There are various uses for Katakana, not limited to Foreign words (not limited to english... ゴム is eraser in spanish), but also used for Onomatopoeia (ピカーピカー, sparkle...), brand names (ウニコロ uniqlo), and emphasis on a product (トヨタ Toyota).
What interested me the most out of these, was why they would use Katakana for a brand name or product that was native to their own country (トヨタ Toyota for example), I did some research, and I think I came to some answers. The main reason, is advertising. For many people, katakana stand out much more than traditional hiragana or kanji in terms of advertisement and consumerism. Even from my limited experience, when reading japanese, if I see katakana I find my eyes are being drawn to it. This would come in handy when trying to market to a group of people, especially when all of the foreign companies are naturally written in katakana. It also draws attention if you use katakana on a word that people generally see in hiragana or kanji.
The straightness of katakana also draws attention, in my opinion. seeing トヨタ is much more noticeable than seeing とよた, which, based off of the smooth, almost art like nature of the writing, is easy to go unnoticed.
This advertising theme is brought over into popular culture in japan. When a movie, magazine, or anything else is created, we can be sure it's in katakana.
What interested me the most out of these, was why they would use Katakana for a brand name or product that was native to their own country (トヨタ Toyota for example), I did some research, and I think I came to some answers. The main reason, is advertising. For many people, katakana stand out much more than traditional hiragana or kanji in terms of advertisement and consumerism. Even from my limited experience, when reading japanese, if I see katakana I find my eyes are being drawn to it. This would come in handy when trying to market to a group of people, especially when all of the foreign companies are naturally written in katakana. It also draws attention if you use katakana on a word that people generally see in hiragana or kanji.
The straightness of katakana also draws attention, in my opinion. seeing トヨタ is much more noticeable than seeing とよた, which, based off of the smooth, almost art like nature of the writing, is easy to go unnoticed.
This advertising theme is brought over into popular culture in japan. When a movie, magazine, or anything else is created, we can be sure it's in katakana.
Katakana definitely does serve to emphasize certain Japanese words, especially in the mass media and in advertising. Using katakana instead of hiragana does make words "pop". Seeing Toyota in hiragana is not only easy to ignore, but also gives the impression that perhaps the kanji are too hard or antiquated, as many words that are usually written in hiragana are, and that is grammatically part of a sentence. The use of katakana in magazines and other mass media publications especially draws on the words as concepts. Seeing かっこいい as カッコいい or カッコイイ in a magazine serves to highlight that it belongs to what people currently consider to be cool or trendy.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right that Toyota is written in katakana to make it stand out. Katakana are simpler and have more straight lines and corners, so they appear bolder. Furthermore, since Toyota is a car company, the straight lines and hard edges of katakana look more modern and mechanical and fit the company better. On the other hand, a hotel chain might use hiragana to appear soft and welcoming, or kanji to appear traditional and homely. Also, when written in Kanji, 豊田 is also part of several place names and people's names (although many are associated with the car company anyway) so using katakana might prevent confusion with those.
ReplyDeleteAs you mentioned, there are many companies that use katakana for branding and advertising. Toyota started using katakana for their brand name because when written in katakana, it has 8 strokes which is considered a lucky number in Japan.
ReplyDeleteI think your analysis will be more interesting if you look into how Toyota names their car. I think you will find some interesting car brand names that use katakana.
good luck!