If your a westerner living in Japan for say....college or such, should you write your name in Japanese characters or regular roman characters?

Konnichiwa! If it's an official document, it would tell you on the form to either write it in english alphabet, or katakana. If you were to write your name in Japanese characters, always use the Katakana alphabet, not Hiragana. :P

i see....arigato

for the different character sets, which ones would be used in which situations? for instance, katakana is used for formal (ie: newspapers,writing letters)? hiragana is used for formal and business ( Resturant menus, government forms)? (i do not know if this is correct, im just using examples) in what situations would each be used and which character set is the most commonly used in day to day life in the Japanese culture for both formal and informal situations? O Baka-san :mrgreen:

Konnichiwa! In Japan, all three writing systems: Hiragana, Katakana AND Kanji are used simultaneously. That is, in newspapers, you will find ALL of these. For example: ホテルへ行きます。"I go to a hotel" ホテル is in Katakana へ in Hiragana 行 in Kanji きます in Hiragana From an early age (first year in primary school) children begin learning Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. :wink:

There is more information on the Japanese writing system in this Forum. Please check out the headline: Japanese writing system - Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji under: Japanese Writing - Hiragana