If you want to live, work, or study in Japan, it’s almost required that you start to learn how to write Hiragana. If I wanted to just travel to Japan for a short time, I didn’t need to bother. But if I wanted to be fluent or for extended trips, I need to be able to write the Characters. Many foreigners simply learn how to read Hiragana but are never taught how to write it.  They just kind of guess how to write the letters.  However, if you write the character in the wrong way, it sometimes isn’t clear. Just like English handwriting – if you don’t form your letters correctly, sometimes it’s hard to read. 

So without further ado, here is the first Hiragana Letter and how to write it!

“A” or “あ” says “ah”
3 STROKES 

First, make a high, short, slightly slanted horiztonal line.

Second, make a slightly curved vertical line downwards.

Third make a loopy spiral like a “fish”

FINAL

EXAMPLES (From Top 1000 Japanese Words)

• あさ(Asa) = Morning
• あお(Ao) = Blue
• あう (Au) = To Interview

Tags: Characters, Hiragana, Japanese 101, Japanese Characters, Learning HIragana, Learning Japanese, Stroke, Stroke Order, Written Hiragana