THE JAPANESE LANGUAGE has three written forms. Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. A single word (as shown above) can therefore be written in three different ways.
HIRAGANA. The 46 Hiragana characters are the first to be learned by Japanese schoolchildren. Hiragana (and Katakana) are phonetic - the name of the character is the same as its sound.
KATAKANA. (also 46 characters) is used mainly for words of foreign origin such as place names, or names of dishes in a restaurant menu.
KANJI. (Chinese characters) are idiographs - each conveys an idea. Most Kanji have at least two readings. There are several thousand Kanji.
WRITTEN JAPANESE commonly makes use of all three forms in a single sentence.
THERE ARE NO SPACES between words in written Japanese, although commas and stops are used to indicate pauses and breaks. Many words written in The Roman Alphabet have also entered modern Japanese, mainly for the convenience of visitors to Japan - and to make products and advertising media look attractive or 'imported'.
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