Hepburn romanization is a system for the romanization of Japanese that uses the Latin alphabet to write the Japanese language. It is used by most foreigners learning to spell Japanese in the Latin alphabet and by the Japanese for romanizing personal names, geographical locations, other information such as train tables, road signs, official communications with foreign countries. Based on English writing conventions, consonants correspond to the English pronunciation and vowels approximate the Italian pronunciation; the Hepburn style was developed in the late 19th century by an international commission, formed to develop a unified system of romanization. The commission's romanization scheme was popularized by the wide dissemination of a Japanese–English dictionary by commission member and American missionary James Curtis Hepburn, published in 1886; the "modified Hepburn system" known as the "standard system", was published in 1908 with revisions by Kanō Jigorō and the Society for the Propagation of Romanization.

Although Kunrei romanization is favored by the Japanese government today, Hepburn romanization is still in use and remains the worldwide standard. The Hepburn style is regarded as the best way to render Japanese pronunciation for Westerners. Since it is based on English and Italian pronunciations, people who speak English or Romance languages will be more accurate in pronouncing unfamiliar Japanese words romanized in the Hepburn style compared to Nihon-shiki romanization and Kunrei-shiki romanization. Hepburn is based on English phonology and has competed with the alternative Nihon-shiki romanization, developed in Japan as a replacement of the Japanese script. In 1930 a Special Romanization Study Commission was appointed to compare the two; the Commission decided in favor of a slightly-modified version of Nihon-shiki, proclaimed to be Japan's official romanization for all purposes by a September 21, 1937, cabinet ordinance. The ordinance was temporarily overturned by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers during the Occupation of Japan, but it was reissued with slight revisions in 1954.

In 1972 a revised version of Hepburn was codified as ANSI standard Z39.11-1972. It was proposed in 1989 as a draft for ISO 3602 but rejected in favor of the Kunrei-shiki romanization; the ANSI Z39.11-1972 standard was deprecated on October 6, 1994. As of 1978 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, many other official organizations used Hepburn instead of Kunrei-shiki. In addition The Japan Times, the Japan Travel Bureau, many other private organizations used Hepburn instead of Kunrei-shiki; the National Diet Library used Kunrei-shiki. Although Hepburn is not a government standard, some government agencies mandate it. For example, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs requires the use of Hepburn on passports, the Ministry of Land and Transport requires the use of Hepburn on transport signs, including road signs and railway station signs. In many other areas that it lacks de jure status, Hepburn remains the de facto standard. Signs and notices in city offices and police stations and at shrines and attractions use it.

English-language newspapers and media use the simplified form of Hepburn. Cities and prefectures use it in information for English-speaking residents and visitors, English-language publications by the Japanese Foreign Ministry use simplified Hepburn as well. Official tourism information put out by the government uses it, as do guidebooks, both local and foreign, on Japan. Many students of Japanese as a foreign language learn Hepburn. There are many variants of the Hepburn romanization; the two most common styles are as follows: The Traditional Hepburn, as defined in various editions of Hepburn's dictionary, with the third edition considered authoritative. It is characterized by the rendering of syllabic n as m before the consonants b, m and p: Shimbashi for 新橋. Modified Hepburn known as Revised Hepburn, in which the rendering of syllabic n as m before certain consonants is no longer used: Shinbashi for 新橋; the style was introduced in the third edition of Kenkyūsha's New Japanese-English Dictionary, was adopted by the Library of Congress as one of its ALA-LC romanizations, is the most common version of the system today.

In Japan itself, there are some variants mandated for various uses: Railway Standard, which follows the Hyōjun-shiki Rōmaji. All Japan Rail and other major railways use it for station names. Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Tourism Standard, how to spell Roman letters of road signs, which follows the modified Hepburn style, it is used for road signs. Ministry of Foreign Affairs Passport Standard, a permissive standard, which explicitly allows the use of "non-Hepburn romaji" in personal names, notably for passports. In particular, it renders the syllabic n as m before b, m and p, romanizes long o as oh, oo or ou. Details of the variants can be found below; the romanizations set out in the first and second versions of Hepburn's dictionary are of historical interest. Notable differences from the third and versions include: エ and ヱ were written as ye: Yedo ズ and ヅ were written as dzu: kudzu, tsudzuku キャ, キョ, キュ were written as kiya, kiy

Morando Morandini was an Italian film critic, author and occasional actor. Born in Milan, Morandini began working as a film critic in 1952 for the La Notte newspaper. Between 1965 and 1998 he was the film critic for the newspaper Il Giorno, he is best known for the book collection of film reviews Il Morandini, he published with the collaboration of his wife Laura and his daughter Luisa for seventeen editions, starting from 1999. He cured several monographies and wrote a history of cinema together with Goffredo Fofi and Gianni Volpi. In 1964 he played an important role in Bernardo Bertolucci's Before the Revolution, he directed the Bellaria Film Festival from 1984 to 1997 and again in 2002. Morandini was the subject of three documentary films, Non sono che un critico by Anna Gorio and Tonino Curagi, Je m'appelle Morando – Alfabeto Morandini by Daniele Segre e Morando's Music by Luigi Faccini. In 1995 he received the Flaiano Prize for his career. Morando Morandini on IMDb

Formica cunicularia is a species of ant found all over Europe. They are common in western Europe and southern England, but they can be found from southern Scandinavia to northern Africa and from Portugal to the Urals. In England, Donisthorpe records the species as having occurred as far north as Bewdley in Worcestershire. In Formica cunicularia, the worker is an ashy grey black color and is 4.0–6.5 mm long. The males are 8.0 -- 9.0 mm long. The queen is yellowish red to dark black and is 7.5–9.0 mm. F. cunicularia has habitat ranging from open to cluttered to visually rich. In Finland, Albrecht found that all nests were small, with single entrances in dry, hot environments with low vegetation, they nest in small earth mounds. Nests are separate, containing one queen. F. cunicularia, unlike most other Formica fusca-group species, can form noticeable hillocks over its nests, in addition to these produces rufibarbis-like runs in the vicinity of its nest. When found in arid and semi-arid regions, these ants feed on seeds and as such, their anthills have a much higher density of seeds, but due to the seed preference of the ants there is less seed diversity.

F. cunicularia will follow irregular paths while they forage, but will follow a straight path home when finished. They do this by a process called path integration where they analyze their total distance and direction on their foraging trips so that they can follow that straight path home; that isn't the only mechanism. They can find a path home based on visual cues in their surroundings. An interesting facet of their homing behavior is that they will combine these two methods when in unfamiliar terrain. F. cunicularia have the ability to discern between multiple shades of a color and they are good at distinguishing two different greens. They live in small colonies of around 5000 individuals, they are predaceous but are scavengers. Its appearance and habits ally it, to some extent, with Formica rufibarbis, although the former's red markings are far less conspicuous. Horace Donisthorpe comments: Forel points out that rubescens has been confounded with rufibarbis, it is probable that some British records of... rufibarbis refer to this variety.

An interesting coincidence of these ants is. Lichen has trouble on its own and the soredia of the lichen can attach to the ants by virtue of being so small. In areas where they overlap we see more of certain types of lichen growing due to the F. cunicularia's help. There doesn't seem to be any benefit to the ants. F. cunicularia is a host of the slave-making ant Polyergus rufescens. Slave makers P. rufescens will raid to kill adults in the F. cunicularia colony and steal their brood to be raised to do domestic tasks. P. rufescens will choose to parasitize F. cunicularia over other choices when available. A gland not unique to F. cunicularia is the Dufour's gland. It is involved with many behaviors of ants, such as trail following, but alarm and defense; when F. cunicularia daubed with extract from a slave-maker ant's Dufour's gland, there was a significant decrease in aggression towards invading workers. This facilitates the takeover of the hosts colony. Another possible reason for F. cunicularia being chosen as a host species more because they don't resist as much as other species.

In an experiment involving cocoons of multiple species they didn't discriminate between their own and the slave-making species. Media related to Formica cunicularia at Wikimedia Commons