ジャパン？

[jkid]

2007/1/5
ジャパンでも放送決定♪
1月14日（日）からスタート☆毎週日曜日11時30分～放送！！

On the Deltora Quest anime site I found this news post. Why on earth is Japan written in Katakana? Is it because it is used in the name of the company Japan Broadcasting?

Also a translation if someone is able would be interesting

'ありがとう。

[NickT]

I am by no means an expert, but I'll have a stab at this. Japan in written in katakana because it is an English word. The Japanese do not, and never have as far as I know, used the word Japan to refer to their own country. I believe the word Japan is a corruption of what the Chinese used to call Japan hundreds of years ago, which in turn is probably a corruption of what the Japanese referred to themselves as at that time (which may be different to the word they use now.)

I think you are also right in saying that in this particular context, the reason they use the word ジャパン　and not 日本　is because it is part of the name of the company, BSジャパン - Japan Broadcasting [Station?] (You missed out the BS).

As for a translation, it is something like this:

BSジャパン have made a broadcasting decision !
It will be broadcast starting from Sunday 14 January, every week on Sundays at 11:30!!

As for what is being broadcast, I have no idea - presumably this was apparent from the context of the original post.

Hope that helps

[jkid]

Thank you very much. That makes sense now.

[JonB]

They use katakana and even ramanji in advertising catch phrases. For example at exam time there are posters on the bus saying ガンバレー apparently it is more punchy in advertising terms?!?!

In this case go with Nick's answer

One I've always wondered about is ramen - I have scene らめん　＆　ラメン and I think on occasion kanji though IME does not seem to recognise one so maybe not

[Comazon]

^Really? you've seen らめん？

I'm by no means experienced (I've only been in Japan for almost 2 weeks now), but I've only seen ラーメン (it's everywhere though).

And my dictionary (a book, not electronic) doesn't have any kanji for ramen. If it exists, I'd be interested in seeing it.

[MarzGurl]

Wikipedia shows some Kanji for ramen: 拉麺

Since it is Chinese in origin, I can see why it would have this Kanji. ラーメン is very much a now Japanese food, but the noodle name is one of the many things borrowed from China.

Of course, when I was there, I never saw a ramen shop post 拉麺. It was almost always ラーメン with the very rare らめん.

[Psy]

Unlike what the textbooks might want you to believe, the Japanese don't have many scruples when it comes to doing that. Every so often you'll see a normally katakana-written-word written in hiragana, and the same is true in reverse. 珈琲, the kanji for コーヒー, isn't altogether uncommon either.

[jkid]

Really? How interesting.

I have now also learnt it will take me years to remember the kanji for coffee.

[Comazon]

Every so often you'll see a normally katakana-written-word written in hiragana, and the same is true in reverse.

That must be it.

I have yet to see "たばこ" (cigarettes)　be written as "タバコ" here in Japan. I have no idea why that word would be in hiragana...

[Psy]

It's my understanding that because the word たばこ was introduced to Japanese from the Portugese (rather like tempura) many centuries ago, it's had its own kanji readings (煙草, smoke + grass; and 莨, grass radical + good) and since naturalized into the Japanese vocabulary a bit better than more modern additions. However, writing it タバコ is still common...

... that's a cultural metaphor if I've ever seen one.