Japanese Higher Numbers (2024)

FAQs

Japanese Higher Numbers? ›

Larger numbers are made by combining these elements: Tens from 20 to 90 are "(digit)-jū" as in 二十 (ni-jū) to 九十 (kyū-jū). Hundreds from 200 to 900 are "(digit)-hyaku". Thousands from 2000 to 9000 are "(digit)-sen".

For the large numbers, Japanese numerals are divided into units of four (as in the four zeros in ten thousand). As you can see in the chart, 万 (man) is 10^4, 億 (oku) is 10^8, and 兆 (chō) is 10^12. One million is expressed as one hundred ten-thousands or 百万 (hyaku-man) in Japanese.

The number 500,000 is go jū man 五十万 (5 and 10 and 10,000), and so on.

For example, the term for 10,000 yen, or about $100, is 'one ten thousand', 一万 ichi-man (then add 'en' for yen). Then for 100,000 yen, about $1,000, it's 'ten ten thousands', 10万 Ju-man. For 100,000,000 it's not 'one hundred million', it's 'one one hundred million', 一億, Ichi-oku. Simple.

Why is the Japanese Yen so high when traded to a dollar? In the US, the dollar is made up of 100 cents. In Japan, the Yen doesn't have a larger (or smaller) equivalent. A Yen is the only unit of currency there.

Japan 🇯🇵: In Japan, the number 13 is largely seen as unlucky due to its pronunciation. The word for 13, “ju-san,” sounds like “shiju,” which means “to die.” Consequently, many buildings in Japan skip the 13th floor, similar to Western superstitions.

In Japanese the next unit corresponding to 10,000 x 10,000 is 100,000,000 (ichi-oku 「1億」/ hundred million).

How much is 10 000 million Japanese yen in dollars? ›

The kanji character “零,” which is pronounced as “rei,” also represents “0.” In some instances, “まる” (“maru”) is also used to express zero. “Maru” in Japanese also means “circle.”

Any native speaker will know both versions. In times past, the Japanese created the preferable alternatives, yon, nana, and kyu, because of superstition around the sounds shi, shichi and ku (which can mean “death”, “place of death” and “agony”).

It is known that Japanese tend to be superstitious. There are certain things or circ*mstances that are uniquely explained sometimes through superstitious beliefs. One of those things are the concept about Lucky Numbers! Did you know that the number 3 is considered as one of the lucky numbers in Japan?

Numbers are frequently written using Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3,...) in Japanese just as they are in English. However, numbers written in kanji are still used from daily life in traditional style Japanese bars ( 居酒屋いざかや ) to official documents, counters, and historical documents.

600 is going to be pronounced as rop – pyaku and 800 is pronounced as hap – pyaku. The hyphen indicates where you should add the slight pause.

Native Japanese counting: “hitotsu” (1), “futatsu” (2), “mittsu” (3), “yottsu” (4), “itsutsu” (5), “muttsu” (6), “nanatsu” (7), “yattsu” (8), “kokonotsu” (9), and “tou” (10). Sino-Japanese reading can be found in the table below under “English pronunciation.” It has two reading options for numbers 4, 7, and 9.