Free Japanese Number Converter: Kanji, Hiragana and Romaji

How the Japanese number converter works

There is one box, and it works both ways. Type a number in digits, such as 1987 or 2026, and you see it in Japanese: 1987 is 千九百八十七, read せんきゅうひゃくはちじゅうなな, and 2026 is 二千二十六, read にせんにじゅうろく. Negatives take マイナス. Whole numbers go up to 24 digits, which reaches 垓, 10 to the power of 20. Decimals are read digit by digit after てん, so 3.14 is 三・一四, さんてんいちよん, san ten ichi yon.

Each result sits on its own row with a Copy button. The Kanji row gives 千九百八十七. The Hiragana reading row gives せんきゅうひゃくはちじゅうなな, with any sound changes already made. The Romaji row uses Hepburn with macrons: sen kyūhyaku hachijū nana. The Newspaper style row mixes digits and kanji units the way Japanese newspapers print large numbers, so 12345 is 1万2345, 123456789 is 1億2345万6789 and a round hundred million is 1億.

The Formal (daiji) row gives the numerals used on contracts, receipts and money envelopes: 壱千九百八拾七. The As yen row writes the amount with 円, as 千九百八十七円 and せんきゅうひゃくはちじゅうななえん, and adds the formal receipt form, 金壱千九百八拾七円也. The Ordinal row gives both common forms, 第二十一 (だいにじゅういち, dai-nijū-ichi) and 二十一番目 (にじゅういちばんめ).

The converter also reads Japanese back into digits. It takes kanji, hiragana, katakana and romaji, with or without macrons, so kyū, kyuu and kyu all work. It also reads full-width digits, the newspaper style 1万2345 and daiji. Kanji digits in a row, the way years are often written, are fine too: 二〇二六 reads as 2026. Slips get a note. さんひゃく, ろくひゃく, はちせん and sanhyaku get a note on the sound change. いちひゃく and 一百 get a note that 十, 百 and 千 take no 一. 一千万, read いっせんまん, passes as the formal reading. Type an ordinal such as 第一 and it asks for the number on its own.

There's one limit. Japanese counts things with counters, such as つ, 人 and 本, and the converter doesn't cover them, or the native readings ひとつ and ふたつ. It writes the numbers themselves.

How to write Japanese numbers from 1 to 100

The numbers from 1 to 10 each have their own word: いち, に, さん, よん, ご, ろく, なな, はち, きゅう and じゅう, written 一 to 十. Zero is ゼロ, or れい. Four, seven and nine also have a second reading, し, しち and く. When you count, you mostly use よん, なな and きゅう, and that's what the converter writes. When you type Japanese in, the converter and the quiz accept either.

After 10, everything is built from those words. 11 is 十一, じゅういち, ten one. 20 is 二十, にじゅう, two ten. 99 is 九十九, きゅうじゅうきゅう. There are no teens and no irregular tens, so once you know one to ten, you can write all the Japanese numbers from 1 to 100. Then 100 is 百, ひゃく. That's also the quiz's default range.

Japanese numbers to 10,000 and beyond: 万 and 億

English groups digits in threes: thousand, million, billion. Japanese groups them in fours. 10,000 has its own word, 万 (まん), and the next step is 億 (おく), 100,000,000. After that come 兆 at 10 to the power of 12, 京 at 10 to the power of 16 and 垓 at 10 to the power of 20.

So 100,000 is 十万, じゅうまん, ten 万. 1,000,000 is 百万, ひゃくまん, and 10,000,000 is 千万, せんまん. 12345 is 一万二千三百四十五, いちまんにせんさんびゃくよんじゅうご, which a newspaper would print as 1万2345. If you translate figures for work, count four digits from the right, not three.

One rule about kanji numbers catches learners. 十, 百 and 千 take no 一, so 10 is 十, 100 is 百 and 1000 is 千. From 万 up, the 一 comes back: 一万 (いちまん), 一億 (いちおく). So a list of Japanese numbers from 1 to 10000 ends on 一万, while 1000 is plain 千.

Sound changes: さんびゃく, ろっぴゃく, はっぴゃく

Some readings change where two numbers meet. 百 is ひゃく, but 300 is さんびゃく, 600 is ろっぴゃく and 800 is はっぴゃく. 千 is せん, but 3000 is さんぜん and 8000 is はっせん. The big units do it too: 一兆 is いっちょう, 八兆 is はっちょう and 十兆 is じゅっちょう, while 六京 is ろっけい and 百京 is ひゃっけい.

Only the reading changes. Kanji numbers stay the same, so 三百 is 300 however you say it. The converter writes the changed reading. If you type さんひゃく or はちせん, it gives you the number with a note, and the quiz marks them wrong with the same note.

Formal numbers (daiji) and Japanese numbers for money

On contracts, receipts and money envelopes, Japanese uses formal numerals called daiji (大字). 一, 二, 三, 十 and 万 become 壱, 弐, 参, 拾 and 萬, so 12,345 is 壱萬弐千参百四拾五 and 20 is 弐拾. 壱 is written even before 拾, 百 and 千, where everyday numbers leave the 一 out, so 1987 is 壱千九百八拾七. That way nothing can be added to the figure afterward.

The As yen row writes the amount with 円: 千九百八十七円, read せんきゅうひゃくはちじゅうななえん. It also gives the form you'll see on a formal receipt, 金壱千九百八拾七円也, with 金 before the amount and 也 after it.

Japanese numbers practice

Below the converter is a practice mode that works as a Japanese numbers quiz. Pick a range: 0 to 20, 0 to 100, 100 to 1,000, 1,000 to 10,000, or 万 and 億, which runs from 10,000 to 100,000,000. It starts on 0 to 100. Then pick a direction. In the write direction you see digits and type the Japanese, in hiragana, katakana, romaji or kanji. In the read direction you see the kanji and type the digits. Each answer is marked at once, and a running score stays on screen.

しちじゅう and くじゅう pass, as do ななじゅう and きゅうじゅう. A missing sound change, as in さんひゃく, is marked wrong with a note, and so is いち before 十, 百 or 千 in kana. 一百 in kanji gets “Almost”. If you answer in digits, it asks you to type it in Japanese. Every answer shows the kana, with the kanji and romaji. Press Stop to see your score and the numbers you missed, then “Practice my mistakes” goes through just those. Typing kana needs a Japanese keyboard (an IME), but romaji works without one. There's no audio, so the quiz won't help with how Japanese numbers sound.

If you're working on the rest of your Japanese as well, the kanji to hiragana converter adds furigana to any Japanese text. The hiragana worksheets give stroke order practice one row of the chart at a time, and the kanji worksheet generator has every kanji from JLPT N5 to N1.

Number converters in seven other languages

Each of these works both ways, from digits to words and from words back to digits. Each one also has money, ordinals and a practice quiz, and they're all free.

• Spanish numbers to words converter
• French numbers to words converter
• German numbers to words converter
• Italian numbers to words converter
• Portuguese numbers to words converter
• Russian numbers to words converter
• Korean number converter

Frequently asked questions