnant pause"
Full stop
- Main Japanese article: 句点
| Symbol | Unicode Unicode Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems... |
JIS X 0213 JIS X 0213 JIS X 0213 is a Japanese Industrial Standard defining coded character sets for encoding the characters used in Japan. This standard extends JIS X 0208. The first version was published in 2000 and revised in 2004 . As well as adding a number of special characters, characters with diacritic marks,... |
Encoding Character entity reference In the markup languages SGML, HTML, XHTML and XML, a character entity reference is a reference to a particular kind of named entity that has been predefined or explicitly declared in a Document Type Definition . The "replacement text" of the entity consists of a single character from the Universal... |
|---|---|---|---|
| 。 | U+3002 | 1-1-3 | 。 |
The is a small circle, called the "Ideographic Full Stop" by the Unicode consortium. (A Unicode character name does not always reflect usual terminology.) In horizontal writing, the full stop is placed in the same position as it would be in English, that is, at the bottom right of the preceding character. In vertical writing, it is placed immediately below and to the right of the last character, in a separate square if using genkō yōshi
Genko yoshi
is a type of Japanese paper used for writing. It is printed with squares, typically 200 or 400 per sheet, each square designed to accommodate a single Japanese character or punctuation mark...
. (Note the difference in placement with the Chinese full stop, which is always placed in the centre of the square.)
Unlike the Western full stop
Full stop
A full stop is the punctuation mark commonly placed at the end of sentences. In American English, the term used for this punctuation is period. In the 21st century, it is often also called a dot by young people...
, it is often used to separate consecutive sentences, rather than to finish every sentence; it is frequently left out where a sentence stands alone, or where text is terminated by a quotation mark instead. No extra space is left after a full stop.
In manuscripts that contain a mixture of Japanese and Western characters, the English full stop may be incorporated as well.
Words containing full stops
Starting in the 1980s, advertising copy writers began incorporating full stops in titles and other advertising. In the 1990s, the group began using a full stop in its name, starting a fad for this usage. Other examples include the following:, a manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
by Shin Takahashi
Shin Takahashi
is a Japanese manga artist best known for writing Saikano and Iihito. He was born in Shibetsu, Hokkaidō on September 8, 1967....
, a Japanese pop group from Hello! Project
Hello! Project
is the umbrella name for all female idol Japanese pop recording artists collective that are under contract with the Up-Front Group. The "mothership" group of Hello! Project is the super-group Morning Musume. Hello! Project's current leader is Risa Niigaki, the leader of Morning Musume...
., a drama series (dorama
Japanese television drama
, also called , are a staple of Japanese television and are broadcast daily. All major TV networks in Japan produce a variety of drama series including murder romance, comedy, detective stories, horror, and many others...
), produced and aired in 2005 by NTV
Nippon Television
is a television network based in the Shiodome area of Minato, Tokyo, Japan and is controlled by the Yomiuri Shimbun publishing company. Broadcasting terrestrially across Japan, the network is commonly known as , contracted to , and abbreviated as "NTV" or "AX".-Offices:*The Headquarters : 6-1,...
.
Interpunct
- Main Japanese article: 中黒
The or "katakana middle dot" (as the Unicode consortium calls it) is a small dot used for interword separation
Interword separation
In punctuation, a word divider is a glyph that separates written words. In languages which use the Latin, Cyrillic, and Arabic alphabets, as well as other languages of Europe and the Mideast, the word divider is a blank space, or whitespace, a convention which is spreading, along with other aspects...
. It is also known as nakapochi, nakapotsu and nakaten. It has a fixed width that is the same as most kana characters.
Uses include:
- Separating Japanese words where the intended meaning would be unclear if the characters were written side-by-side
- To separate listed items, instead of a comma: (elementary and middle school) versus
- To separate foreign words and names when written in kana: (personal computer), and occasionally for Japanese names, particularly when there would otherwise be confusion as to where one name ends and another begins
- As a substitute for a double hyphenDouble hyphenThe double hyphen is a punctuation mark that consists of two parallel hyphens. It is not to be confused with two consecutive hyphens , which usually represents an em dash or en dash...
- To separate titles, names and positions: (Assistant Department Head Suzuki)
- As a decimal point when writing numbers in kanji: (3.14)
- In place of hyphens, dashes and colons when writing vertically
Part alternation mark
- Main Japanese article: 庵点
| Symbol | Unicode Unicode Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems... |
JIS X 0213 JIS X 0213 JIS X 0213 is a Japanese Industrial Standard defining coded character sets for encoding the characters used in Japan. This standard extends JIS X 0208. The first version was published in 2000 and revised in 2004 . As well as adding a number of special characters, characters with diacritic marks,... |
Encoding Character entity reference In the markup languages SGML, HTML, XHTML and XML, a character entity reference is a reference to a particular kind of named entity that has been predefined or explicitly declared in a Document Type Definition . The "replacement text" of the entity consists of a single character from the Universal... |
|---|---|---|---|
| 〽 | U+303D | 1-3-28 | 〽 |
The part alternation mark (庵点 ioriten or 歌記号 utakigō) is used to indicate the beginning of a song, or the beginning of the next player's part.
It was most common in Noh
Noh
, or - derived from the Sino-Japanese word for "skill" or "talent" - is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Many characters are masked, with men playing male and female roles. Traditionally, a Noh "performance day" lasts all day and...
chanting books and Renga
Renga
' is a genre of Japanese collaborative poetry. A renga consists of at least two or stanzas, usually many more. The opening stanza of the renga, called the , became the basis for the modern haiku form of poetry....
(linked verse). In Noh books it is used to mark the beginning of each character's (or the chorus') parts. The opening square quotation mark (「) may also be used.
Single quotation marks
- 「 」
Double quotation marks
- 『 』
are used to mark quotes within quotes: as well as to mark book titles (italic type
Italic type
In typography, italic type is a cursive typeface based on a stylized form of calligraphic handwriting. Owing to the influence from calligraphy, such typefaces often slant slightly to the right. Different glyph shapes from roman type are also usually used—another influence from calligraphy...
is not used for this purpose in Japanese).
Space
| Name | Symbol | Unicode Unicode Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems... |
JIS X 0213 JIS X 0213 JIS X 0213 is a Japanese Industrial Standard defining coded character sets for encoding the characters used in Japan. This standard extends JIS X 0208. The first version was published in 2000 and revised in 2004 . As well as adding a number of special characters, characters with diacritic marks,... |
Encoding Character entity reference In the markup languages SGML, HTML, XHTML and XML, a character entity reference is a reference to a particular kind of named entity that has been predefined or explicitly declared in a Document Type Definition . The "replacement text" of the entity consists of a single character from the Universal... |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ideographic Space | U+3000 | 1-1-1 | 　 | |
A space ( ) is any empty (non-written) zone between written sections. In Japanese, the space is referred to by the . An Ideographic Space is the same width as a CJK character.
In English, spaces are used for interword separation
Interword separation
In punctuation, a word divider is a glyph that separates written words. In languages which use the Latin, Cyrillic, and Arabic alphabets, as well as other languages of Europe and the Mideast, the word divider is a blank space, or whitespace, a convention which is spreading, along with other aspects...
as well as separation between punctuation and words. In normal Japanese writing, no spaces are left between words, except if the writing is exclusively in hiragana
Hiragana
is a Japanese syllabary, one basic component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet . Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each character represents one mora...
or katakana
Katakana
is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet . The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji. Each kana represents one mora...
(or with little or no kanji
Kanji
Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
), in which case spaces may be required to avoid confusion.
In Japanese, a single space is often left before the first character in a new paragraph, especially when writing on genkō yōshi, and a space is left after non-Japanese punctuation marks (such as exclamation points and question marks). A space may be left between the family
Family name
A family name is a type of surname and part of a person's name indicating the family to which the person belongs. The use of family names is widespread in cultures around the world...
and given name
Given name
A given name, in Western contexts often referred to as a first name, is a personal name that specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially in a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name...
s as well.
A fullwidth space may be used where a colon
Colon (punctuation)
The colon is a punctuation mark consisting of two equally sized dots centered on the same vertical line.-Usage:A colon informs the reader that what follows the mark proves, explains, or lists elements of what preceded the mark....
or comma would be used in English: (Yamato Bank, Osaka Branch).
Wave dash
- Main Japanese article: 波ダッシュ
| Symbol | Unicode Unicode Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems... |
JIS X 0213 JIS X 0213 JIS X 0213 is a Japanese Industrial Standard defining coded character sets for encoding the characters used in Japan. This standard extends JIS X 0208. The first version was published in 2000 and revised in 2004 . As well as adding a number of special characters, characters with diacritic marks,... |
Encoding Character entity reference In the markup languages SGML, HTML, XHTML and XML, a character entity reference is a reference to a particular kind of named entity that has been predefined or explicitly declared in a Document Type Definition . The "replacement text" of the entity consists of a single character from the Universal... |
|---|---|---|---|
| 〜 | U+301C | 1-1-33 | 〜 |
The resembles a lengthened tilde
Tilde
The tilde is a grapheme with several uses. The name of the character comes from Portuguese and Spanish, from the Latin titulus meaning "title" or "superscription", though the term "tilde" has evolved and now has a different meaning in linguistics....
.
Uses in Japanese include:
- To indicate ranges ' onMouseout='HidePop("46236")' href="/topics/Tokyo">TokyoTokyo, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
to OsakaOsakais a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
). In such cases it may be read as ...kara...made - To separate a title from a subtitle on the same line; in English a colonColon (punctuation)The colon is a punctuation mark consisting of two equally sized dots centered on the same vertical line.-Usage:A colon informs the reader that what follows the mark proves, explains, or lists elements of what preceded the mark....
is used for this purpose. - To mark subtitles:
- In pairs, in place of dashes or brackets:
- To indicate origin: (from France)
- To indicate a long or drawn-out vowel , usually for comic or cuteCuteness in Japanese cultureSince the 1970s, cuteness, in Japanese the noun , has become a prominent aspect of Japanese popular culture, entertainment, clothing, food, toys, personal appearance, behavior, and mannerisms...
effect - To indicate or suggest that music is playing:
- To suggest a ruled line: or
Other punctuation marks in common use
When used in Japanese, these punctuation marks are full-width rather than half-width. A space is usually left after such marks when writing in Japanese.Colon
- Main Japanese article: コロン (記号)
- ：
The consists of two equally sized dots centered on the same vertical line. As a rule, a colon informs the reader that what follows proves, clarifies, explains, or simply enumerates elements of what is referred to before. Although not a native Japanese punctuation mark, the colon is sometimes used, especially in academic writing.
As in English, the colon is commonly used in Japanese to indicate time (4:05, instead of or ) or for lists ( Day/time: March 3, 4:05pm).
Exclamation mark
- Main Japanese article: 感嘆符
- ！
The is usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or high volume, and generally marks the end of a sentence. A sentence ending in an exclamation mark is either an actual exclamation ("Wow!", "Boo!"), a command ("Stop!"), or is intended to be astonishing in some way ("They were the footprints of a gigantic hound!").
While there is no exclamation point in formal Japanese, it is very commonly used, especially in casual writing, fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
and manga.
Question mark
- Main Japanese article: 疑問符
- ？
The question or interrogation mark
Question mark
The question mark , is a punctuation mark that replaces the full stop at the end of an interrogative sentence in English and many other languages. The question mark is not used for indirect questions...
(疑問符 gimonfu, はてな hatena) replaces the full stop at the end of an interrogative sentence. The question mark character is also often used in place of missing or unknown data. There is no question mark in formal Japanese, but it is very commonly used, especially in casual and creative writing and in manga.
See also
- Iteration markIteration markIteration marks are characters or punctuation marks that represent a duplicated character or word.-Chinese:In Chinese, 二 or 々 is used in casual writing to represent a doubled character, but it is never used in formal writing or printed matter...
- Japanese typographic symbolsJapanese typographic symbolsThis page lists Japanese typographic symbols which are not included in kana or kanji.The links in the Unicode column lead to the Unihan database.-Repetition marks:-Brackets and quotation marks:-Phonetic marks:-Punctuation marks:...
- East Asian punctuation (disambiguation), notably:
- Chinese punctuation, which uses a similar set of symbols but with some differences.