Hiragana:
A phonetic alphabet. The symbols are curvilinear in style. Forty simple
hiragana symbols and 25 variations.
Katakana: The second syllabary used for foreign
names and place names as well as words of foreign origin.
Kanji (Chinese character)
Romaji: This is generally used in teaching conversational
Japanese to a foreigner.
*Written Japanese normally makes use of all three (Kanji, Hiragana, and
Katakana).
