Hepburn vs. Kunrei-shiki for Typing: The 2025 Romaji Notice and Japanese Schools

“Rōmaji no Tsuzurikata” (the romaji spelling guide) is a Cabinet notice that gives a reference for writing Japanese in romaji. Cabinet Notice No. 4 of Reiwa 7, issued on December 22, 2025, replaced Cabinet Notice No. 1 and Cabinet Directive No. 1 of December 1954. The government adopted the report the Council for Cultural Affairs submitted on August 20, 2025 (Q&A Q1).

The biggest change is that there is now one table instead of two. The old notice had “Table 1” (what people call Kunrei-shiki) and “Table 2” (spellings corresponding to Hepburn and Nihon-shiki), and it was sometimes unclear which to use. The new notice has a single main table that adopts spellings widely used in society, such as shi, tsu, chi, fu and ji (Q3, Q14, Q44).

The change is not a switch to Hepburn, though (Q49). The Agency for Cultural Affairs explains that it did not adopt the Hepburn habit of writing m for ん before b, m and p, nor the habit of putting t before ch for っ, and that it took a new approach to long vowels. In short, three points.

• ん is always n

  Shinbashi, not Shimbashi. The Hepburn habit of using m before b, m and p was not adopted (Q18–19).

• っ doubles the consonant letter

  雑誌 is zasshi and 日直 is nicchoku. The notice does not use t before ch, so 抹茶 is maccha, not matcha (Q20).

• Long vowels: a macron or repeated vowels

  東北 is written Tōhoku with a macron, or Touhoku with the vowels spelled out as in modern kana usage (Note 3). Spelling out the vowels is a point where it differs from Hepburn (Q49).

Older spellings are not banned either. Internationally common spellings such as judo, Tokyo and matcha, and personal or organizational names such as Ohtawara, are left to the people concerned, and no immediate change is requested (Notes 8–9). Established rules such as the passport's are not asked to change right away (Q54). Kunrei-shiki and Nihon-shiki do not disappear (Q50), and the notice is a non-binding reference (Q42).

No. According to the Q&A (Q52), “romaji input” borrows the mechanism of romaji spelling for convenience, as one way to produce mixed kanji-kana text. It is separate from the romaji spelling guide, which is for reading and writing Japanese in Latin letters, and the notice does not ask for any change to romaji input.

A good example of the difference: when you write a sentence in romaji, the particles は, へ and を are written wa, e and o (Note 7). On a keyboard, you type ha, he and wo.

Do si and shi both give し? Input software assigns several spellings to the same kana. The only conversion table I could check is Mozc, the open-source engine behind Google Japanese Input. In Mozc, si and shi, ti and chi, tu and tsu, hu and fu, and zi and ji each produce the same kana. I could not find an official conversion table for Microsoft IME, so I have not confirmed it. On your own setup, type si and shi into a notepad and see whether both give し.

First, what I could confirm from official documents.

• Romaji is taught in grade 3 of elementary school

  The elementary school course of study for Japanese language says that in grade 3, pupils read and write simple everyday words in romaji. MEXT's published commentary for Japanese language (the version I checked on October 18, 2026) says romaji spelling is to follow the new notice (“Rōmaji no Tsuzurikata,” Cabinet Notice of Reiwa 7). It also says that in teaching, it is important to understand spellings often used when communicating with people abroad, such as the name on a passport, and to understand that Japanese sounds are built from consonants and vowels. The comparison table may be used for reference where needed.

• The textbook screening standards changed too

  In a notice dated December 22, 2025 (MEXT Notice No. 142), MEXT changed the “romaji spelling” standard in the screening standards for compulsory-education textbooks from the 1954 notice to the new 2025 notice. The earlier Japanese-language standard required grade 3 materials to let pupils learn both Table 1 and Table 2 of the 1954 notice. That provision was deleted along with the revision. Textbooks already under screening when the notice took effect fall under a transitional measure.

As for what comes next, I will only write what I confirmed. On October 5, 2026, the curriculum committee of the Central Council for Education published its “summary of deliberations” (shingi matome) toward the next course of study. It comes before any final report or notice. It points in the direction of keeping romaji learning in Japanese language class in grade 3 as now, and covering typing by romaji input mainly in “Integrated Studies, information area.” Nothing is decided yet. For guidance by grade, see When Should Kids Start Typing?.

In Typing Musou, WPM is “correct keystrokes ÷ 5 ÷ elapsed minutes” (details in Average WPM and Benchmarks). A keystroke is one key press, so し typed as si is 2 keystrokes and typed as shi is 3. The same prompt has a different total keystroke count depending on spelling.

Which spelling is shorter depends on the word. For し, ち and つ the short spelling saves one keystroke, and for じゃ, じゅ and じょ the ja / ju / jo spelling saves one. If you can press every key at the same speed, the spelling with fewer keystrokes finishes the same prompt sooner. But how easy the keys are to reach and how little you hesitate also affect speed, so a short spelling is not always faster.

In Typing Musou's records, many players type short spellings such as si and ji (June 14 – October 18, 2026; players who allowed research use and typed at least 3,000 keystrokes, 6,894 people; records of students who used the game in school classes are excluded).

These shares do not mean that everyone prefers Kunrei. Until the “Romaji Spelling” setting was added in mid-October 2026, the game showed the short spellings (si, ti, tu, hu, ji and so on) under each prompt, so most players probably type what is shown.

Taking each player's own WPM and then the median, players who type shi were at 60, versus 44 for the si family (shi typists were still higher when compared at the same number of matches). But shi typists are only 3.7% of the sample. Fast players may simply prefer shi, and since shi is one keystroke longer, it can also affect the WPM figure. These records do not show that switching to shi makes you faster.

The settings page has a “Romaji Spelling” section with three styles: Recommended, Hepburn and Kunrei. It changes only the romaji shown under each prompt and the key lit up in the Home Position Dojo. Judging always accepts every spelling. Even if the setting shows shi for し, typing si is correct, and the display follows the spelling you start typing.

You can also choose spellings per kana (12 groups: し, ち, つ, ふ, じ, the しゃ, ちゃ and じゃ rows, ぢ and づ, ん, っ, and small kana). Choosing a style again clears the per-kana overrides. “Follow How I Type” shows shi from the next prompt once you type shi; it is off by default.

The “Kunrei” row is the spelling of the 1954 Kunrei-shiki, except that ぢ and づ use di and du, because zi and zu would produce じ and ず. The Hepburn style shows ji and zu for ぢ and づ because the game also accepts those; in ordinary Japanese input, use di and du to get ぢ and づ (the Q&A, Q46, also says di and du are what you type for ぢ and づ).

I could not find research comparing which spelling is better to type with. What follows is my own view, based on the facts I could confirm.

• 1. Separate “writing” from “typing”

  Romaji class is about rules for writing. The keyboard is about which key to press. A single example helps: for the particle を, you write o but type wo.

• 2. Typing with the spelling learned at school is fine

  If your child learned Hepburn, shi works; if Kunrei, si works. Both count as correct in Typing Musou, and switching midway does not change judging. When a teacher teaches a whole class, the school's policy comes first.

• 3. Think about shorter spellings after getting used to typing

  Whether to move to a shorter spelling such as si, ti or tu can wait until typing itself feels comfortable. You can try it by changing the display in the game's “Romaji Spelling” setting.

• 4. Name spellings are a different matter

  A name's spelling follows each organization's rules, such as the passport's. The Q&A does not ask established rules to change right away (Q54).

For tricky characters and common stumbling points, see the Romaji Input Chart and Error-Prone Characters Ranking. For classroom use, see Typing Lesson Plan for One Period.

• Q. From when do elementary schools teach Hepburn?

  The notice is dated December 22, 2025, and the textbook screening standards were revised to the new notice the same day. But I could not confirm from official documents when actual textbooks and classes switch to the new spellings. Please check your child's school and textbook.

• Q. Is typing si wrong?

  No. In the Mozc conversion table both si and shi give し, and Typing Musou accepts both. You can also try it in a notepad on your own setup.

• Q. Will Kunrei-shiki stop being usable?

  No. The Q&A says Kunrei-shiki and Nihon-shiki do not disappear and may still be used based on each person's thinking (Q50).

• Q. Will passport spellings change?

  The Q&A says it does not ask for rules established in each field, like the passport's, to change right away (Q54). For the passport rules themselves, check with the issuing authority.

• Q. If I set the game to Hepburn, can I no longer type si?

  You can still type si. The setting changes only the display and the lit key; judging always accepts every spelling.

The statements about the notice, schools and input were checked against the documents below (checked on October 18, 2026; the documents are in Japanese). Page numbers are PDF page numbers. The game's settings were checked against Typing Musou's specifications and code.

1. Agency for Cultural Affairs, “Rōmaji no Tsuzurikata” (Cabinet Notice No. 4 of Reiwa 7, December 22, 2025) and Cabinet Directive No. 1 — I read the notice text (PDF pp. 1–7): the preface, the main table, Notes 1–9 and the appendix comparison table
2. Agency for Cultural Affairs, Q&A on “Rōmaji no Tsuzurikata” (Cabinet Notice No. 4 of Reiwa 7), February 2026 — Q1, 3, 14, 18–20, 42, 44, 46, 49, 50, 52, 54
3. MEXT, commentary on the elementary school Course of Study (2017 notice), Japanese language — Content for grades 3 and 4 (pp. 80–83). The version retrieved on October 18, 2026
4. MEXT, outline of the revision of the textbook screening standards (report) and MEXT Notice No. 142 — pp. 1–5
5. Central Council for Education, curriculum committee, “Summary of deliberations toward the next Course of Study” (October 5, 2026) — Part 1, p. 140. A document from the deliberation stage, before any final report or notice
6. Mozc (the open-source engine behind Google Japanese Input), romaji conversion table romanji-hiragana.tsv — Not an official document. Used to check which spellings give the same kana, such as si and shi
7. Typing Musou records (June 14 – October 18, 2026; players who allowed research use and typed at least 3,000 keystrokes, 6,894 people) — Records of students who used the game in school classes are excluded

The December 22, 2025 notice made the writing table a single one that follows Hepburn. But the Agency for Cultural Affairs states plainly that it does not request any change to romaji input. As far as I could confirm, both si and shi work on a keyboard, so a child can type the spelling learned at school.

When textbooks and classes switch is still not confirmed from official documents. I will update this article when it is.