The direct translation would be [あなたを]愛している "[anata wo] aishite iru." However, this carries with it a much stronger connotation than it would in English and is not as frequently or casually tossed around.

The much more often used, and in most cases more appropriate, expression would be [あなたが]好きです "[anata ga] suki (desu)" or [あなたが]大好きです "[anata ga] daisuki (desu)."

The Japanese often drop subjects and objects from sentences if they are implied. As such, "I" and "you," 私は (watashi ha [hais pronounced wa in this context]) and あなたが／を (anata ga/wo), respectively, can be dropped, the former more so than the latter.

Additionally, dropping だ (da) from 好きだ (suki da) makes the expression much less formal; adding 大 (dai) makes it more forceful. It is the equivalent of "very."

Basic forms:

「私は」[あなたが] (大) 好き {だ} -「watashi ha」[anata ga] (dai) suki {da}

「私は」[あなたを] 愛している -「watashi ha」[anata wo] ai shite iru

Polite forms:

「私は」[あなたが] (大) 好きです -「watashi ha」[anata ga] (dai) suki desu

「私は」[あなたを] 愛しています -「watashi ha」[anata wo] ai shite imasu

Aishiteru

Well first the Roumaji (羅馬字) (Romanized Writing)(commonly written romaji) of a Japanese word has to be spelled correctly, like using the right letters for long or normal vowels, etc.

You can use romajidesu.com, freedict.com, eudict.com, kamus.com, mahou.org/dict, or jisho.org among many other online dictionaries which translate from romaji.

There are two alphabets Hiragana and Katakana and then there is Kanji, which is another 1500 or so different characters that a high school graduate is expected to recognize.

Charts of hiragana and katakana are available at many Web sites: searching for "hiragana katakana" will yield dozens.

Hiragana is used for several purposes. The primary use is to write grammatical markers (e.g., past tense markers, conjunctions, and so forth) that cannot be written using Chinese characters (or kanji), the symbols mainly borrowed from Chinese that carry the idea or content of words, in much the way that many English or Romance language words comprise a root from Latin or Greek and grammatic markers associated with particular languages and grammars.

Hiragana is also used in some cases when the Chinese characters are too much trouble or are too obscure to write (e.g., ごみ [English: trash, garbage, etc.], which can be written as 塵). In personal names, hiragana are often used when the connotations of particular kanji that could be used to write a name are not wanted.

Hiragana is historically (e.g., in the Heian era) with women's prose (e.g., "The Tale of Genji").

Katakana comprise a parallel set of sound symbols abstracted from hiragana symbols. Presently, katakana are used most often to designate words of foreign origin or, sometimes, for emphasis (as are italics in English and other alphabet-dominated languages). At least until the end of the Second World War, katakana were also used (at least in official documents) for grammatic markers, hiragana having taken over this role nearly completely in the last 60 or so years.

The Roman alphabet is frequently used as is in Japan, although not for prose or any extended writing. Hence, the Roman alphabet can be encountered on signage or similar forms of communication such as advertisements and product labels.

Japan

Japanese (Nō drama) is a serious dramatic form that combines drama, music, and dance into a complete aesthetic performance experience. It developed in the 14th and 15th centuries and has its own musical instruments and performance techniques, which were often handed down from father to son. The performers were generally male (for both male and female roles), although female amateurs also perform Nō dramas. Nō drama was supported by the government, and particularly the military, with many military commanders having their own troupes and sometimes performing themselves. It is still performed in Japan today.

Kyōgen is the comic counterpart to Nō drama. It concentrates more on dialogue and less on music, although Nō instrumentalists sometimes appear also in Kyōgen. Kabuki drama, developed from the 17th century, is another comic form, which includes dance

Many important elements of the dramatic art in Japan are similar to those developed by the Chinese. In many cases the story material is obviously the same, and there is great similarity in the methods of producing and acting. There were two periods of brilliance in Japan (the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries), and two distinct types of theater: the aristocratic and the popular.

japan does some plays that america does. when i went to japan, i saw that they were doing les miserables, and there were japanese playing the part. so they can do anything from american drama to drama that is their own.

Japanese is the national language and the only one really used. However, there are many regional dialects such as the one spoken in Osaka, which sometimes has radically different words than those in standard Japanese.

Writing

Hiragana (ひらがな）- Japan's own original Writing system

Katakana (カタカナ） Another writing system

Kanji　（漢字）- Chinese characters used in Japanese

The main language is Japanese. However a lot of people can speak some level of English. Other languages are taught just as they are anywhere in the world ranging from Korean to Spanish.

Japan has no official language, however Japanese is the most widely spoken. Other languages in Japan include: Aynu itak, Ryukyuan languages, and several other dialects of Japanese.

Japanese is the only official language of Japan, though English is widely taught up to high school. Individual Japanese may be fluent in any number of languages, or speak only Japanese. It is entirely variable from person to person.

Answer

There are countless dialects within Japan that are all different from Standard Japanese (the Japanese spoken in Tokyo). There's also the Ainu languages which are spoken by the native inhabitants of Japan, the Ainu people, and also the Okinawan language.
Japanese is the language of Japan, spoken by more than 130 million people.
Japanese.

Koi is a domesticated carp and looks more or less like a wild carp. Koi, however, are generally smaller than wild carp and have been bred so that they are most well viewed from the top. They tend to be not so deep from the dorsal to pectral fins as wild carp. Neither koi nor wild carp stop growing, but the smaller environments (ponds and the like) in which koi are kept limits size somewhat.

Koi varieties include both single-color fish and multicolored, generally mottled, fish. Frequently seen colors are white, black, yellow, and a spectrum of reds tending most often toward the orange and of the range.

This is a very wide topic with many exceptions, the best case of learning how to turn a non-Japanese word to a Japanese word by using katakana is to see numerous examples. The way the word has been inserted into Japanese is one of the most important factors which determines the regularity or irregularity of its Japanization; whether it was something they first 'heard' and then tried to write, or if it was something they saw/read before hearing would be a key determinant in exceptions. However I will try to be specific enough for a reader to be able to do this with majority of the convertible words. Please do note that even though many English words have entered Japanese, it doesn't mean you can use this on just anything. Names and titles, and majority of popular/globally used words with no original equivalent in Japanese however can without an exception be subject to it.

There are several steps to include, when transliterating a non-Japanese word into katakana: (steps 1 & 2 are merely an introduction on katakana)

[*General key note: Hereafter, by saying 'consonant (...)' I mean actually consonantal usage of the letter mentioned, not its general usage. E.g. when saying consonant 'm' I mean like in hamburger not like inmend.*]

1* There are 48 main characters in Japanese katakana (the same for hiragana) syllabary called 五十音 /go juu on/ literally meaning [the 50 sounds]. They are 10 consonants merging with each of the five vowels creating that consonant's group's syllables. The first group is the vowels themselves, and after that come k, s, t, n, h, m, y, r, w. E.g. group 'N' would be [na, ni, nu, ne, no].

Some of those syllables change to a closer sound for Japanese accents and phonology, like in group 's' we have 'shi' instead of 'si' and 'chi' instead of 'ti' in group 't', among some others.

Needless to emphasize, but the Japanese don't originally have 'L' and 'V' sounds in their phonology, similar to some sounds being totally unknown to some languages. As for 'v' they already created katakana characters to cover it but for 'L', since their original pronunciation of the 'R' group is neither as firm as 'R' in English nor as soft as 'L' but something of a mixture of the two, they just turn any 'L' containing syllables to a related 'r' group's syllable.

English-existent sounds ð (like in feather) and θ (like in threat) and ʒ (like in pleasure) are turned to 'z' , 's' and 'j' groups' syllables respectively.

In addition the syllables 'yi', 'ye' and 'wu' don't exist, or better said have no usage they are not mentioned in common katakana tables. And we have the only single-consonant character 'n' (others were syllables) making it a totall of (5*10)-3+1 = 48. That being true about hiragana and katakana both, syllables 'wu' and 'we' particularly are obsolete as well, and in both hiragana and katakana exist just figuratively and in tables only. They also don't combine to create the syllables explained in the following paragraphs.

By further combining some of those syllables, we can create 二重音字 /ni juu on ji/ [digraphs] (syllables containing two characters but acting as one syllalbe). Depending on the type of characters being combined, there will be 3 categories as follows:

1*1* Those which are a combination of a main 'i' ending syllable with one of the 'y' group syllables of katakana (ヤ /ya/, ヨ /yo/, ユ /yu/), rendering the 'y' group's character into a 拗音 /you on/ [diphthong/contracted sound] and changing their written form into smaller ones which are written in right side below the main syllable (ャ, ョ, ュ). This group's pronunciation originally exists in Japanese phonetics.

Example: キ /ki/ + ヤ /ya/ = キャ /kya/ in which the 'y' is pronounced only slightly.

1*2* Those which are a combination of any main syllable with one of the five vowels (ア /a/, イ /i/, ウ /u/, エ /e/, オ /o/) doing the same as the case in 1*1* turning them into (ァ, ィ, ゥ, ェ, ォ). This group's pronunciation does not originally exist in Japanese phonetics and is prepared to enable all foreign syllables to be converted into Japanese writing.

Example: フ /fu/ + エ /e/ = フェ /fe/, in which case native Japanese speakers usually tend to pronounce it slightly like 'fue' but fast enough to sound just 'fe'.

Example 2: referee =>レフェリー /re fe rii/.

1*3* There are also a group of digraphs where two vowels are combined, creating a 長音 /chou on/ [long vowel] which is pronounced twice as long as the vowel itself with the same sound. Originally each main vowel has its own corresponding vowel/vowels to elongate it in hiragana but in katakana the character ー alone is used to elongate all five vowels and is phoneticised as double the same vowel. Usage of such vowels have been mentioned in 6*2* and 7*1*.

Example: ウ /u/ + ー = ウー /uu/

2* We also add 濁点 /da ku ten/ [voiced syllable marker; also called tenten/chonchon] which looks like and is used to create 濁音 /da ku on [voiced sound(s)] (e.g. changing shi to ji, or ku to gu) and 半濁点 /han da ku ten/ [semi-voiced marker] which looks like ﾟto create 半濁音 /han da ku on/ [semi-voiced sound(s), 'p' syllabary group (pa, pi, pu, pe, po)].

Example: ス /su/ + ˝ = ズ /zu/.

Example 2: ホ /ho/ + ﾟ = ポ /po/.

__________________________End of Introduction on Katakana__________________________

3* The first thing needed is to take the word we want to write in katakana and syllabicate it, with one exception of consonant 'n' counting as one syllable alone, and also consonant 'm' in middle of a word preceding 'b' or 'p' consonants (as well as before itself, see explanatory example 2) turning to 'n' thus counting as one syllable too. Keep in mind that for the vowel 'o', the syllable containing it will be converted almost always to its relevant consonant's 'o' ending syllable in katakana, no matter the original pronunciation of it.

Take a word like 'computer' e.g., its first syllable would be 'com' read when alone as /kam/ or /kəm/ (with schwa), but in Japanese it would be read and written as /kon/ ('m' turning to 'n').

4* When we are done separating the syllables in this way, we try to find the responding syllable for it in katakana and put it together. The core of a syllable is 'vowel' so in general these are the syllable patterns:

(C = consonant /or multiple consonants succeeding each other, consonant cluster like the word worms / V= vowel)

1) V = syllable.............like: a+tom = atom

2) V+C = syllable.........like: en+ded = ended

3) C+V = syllable.........like: Ro+bin = Robin

4) C+V+C = syllable.....like: car+bon = carbon

[4*1*) Note that number of consonants consecutively coming right next to each other does not change the pattern and thus is not needed to be mentioned. That is why I defined Cto be a consonant or a consonant cluster. In case of clusters, all the consonants will be turned to their 'u' ending syllables of Japanese syllabary, later explained in 5*.]

[4*2*) Note that diphthongs have not been mentioned, but they originally form the same pattern as (3) but might attain another C and further develop into (4). In any case they are treated the same way, just with their own relevant syllables in Katakana, like: news+pa+per = newspaper -> Case (4)]

5* Now if you are familiar with Japanese phonetics and katakana you will understand that there will be one problem: 末子音 /ma tsu shi in/ [syllables-ending consonant(s)]; as well as 子音群 /shi in gon/ [consonant cluster(s)].

Since the only consonant existing in Japanese is 'n' and no other, any other than 'n' will have to be turned into a syllable, by ending in 'u' (or 'i' which is exception and will be explained in 5*1*), e.g. 'b' => 'bu'.

In this pattern that would be cases (2) and (4). In such cases we basically just have to turn that consonant into the 'u' ending syllable of its group. For instance if we have a syllable like 'Sam' we turn the ending 'm' into 'mu' for which we have an equating syllable in katakana.

5*1* There are exceptions where occasionally 'j', 'sh' and especially 'ch' turn into 'i' ending syllables, in other words to 'ji', 'shi' and 'chi', since 'ju', 'shu' and 'chu' are basically written 'ji+(diphthong)yu and so on therefor the core would be actually the 'i' ending syllables and that is enough. There is also a lesser exception where 't' and 'd' turn to 'to and 'do' since 'tu' and 'du' initially don't exist in original Japanese phonetics. Needless to mention that as cited in 1*2* 'tu' and 'du' canbe made in katakana but only when necessary which would be when a name having syllables 'tu' and/or 'du' has to be transliterated into Japanese.

6* Next we have the question 'geminate, or not geminate?'

(Geminates are the consecution or repetition of the same consonant right after one another, making the hesitation on it twice as long when pronouncing it. Like the word 'thinness' in English, but not only limited to 'n'.)

The gemination marker in katakana is ッ which is called 促音 /ha tsu on/ as well as 'little tsu' and is a constricted ツ /tsu/ having same properties of diphthongs (1*1*) in writing.

6*1* Consonants without a preceding vowel will never be geminated. In other words consonant clusters which occur in the very beginning of a word only need to be turned each into 'u' ending syllables of their respective groups. Similarly consonant clusters happening at middle or end of the word will have the possibility of gemination only at the very first consonant **. We can say, from the point where the first vowel sound appears in the word on, we can possibly have 'geminations' and that would be only after normal vowels not the long ones.

The way to recognize which syllable-ending consonants will and which will not be geminated, is very simple. A simple categorization for consonants, regarding how they are pronounced, which will help us out here would be:

'破裂音 /ha re tsu on/ [stop consonants/plosives]' & '摩擦音 /ma sa tsu on/ [continuant consonants/fricatives]'.

[**: There might be very rare cases where in the foreign word we have a consonant cluster the first consonant of which turning to 'u' syllable and causing the next to become geminate, but I have never come across nor can I picture the word, just saying theoretically possible though very low.]

6*1*1* Stop consonants (plosives), are those which while pronouncing them you can not keep letting air out of neither mouth nor nose. When you do, you'll have already finished pronouncing them. In Japanese they would be 'p, b, d, g, t, j, ch, k'.

Example: bag => バッグ /ba-ggu/.

6*1*2* Continuant consonants (fricatives), are those which while pronouncing them you can keep letting out the air from either mouth or nose as long as you are able to and you still will not have finished pronouncing them. Like 's' and 'n' and anything other than the stop consonants.

Example: gas => ガス /ga su/.

6*2* Here comes the usage of 長音 /chou on/ [long vowels] which were introduced earlier in 1*3*. With only the exception of interjections or colloquially used rare words, a long vowel disallows its following consonant to be geminated.

6*2*1 When turning a foreign word into katakana the particular consonant 'r' has so many different conversion ways in different words that one could say it almost does not have any. To sum it up:

When 'r' is not preceded by a vowel, in other words when it is in a consonant cluster and isn't the first consonant there, it simply is turned to 'ru', following the rules like a good boy.

When 'r' is used in the last syllable of the word and preceded by a vowel, forming a VC pattern (4* pattern 2) no matter the vowel or the reading, it turns to long or sometimes normal 'a'. Only some exceptions exist to this.

But when in VC pattern and not at the ending syllable, it tends to turn into long vowel, but not always; as it has quite the tendency to be variant. There are some words that can be spelled both ways. But this much can be pointed out, that when it is preceded by 'o' vowel particularly it elongates it, whereas when preceded by 'e' and 'a' vowels, it tends to turn into long 'a'. In case of being preceded by 'i' it's common for it to regularly turn to 'ru'. As always the pronunciation and number of vowels behind it also have a key role.

Example: border => ボーダー /boo daa/ [Note: do not confuse oo with u when phoneticising katakana long vowels. It simply is twice elongated 'o'.].

Example 2: cyborg => サイボーグ /sai boo gu/ [Note: if it wasn't for the part 'bor' turning into 'boo' with long 'o', the consonant 'g' ending the syllable 'borg' would be geminated.].

Example 3: park => パルコ /pa ru ku/. [Note: it would be expected for it to turn into 'paaku']

Example 4: permission => パーミッション /paa mi shon*/. [Note: 'tion' and 'ssion' ending of nouns in English, like partially explained in 3*, turn to 'shon'.].

6*3* Now that the difference between fricatives and plosives is clear, we can simply and generally say:

Preceded by normal vowels, plosives tend to geminate when converted into katakana.

Other than when doubled, fricatives do not tend to geminate when converted into katakana (further explained in 6*4).

Of course there are always exceptions, this is just the general case.

Example: 'Sam' ending in 'm' which is a continuant, will not be turned to 'sammu', but simply 'samu'. Whereas 'shot' ending in 't' which is a plosive, will be turned to 'shotto' and not 'shoto' or 'shotu' etc.

Example 2: mat => マット /ma-tto/.

Example 3: backdoor => バックドア /ba-kku do a/.

6*4* Most of the times, especially and more frequently in names/titles, 'double consonants' will be geminated unless of course prohibited by a preceding long vowel like mentioned above. There are always exceptions such as:

Melissa => メリッサ /me ri-ssa/.

Brussel => ブリュッセル /bu ryu-sse ru/ [Note: You might think there is no reason to turn 'ru' in 'Brussel' into 'ryu' youon/diphthong, but as I mentioned in the beginning paragraph, how and where from a word gets into a language has a key role in its conversion or even vernacularization. In this case the French term Bruxelles and their special pronunciation was what this kind of spelling came from.].

7* There is a slight need to mention the 'y' sound, like in you. It's most commonly treated as a consonant in English. However in Japanese when the 'y' sound is followed by a vowel, it usually splits, being treated as vowel 'i' at the end of a syllable whereas treated as a consonant, thus shown as a syllable of the group 'y' at the start of the next. Take the word 'higher'. In English the norm is to separate it to 'hai' + 'er' or 'ha' + 'yer'. But in Japanese it is turned to 'hai + ya', thus making a slight gemination on 'y'. There are words that are even spelled and used both ways (see example 1 & 4).

7*1* Consequently, in syllables where we clearly have a consonant 'y', the vowel イ / i / is used in Japanese (see example 3).

Example: clear => クリア /ku ri a/ & クリヤ /ku ri ya/.

Example 2: buyer => バイヤー /bai yaa/.

Example 3: flight => フライト /fu rai to/.

Example 4: fire => ファイア /fa i a/ & ファイヤ /fai ya/.

As a conclusion, let's take a regular and simple word and convert it to katakana with all the explanation above.

*Explanatory Example:*

1) Entry : 'Concert'

---syllabicate-->

'con'+'cert'

---having 'n' in mind as special syllable-->

'co'+'n'+'cert'

---we have an 'r' preceded by vowel 'e', as well as being in the ending syllable of the word there for long 'a'-->

'co'+'n'+'caat'

---we have 't' consonant at end of syllable-->

'co'+'n'+'caa'+'to'

---optional step, to write our resulting syllables phonetically, causing ease of pairing with katakana-->

'ko'+'n'+'saa'+'to'

---final step, we have everything above in katakana we just pair them up-->

" コンサート "

2) Entry : 'Hammer' (a bit tricky, good for an example)

---syllabicate-->

'ha'+'mmer'

---we have 'r' preceded by 'e' and at ending syllable, all the reason to-->

'ha'+'mmaa'

---notice double 'm' so we will need gemination-->

---This one being exceptional, like I partially cited in 3* but couldn't explain further since gemination has conditions, 'm' before 'p' and 'b' also if and when geminated will turn to 'n' syllable of katakana. But in case of gemination, we have a 'm' we stop on, and another 'm' which starts the next syllable, in which case the first only is converted to 'n'-->

'ha'+'n'+'maa'

---we just have to replace them with katakana syllables-->

" ハンマー "

._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.

* With all said and done, exceptions are quite enough to defy just about any rule. Here are some general exception examples: *

Exception Example: pass => パース /paa su/ [Note: You see a long vowel usage here which does not follow any of the mentioned rules, and a double 's' at the ending of the syllable which did not geminate due to the long vowel right before it.]

Exception Example 2: major => メージャー /mee jaa/ (regular) & メジャー /me jaa/ (exception)

Exception Example 3: class => クラス /ku ra su/ [Note: contradicting the general rules the double 's' ending did not geminate.]

Exception Example 4: rush =>ラッシュ /ra-sshu/ [Note: consonant ending 'sh' geminated despite the rules, on top of turning to 'shu' not 'shi' which is very expected since it's not too specific for it to have to end in either 'shi' or 'shu' and both are common, 'shu' being more so.]

There may be further slight editions/corrections.

It depends. Some Japanese are light, others are tan. In many Asian cultures, pale is considered more beautiful or attractive. Other than that, the Japanese are, for the most part, very racist. They tend to prefer to not get involved with non-Japanese.

There are many laws in Japan that favor Japanese people over 'Non-Japanese" - even if the NJ has a Japanese passport. As of this writing (Jan. 4, 2010) there are;

No mixed race and no non-ethnic Japanese police, soldiers, and other government workers.

Japan puts restrictions on things that people in most of the world are shocked to learn about.

1) The annual "eki-den" race in Tokyo. Foreign students are banned from participation - the exchange students from Africa won too much in the past, so the solution was not for the natives to work harder - just lock out the foreigners...

2) Waseda University - one of the largest in Japan. It accepts exchange students - but it does not allow foreign students to join the Japanese students in regular classes...it has classes for foreigners (in English) taught mostly by Japanese teachers, and Japanese students can sit in on these classes - so the only way to mix with the natives is to do it in English... VERY different than any U.S. school.

3) Jobs, housing, etc. the rules for NJ are very different than the rules for Japanese people...