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Astro's name in Japanese

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 2:28 am
by Tetsuwan Penguin
I've seen it written on the title pages of the original manga, I'm not going to try and write it on the computer now.

The name is 5 characters long (though the first two characters look like sets of two smashed together). I don't know what script it's written in but the last three characters I'm certain are Katakana, they clearly spell 'atomu'. I can't find the first two in the on line dictionaries, not in the Katakana or Hiragana sets I've seen anyway.

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 11:20 am
by Windswept Cloak
The first two characters are kanji. The first is "Tetsu" and the second is "wan", so it's "Tetsuwan Atomu". That's the original Japanese title for the series, and also the character's correct Japanese name. ;)

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 11:53 am
by Tetsuwan Penguin
That's strange mixing Kanji and katakawa in the same phrase isn't it?

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 1:29 pm
by Windswept Cloak
Oh no, actually it's quite common for people to do that in the Japanese language. For example, I have been watching a Japanese live-action TV series (you can watch these on TV here in Taiwan, since we are south from Japan and very close to it) in which the main character is called "Meiko" (メ ィ 子 ;) , メ ィ pronounced "Mei" and 子 pronounced "ko", meaning "child", a common ending for old-fashioned feminine Japanese names.

(I'm kind of learning a lot about Japan lately since the setting of my new original series, as well as my fanfic, are both in Japan.)

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 2:14 pm
by Dante69
鉄腕アトム。 The first thing I learned to spell in Japanese.

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 2:21 pm
by Tetsuwan Penguin
One of two things in Japanese I can recognize on sight. The other is Osmau Tezuka's name.

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 6:58 pm
by Earthshine
Tetsuwan 鉄腕 is strictly Japanese but Atomu アトム is a 'borrowed' English word so thus the Japanese cannot make kanji out of the word (they COULD but they refrain from doing so, that's what katakana is for).

Katakana is strictly for 'borrowed' words, or sound effects or other words that a person wants to separate.

It's not uncommon at all to have all sorts of alphabet combinations for names in Japanese media and even occasionally for real names. Sometimes they use hiragana or katakana as part of a name just to make sure that someone understands how to pronounce a name.

Some Japanese will elect to spell their name with hiragana or katakana if a kanji in their name is rare or people use the wrong pronunciation all the time. Think of it like someone with the name of Jaime... Is it Jay Mee or the Spanish pronunciation of Hai May? (in this case it's actually Spanish). Only in Japan this person would be able to write EXACTLY how to pronounce it and not get weird looks.

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 7:17 pm
by Tetsuwan Penguin
So Japanese is close to being a phoenic alphabet? BTW is the final character that Tezuka added to his signature (mushi) kanji?

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 7:31 pm
by Earthshine
虫 mushi is kanji, it means 'bug'.

Kanji is literally Chinese writing.

Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2014 9:50 pm
by Tetsuwan Penguin
Probably more properly, "Insect". Tezuka was a budding entomologist as a kid, he drew lots of very detailed pictures of insects. He added the Mushi character to his signature as a result, and later named the animation studio he founded for it. I have to laugh at the Google translate page that literally rendered "Mushi Studios" as "Insect Studios" :-)