About

Hi, I'm Kyle Kawasaki — a third-generation Japanese-American writer based in California. I've spent over 20 years writing about Japanese language and culture for English-speaking audiences.

Growing up between two languages, I always thought the existing "convert your name to Japanese" tools missed the point. They either spit out a single katakana spelling and called it a day, or generated absurd kanji that no Japanese person would ever use. Neither captured what's actually fascinating about how names work in Japanese.

So I built mynameinjapanese.io to do it properly — three perspectives at once:

• Phonetic (katakana) — how your name would actually be written in everyday Japanese contexts.
• Meaning-based kanji — what kanji could match the etymological meaning of your name.
• Ateji (当て字) — the playful kanji wordplay that Japanese people actually enjoy, where the kanji match the sound and tell their own story.

How I make money

This site runs on Google AdSense display ads — that's it. I don't sell your data, I don't run an email list, and I don't have a "premium tier." If you find the site useful, leaving the ads turned on is the best way to support it.

Get in touch

Questions, corrections, or feature requests? Email me: [email protected].