Hepburn romanization is the main system of romanization for the Japanese language. The system was originally published in 1867 by American Christian missionary and physician James Curtis Hepburn as the standard in the first edition of his Japanese–English dictionary. The system is distinct from other romanization methods in its use of English orthography to phonetically transcribe sounds: for example, the syllable is written as shi and is written as cha, reflecting their spellings in English.
James Curtis Hepburn, creator of the system
Former Japan National Railways-style board of Toyooka Station. For the two adjacent stations, "GEMBUDŌ" follows the Hepburn romanization system, but "KOKUHU" follows the Nihon-shiki/Kunrei-shiki romanization system.
The romanization of Japanese is the use of Latin script to write the Japanese language. This method of writing is sometimes referred to in Japanese as rōmaji .
Old sign from the JNR era at Toyooka Station shows inconsistent romanization. Although in principle Hepburn is used, Kokuhu is the kunrei-shiki form (which would be Kokufu in Hepburn).