The core idea: every symbol is a word in disguise
Faced with an unknown mark, ask which word it stands for. 〒 is usually explained as a shrunken letter of a ministry's name, ※ takes its name from the kanji it resembles, 〆 is the sound shime, and 🈹 is simply the kanji for discount placed in a box. The rest are pictures of something every Japanese person grew up with: the leaf on a learner's car, the flower circle a teacher draws. Once you know the word or the thing, the meaning needs no memorising.
The grid below shows fifteen of the commonest, each with the name people actually use. A colleague you ask about a sign will answer in the same way.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| この記号は何と読みますか。 | Kono kigō wa nan to yomimasu ka. | How do you read this symbol? |
| 米印と読みます。 | Kome-jirushi to yomimasu. | It's read kome-jirushi. |
| これは温泉のマークです。 | Kore wa onsen no māku desu. | This is the hot-spring mark. |
| これは郵便局のマークです。 | Kore wa yūbinkyoku no māku desu. | This is the post office mark. |
Everyday symbols and their readings
These are the marks you meet in the first week, on envelopes, signs, receipts and forms. Each has a name you can type: enter the reading in hiragana and your keyboard offers the symbol. How ordinary punctuation behaves is covered in a separate guide.
| Symbol | Reading | Literally | Where you see it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 〒 郵便記号 | yūbin kigō | Postal symbol | Before postcodes; in a circle on maps for a post office |
| ♨ 温泉マーク | onsen māku | Hot-spring mark | Hot springs, bathhouses and road signs |
| ※ 米印 | kome-jirushi | Rice mark | Before a note or condition |
| 〆 しめ | shime | Closing | Sealed envelopes, deadlines, the last dish of a meal |
| ㊙ マル秘 | maruhi | Circled secret | Confidential documents |
| 〜 から | kara | From | Times and prices: 10:00〜, 500円〜 |
| ○ 丸 | maru | Circle | Correct, yes, available |
| × ばつ | batsu | Cross | Wrong, no, sold out |
| △ 三角 | sankaku | Triangle | Partly right, perhaps, few left |
| ◎ 二重丸 | nijūmaru | Double circle | Excellent, the best choice |
〒 dates from 1887, when the Ministry of Communications, Teishinshō, adopted it; the usual explanation is a stylised テ from its name, though other stories exist. ♨ has marked hot springs on maps since the Meiji era, and when a design with people bathing was proposed for foreign visitors, objections led to a compromise: since 2017 the national standard allows both.
Maru, batsu and sankaku: grading in shapes
Japanese children grow up with three shapes. On homework, maru means right and batsu means wrong, and the same logic runs through adult life: forms ask you to circle what applies, TV quizzes are maru-batsu, true or false, and people make a circle with their arms for yes and a cross for no. Sankaku sits in between: partly right on a test, maybe in a schedule, and on booking sites a few seats left, next to maru for available and batsu for full. Nijūmaru, the double circle, is a step above maru.
Hanamaru, literally a flower circle, is a spiral with petals that teachers draw on excellent work, mostly for young children. Adults use the word as warm praise. Here is how the shapes come up at school, in a booking and in a quiz.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 正しいものに○をつけてください。 | Tadashii mono ni maru o tsukete kudasai. | Circle the correct answer. |
| よくできました。花丸をあげます。 | Yoku dekimashita. Hanamaru o agemasu. | Well done. You get a flower circle. |
| 土曜日は三角になっていますね。 | Doyōbi wa sankaku ni natte imasu ne. | Saturday is showing a triangle, isn't it. |
| 答えはバツです。 | Kotae wa batsu desu. | The answer is false. |
| 腕でバツを作って、だめと言いました。 | Ude de batsu o tsukutte, dame to iimashita. | He crossed his arms and said no. |
The beginner and senior driver marks
The shoshinsha māku, beginner mark, is officially the shoshin untensha hyōshiki and has been in use since 1972. It is shaped like the feathers of an arrow, yellow on the left and green on the right, and it is widely called the wakaba māku, literally the young-leaf mark. Under the Road Traffic Act, a driver in the first year of an ordinary licence must show it on the front and back of the car, between 0.4 and 1.2 metres above the ground. Crowding or cutting in on a car that shows it is itself an offence.
The kōreisha māku, senior driver mark, is for drivers aged 70 and over whose age may affect their driving; displaying it is a doryoku gimu, a duty to try, rather than a requirement. The first design, from 1997, was an orange and yellow teardrop called the momiji māku, the autumn-leaf mark. It picked up the unkind nickname kareha māku, dead-leaf mark, and in February 2011 it was replaced by a four-leaf clover design with an S, for senior. The old mark is still allowed.
The leaf also left the road. The 🔰 emoji and the words shoshinsha kangei, beginners welcome, appear on classes, sports clubs and games.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 免許を取ったばかりなので、若葉マークを付けています。 | Menkyo o totta bakari na node, wakaba māku o tsukete imasu. | I've only just got my licence, so I have a beginner mark on. |
| 初心者マークは前と後ろに付けます。 | Shoshinsha māku wa mae to ushiro ni tsukemasu. | The beginner mark goes on the front and the back. |
| 祖父は高齢者マークを付けています。 | Sofu wa kōreisha māku o tsukete imasu. | My grandfather displays the senior driver mark. |
| 若葉マークの車に幅寄せしてはいけません。 | Wakaba māku no kuruma ni habayose shite wa ikemasen. | You must not crowd a car with a beginner mark. |
| 初心者歓迎です。 | Shoshinsha kangei desu. | Beginners welcome. |
Beyond the basics: the emoji that began in Japan
Emoji is a Japanese word, e, picture, plus moji, character, so literally picture characters; the likeness to emotion is a coincidence. Kaomoji, faces typed from ordinary characters, are a separate tradition with their own guide. Japanese mobile carriers offered emoji in the late 1990s, and they entered the international Unicode standard in 2010, which is why so many show Japanese things: 🏣 a post office with 〒, 📛 a kindergarten name tag shaped like a tulip, 💮 the hanamaru stamp, 🙆 and 🙅 the arm circle and cross.
The boxed kanji are signs from shop windows and car parks turned into emoji. Read the kanji, then the everyday word it stands for. In a shopping street you will hear them used like this.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 今日は全品二割引です。 | Kyō wa zenpin niwaribiki desu. | Everything is 20% off today. |
| こっちのほうがお得ですよ。 | Kotchi no hō ga otoku desu yo. | This one's the better deal. |
| 駐車場は満車です。 | Chūshajō wa mansha desu. | The car park is full. |
| 入場は無料です。 | Nyūjō wa muryō desu. | Admission is free. |
| 試験に合格したよ！ | Shiken ni gōkaku shita yo! | I passed the exam! |
- 🈹 割, wari: waribiki, discount
- 🉐 得, toku: otoku, a bargain
- 🈚 無, mu: muryō, free of charge; its opposite 🈶 有, yū, is yūryō, charged
- 🈳 空, kū: vacancy, as in kūsha, space in a car park; 🈵 満, man: full
- 🈺 営, ei: eigyōchū, open for business
- 🈴 合, gō: gōkaku, a pass in an exam
- ㊗ 祝, iwai: congratulations; ㊙ 秘, hi: secret
Look-alikes: pairs that mean different things
Most confusion comes from pairs that differ by one stroke or one kanji. Set them side by side and the difference is easy to keep.
| Pair | Reading | What differs |
|---|---|---|
| ○ と ◎ | maru, nijūmaru | Good versus the best: ◎ ranks above ○ in ratings and menus |
| 花丸 と ◎ | hanamaru, nijūmaru | Both mean very good; the flower circle is warmer and childlike |
| 無 と 有 | mu, yū | Free of charge versus charged, on signs and emoji |
| 空 と 満 | kū, man | Vacant versus full, lit up at car parks and hotels |
| ㊙ と ㊗ | hi, iwai | Secret versus congratulations: one kanji changes the message |
| 〆 と メ | shime, me | A mark for closed or sealed versus the katakana me |
| ※ と ＊ | kome-jirushi, asutarisuku | Both flag notes; ※ is the normal choice in Japanese print |
How people say them out loud
Nobody reads 〒 aloud: you give the postcode with no before the second group. On automated phone lines the star key is kome-jirushi and the hash key is shāpu, from sharp. 〜 becomes kara, and in hours it pairs with made, until. Staff at a counter or a recorded voice will sound like this.
Circles also appear in speech. A zero in a room or flight number is often maru, and a name hidden as ○○ in a news story or template is read marumaru, so-and-so. In the office, maruhi is a light word for keep this quiet.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 郵便番号は123の4567です。 | Yūbin bangō wa ichi-ni-san no yon-go-roku-nana desu. | My postcode is 123-4567. |
| 最後に米印を押してください。 | Saigo ni kome-jirushi o oshite kudasai. | Finally, press the star key. |
| 番号の後にシャープを押してください。 | Bangō no ato ni shāpu o oshite kudasai. | After the number, press the hash key. |
| 営業時間は10時から18時までです。 | Eigyō jikan wa jū-ji kara jūhachi-ji made desu. | Opening hours are from 10 to 6. |
| ランチは千円からです。 | Ranchi wa sen-en kara desu. | Lunch starts from 1,000 yen. |
| これはマル秘でお願いします。 | Kore wa maruhi de onegai shimasu. | Please keep this confidential. |
Common mistakes with Japanese symbols
Reading 〜 as about. In English a tilde often means approximately, so 3,000円〜 looks like roughly 3,000 yen. It means from 3,000 yen, and the final bill may be much higher. For about, Japanese writes yaku or gurai.
Marking your choice with ×. On English forms an X in a box often means selected. In Japan × means no or wrong, so circle the option, or tick the box when a form asks for a re-ten, a tick shaped like the katakana re.
Reading ※ as a warning. In English an asterisk leads to the catch in the small print. ※ simply introduces a note, often a harmless one, such as the line saying the photo is only an illustration.
Mixing up 🈚 and 🈶. Both are boxed kanji of similar weight. Mu is nothing, so free; yū is having, so there is a charge. Remember muryō and yūryō as a pair.
Treating the wakaba mark as optional decoration. For a new driver it is a legal requirement for a full year, and forgetting it counts as a violation. Drivers returning after years away sometimes display it by choice, which carries no penalty.