Abbreviated and contracted words are a common feature of Japanese. Long words are often contracted into shorter forms, which then become the predominant forms. For example, the University of Tokyo, in Japanese Tōkyō Daigaku (東京大学) becomes 東大, Tōdai, and "remote control", rimōto kontorōrā (remote controller), becomes rimokon. Names are also contracted in this way. For example Takuya Kimura, in Japanese Kimura Takuya, an entertainer, is referred to as Kimutaku.

The names of some very familiar companies are also contractions. For example, Toshiba is a contraction of "Tokyo Shibaura", and Nissan is a contraction of "Nippon Sangyo".

The contractions may be commonly used, or they may be specific to a particular group of people. For example the "Kokuritsu Kankyo Kenkyujo" (国立環境研究所, National Institute for Environmental Sciences of Japan, NIES) is known as Kanken (環研) by its employees, but this terminology is not familiar to most Japanese.

Patterns of contraction

---

In contracted kanji words, the most common pattern of contraction is to take the first kanji of each word and put them together as a portmanteau.

In loanwords and names, the most common pattern is to take the first two morae (or kana) of each of the two words, and combine them forming a new, single word. For example "family restaurant" or famirī resutoran becomes famiresu.

Yōon sounds, sounds represented using a kana ending in i and a small ya, yu or yo kana, such as kyo count as one mora. Japanese long vowels count as two morae, and may dissapear (the same can be said for the sokuon, or small tsu); Harry Potter, originally Harī Pottā, is contracted to Haripota, or otherwise be altered; actress Kyoko Fukada, Fukada Kyōko, becomes Fukakyon.

These abbreviated names are so common in Japan that many companies initiate abbreviations of the names of their own products. For example, the animated series Pretty Cure marketed itself under the four-character abbreviated name purikyua.

Long kanji names

---

Contraction	Kanji	Original word	Full kanji	Meaning
Nōdai	農大	Tōkyō Nōgyō Daigaku	東京農業大学	Agricultural University of Tokyo
Nyūkan	入管	Nyūkoku Kanrikyoku	入国管理局	Immigration Office

Loanwords

---

Three and four character loanwords

Contraction	Katakana	Original word	Katakana	Meaning
famiresu	ファミレス	famirī resutoran	ファミリーレストラン	family restaurant
nekama	ネカマ	netto ("net"; internet) okama ("male cross dresser")	ネットオカマ	A fake female
rabuho	ラブホ	rabu hoteru	ラブホテル	love hotel
rimokon	リモコン	rimōto kontorōrā	リモートコントローラー	remote control

Abbreviations

Abbreviation	Katakana	Original word	Katakana	Meaning
anime	アニメ	animēshon	アニメーション	animation
depāto	デパート	depātomento sutoa	デパートメント・ストア	department store
toire	トイレ	toiretto	トイレット	toilet

Created words

---

Many abbreviations, especially four-character words, have been created for particular products or TV shows.

Contraction	Origin	Notes
pokemon	poketto monsutā (Pocket Monster*)	The well-known video game and animation franchise.
purikyua	Pureti Kyua (Pretty Cure)	A manga/anime series
purikura	purinto kurabu (Print Club)	An automated photograph machine
tatakon	tataku kontorōrā (controller)	A controller used for the game Taiko Drum Master by Namco
mukku	"magazine + book	A cross between a magazine and a book

Contractions of names

---

Contraction	Japanese	Name	Japanese	Notes
Burapi	ブラピ	Buraddo Pitto (Brad Pitt)	ブラッド・ピット	Hollywood actor.
Fukakyon	フカキョン	Kyoko Fukada	深田恭子	Japanese idol and actress.
Kimutaku	キムタク	Takuya Kimura	木村拓哉	SMAP star
Tsuyopon	ツヨポン	Tsuyoshi Kusanagi	草彅剛	SMAP star
Matsuken	マツケン	Ken Matsudaira	松平健	Jidaigeki actor, famous for Matsuken samba.
Shimuken	シムケン	Ken Shimura	志村けん	television performer and actor.
Yamataku	山拓	Taku Yamasaki	山崎拓	politician.
Hashiryū	橋龍	Ryutaro Hashimoto	橋本龍太郎	politician.

Highways and railway lines

---

Many highways and railway lines have names that are contractions of the names of their endpoints. For example, 東名高速道路 (Tomei Expressway) takes one kanji 東 (tō) from 東京 (Tokyo) and the other 名 (mei) from 名古屋 (Nagoya; its pronunciation changes from the kun'yomi na to the on'yomi mei). 東急東横線 (Tokyu Toyoko Line) links Tokyo and 横浜 Yokohama), taking part of its name from each city.

The railway tunnel linking Aomori and Hakodate is called the , using the first kanji from 青森 (Aomori), and 函館 (Hakodate).

Sometimes names of this type preserve older place names. For instance, the character 武 (musashi), which was once the name of the Japanese province in which the city of Tokyo was located, can still be seen in the company names 東武 (Tobu or "East Musashi"), 西武 (Seibu or "West Musashi"), and in the 南武線 (Nanbu Line or "South Musashi Line").

Single letters as abbreviations

---

Many single letters of the Latin alphabet have names that resemble the pronunciations of Japanese words or characters. Japanese people use them in contexts such as advertising to catch the reader's attention. Other uses of letters include abbreviations of spellings of words. Here are some examples:

• A: The kanji 英 in 英語 (eigo; the English language), 英国 (eikoku; England or Great Britain)
• E: 良い (Ii; the word for "good" in Japanese). The letter appears in the name of the company e-homes.
• J: The first letter of "Japan" as in ''J-League, J-Phone
• K: The kanji 警 as in 警察 (keisatsu; "police")
• Q: Various kanji have the reading kyū; 急 ("fast"), 九 ("nine"), 求 ("seeking"). Japanese "Dial Q2" premium-rate telephone numbers start with 0990.
• W: The English word "double." Japanese people sometimes pronounce the letter "double."
• Y: The Japanese word waiwai is occasionally written "YY"

Japanese vocabulary