How to write Merry Christmas in Japanese

Do you know Christmas is also celebrated in Japan? Even though majority of Japanese populations are non-Christian and most people have to work on that day, many people recognize this as a special day. Exchanging Christmas cards are not common in Japan (people in Japan exchange "New Year's Card" called "Nengajo") but if you have friends in Japan, they will certainly be happy to receive one. After all, I have been doing this many years! Ever wonder how to write "Merry Christmas" in Japanese? Here's how!

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Pen
• Paper / Card

1. 
    
   Merry Christmas (Horizontal way) in Japanese Katakana

   "Merry Christmas" in Japanese is commonly written in Katakana. Katakana is one of three main Japanese scripts. Katakana is used for foreign names and also often used for onomatopoeia. "Merry Christmas" in Japanese Katakana is written as "メリークリスマス". If you want to practice how to write it, open the graphic and study how it is written. This picture shows you how to write it in "Horizontal" way. The blue arrow show you the stroke orders.

2. 
    
   Merry Christmas (Vertical way) in Japanese Katakana

   In the graphic in Step 1, I show you how to write in "Merry Christmas" in "Horizontal" way. Now, I would like to show you how to write it in "Vertical" way. When you write "Merry Christmas" in vertical way, all the letters are the same except the direction of the third letter (which looks like a "bar") changes. When you write this third letter in horizontal way, it looks like a minus ("-") sign. But when you write this letter in vertical way, you have to write it vertically kind of like a number one. Also, note that in the image, I wrote it this letter pronounces like "ee" as in "see". However, the pronunciation of this letter changes depend on the preceding letter.

3. If you find it difficult to write "Merry Christmas" in Japanese by yourself, feel free to copy one or both graphics in this site.

[sneedc]

on 12/25/2008 Wow, that is a lot of handstrokes to say "merry Christmas!" But a very timely, refreshing article! I did not know the Japanese shared this holiday with the US!