Japanese will generally be more accurate when pronouncing unfamiliar words romanized in the Hepburn style compared to other systems. Long vowels In Hepburn, vowel combinations that form a long sound are usually indicated with a macron (◌̄). Other adjacent vowels, such as those separated by a morpheme boundary, are written separately: All other vowel combinations are always written separately: E + I: – sei + fuku – seifuku 'uniform' (despite E + I is often pronounced as a long E) U + I: – karu + i – karui 'light (in weight)' O + I: – oi – oi 'nephew' Loanwords In foreign loanwords, long vowels followed by a chōonpu (ー) are indicated with macrons: : se + (ー) + ra + (ー) = sērā 'sailor' : ta + ku + shi + (ー) = takushī 'taxi' : ko + n + ku + (ー) + ru = konkūru 'competition' : ba + re + (ー) + bo + (ー) + ru = barēbōru 'volleyball' : so + (ー) + ru = sōru 'sole (of a shoe, etc.)' Adjacent vowels in loanwords are written separately: : ba + re + e – baree 'ballet' : mi + i + ra – miira 'mummy' : so + u + ru – souru 'soul', 'Seoul' Variations There are many variations on the Hepburn system for indicating long vowels with a macron. For example, () is properly romanized as Tōkyō, but can also be written as: Tokyo – not indicated at all. Common for Japanese words that have been adopted into English, and the de facto convention for Hepburn used in signs and other English-language information around Japan. Tôkyô – indicated with circumflex accents, as in the alternative Nihon-shiki and Kunrei-shiki romanizations. They are often used when macrons are unavailable or difficult to input, due to their visual similarity. Tohkyoh – indicated with an h (only applies after o). This is sometimes known as "passport Hepburn", as the Japanese Foreign Ministry has authorized (but not required) it in passports. Toukyou – written using kana spelling: ō as ou or oo (depending on the kana). This is also known as wāpuro style, as it reflects how text is entered into a Japanese word processor by using a keyboard with Roman characters. Wāpuro more accurately represents the way that ō is written in kana by differentiating between (as in (), Toukyou in wāpuro) and (as