Write Your Name in Kanji » (Revised)

Books written and edited by Ivan Morris include Nobility of Failure: Tragic Heroes in the History of Japan, and As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams: Recollections of a Woman in Eleventh-Century Japan.

For a Westerner, adapting one's name to fit the language of a foreign Western country is usually easy. Michel from Paris becomes Michael in London. Frances from Pittsburgh becomes Francesca in Venice. Adapting an English-language name into Japanese, however, presents a formidable set of challenges. Write Your Name in Kanji offers a fun and simple way to write your first name using Japanese characters. Because it is possible for many different kanji to have the same sound, each name can have a variety of possible kanji combinations -- all with different meanings, from the beautiful to the bizarre. In addition, an extensive appendix makes it possible to select kanji for last names, and for first names which are not covered by the book. Having selected appropriate kanji, the reader might even decide to create his or her own hanko -- a name seal that Japanese use on documents in lieu of signatures -- like the samples for each name included in the book. The first book that makes it possible to add a bit of the mystery of the Orient to English names, Write Your Name in Kanji brings East and West together in a fun way. This unique volume is perfectly suited to the bookshelf not only of the fluent reader of Japanese, but the novice Japan hand, as well.