Japanese phonetic alphabet

The Japanese phonetic alphabet (和文通話表, literally "Japanese character telecommunication chart") is a radiotelephony spelling alphabet, similar in purpose to the NATO phonetic alphabet, but designed to communicate Japanese kana rather than Latin letters. The alphabet was sponsored by the now-defunct Ministry for Posts and Telecommunications.

Each kana is assigned a code word, so that critical combinations of kana (and numbers) can be pronounced and clearly understood by those who transmit and receive voice messages by radio or telephone, especially when the safety of navigation or persons is essential.

There are specific names for kana, numerals, and special characters (i.e. vowel extender, comma, quotation mark, and parentheses).

kana

Every kana name takes the form of a X の Y, for example りんごのリ, meaning "ri of ringo". Voiced kana do not have special names of their own. Instead, one simply states the unvoiced form, followed by "dakuten". /P/ sounds are formed the different way, using the handakuten. Thus, to convey "ba", one would say "はがきのハ 濁点". To convey "pa", one would say "はがきのハ 半濁点".

Numerals

To spell out numerals, one simply uses "数字の..." (suuji no...), and then states the name of the number. This is analogous to the English language practice of saying "the number nine" or "the number five", etc.

When a number can be named in multiple ways, one uses the most distinctive name. For example, 1 is spelled as "hito", since its more common reading "ichi" could be confused with "shichi", a reading of 7. 7, in turn, is spelled out as "nana", never "shichi", lest it be confused with 1 or 4 ("shi"). 4, in turn, is always spelled out "yon".

pecial symbols