Katakana Analysis

While studying numerous examples of katakana, I realized that the usage of katakana has the ability to convey many different messages and meanings. I believe that learning about and understanding various purposes of katakana, in relation to hiragana and kanji, is an integral part of my Japanese education, since it heavily reflects upon Japanese culture and tradition. I especially found it interesting to see how hiragana and katakana were often switched around and mixed together, in order to evoke a certain idea. For example, in this picture below of An-Pan Man and friends from a Japanese website, An-Pan Man is spelled in all katakana. While “pan” and “man” are English loanwords, “an” which is an abbreviation of “anko” or red bean paste, is a word of Japanese origin. Therefore, I found it interesting that the entire name “An-pan Man” uses all katakana, instead of using hiragana for “An” and katakana for the rest. I think that katakana was used in order to emphasize the entire name, and make the character’s name cohesive and aesthetically pleasing. Using hiragana, then katakana in his name would break up the pattern of having an ン　every other letter. Thus, using katakana makes An-Pan Man’s name look like a pattern. Using katakana also makes the name look “cool” and reflects An pan Man’s strength as a superhero cartoon.  Because An-Pan Man is an original cartoon character, his uniqueness is illustrated in the unique formatting of his name as well. Also in the picture, the word “homepage” is spelled in a mixed alphabet of hiragana and katakana; the letters are in hiragana, but the dashes are used for katakana. I thought this was especially strange. I think that hiragana was used because it looks cute, reflecting the overall cute image of this cartoon and the characters surrounding. I think that the dashes were used to make this image a bit more stream-lined and clean to look at, since there is a lot going on in this picture, with lots of color, cartoon images, and writing. The contrast between the Katakana in An-Pan Man’s name and the hiragana in “homepage” adds visual diversity, and makes a striking image to look at.  

I also found this package for Japanese peach flavored gummies to be noteworthy. I grew up eating these little heart shaped gummies (which are really yummy, by the way), but never thought about the packaging before. However, as I studied it,  I realized that it is quite strange that they wrote the word “peach” as a loan word in katakana; since there is a Japanese word for peach (もも). I thought it was odd that the company decided to write ピーチ　instead of もも. I think that they used katakana for peach, instead of the traditional Japanese word, in order to make the writing cohesive; gummy is spelled in katakana, so peach is spelled in katakana to match the style as well. Also, unlike traditional Japanese candy, like kintaro ame, these gummies are a more Western-style candy; thus, the Western word for peach is used. Also, since katakana can be used to emphasize certain words, this package could use katakana to emphasize the flavor of the candy. Because the main consumer market for candy is kids and younger people, katakana may also be used, since it easier to learn, in relation to kanji.

From the textbooks we studied, all explanations were a bit different in their rationalizations of katakana usage. Because there are so many ways to use katakana that don’t have distinct guidelines, each textbook reflected the diversity of language associated with katakana.  Just like in all other languages, in which the alphabets and language develop over periods of time, I think that the varied uses of katakana (along with the other alphabets) can sufficiently be explained by tradition or history. However, despite such differences, all the textbooks noted the main accepted ways to use katakana, including loan or foreign words, since that is the most common way to use katakana.