What exactly is this ※ symbol, and what does it mean/how is it used?


I keep running into this symbol: ※

What is it, exactly? How is it used?

According to this
[Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_typographic_symbols#Other_special_marks)
link on Japanese typographic symbols, this `※` is called `米{こめ}` or
`米印{こめじるし}`. It is used in notes as a reference mark, similar to an asterisk.

With that being said, I seem to find it in situations where there is more to
it then a simple asterisk, and I'd really like to hear from people who are
more familiar with it.

The specific example that prompted my question is in my grammar workbook,
there are several grammar patterns/points on a page, along with relevant
explanations and example sentences. One example sentence goes like this:

> 例文 ： xxxxxxxxxxxxxx[grammar pattern]。 ※[grammar point variation]

(I'll give the exact sentence at the bottom, but I thought it would be better
to keep it generic as to not confuse the question.)

I take it to mean both are valid, but I wonder if it means that the secondary
one is not correct. Also, I realize that this may vary from book to book, but
I wonder if there is a standard for this sort of thing.

The exact sentence was: 今の成績では合格する可能性などありはしない。 ※合格などできはしない




This is the excerpt I found
[here](http://www.jekai.org/entries/aa/00/nn/aa00nn28.htm):

> The symbol ※, called 米印（こめじるし）, literally "rice symbol," is used in Japanese
> texts to introduce comments and remarks. Unlike the asterisk (*) in English,
> ※ is usually not used to link an item in the body of the text to a footnote.
> Rather, the purpose of ※ is to draw the reader's attention to an instruction
> or precaution or to indicate that some information is subsidiary or
> parenthetical to the main text. For this reason, it is usually not
> appropriate to replace ※ with an asterisk in texts translated from Japanese
> to English (and it is almost never appropriate to leave ※ intact in English
> texts).
>
> When they do link body text to footnotes, ※s are often used with Arabic
> numerals, such as ※1, ※2, etc. In translations, these, too, should be
> replaced with suitable English footnote markers.

Like that page states, I would guess that the information after the ※ in your
example is to give information that is parenthetical.




This is the excerpt I found
[here](http://www.jekai.org/entries/aa/00/nn/aa00nn28.htm):

> The symbol ※, called 米印（こめじるし）, literally "rice symbol," is used in Japanese
> texts to introduce comments and remarks. Unlike the asterisk (*) in English,
> ※ is usually not used to link an item in the body of the text to a footnote.
> Rather, the purpose of ※ is to draw the reader's attention to an instruction
> or precaution or to indicate that some information is subsidiary or
> parenthetical to the main text. For this reason, it is usually not
> appropriate to replace ※ with an asterisk in texts translated from Japanese
> to English (and it is almost never appropriate to leave ※ intact in English
> texts).
>
> When they do link body text to footnotes, ※s are often used with Arabic
> numerals, such as ※1, ※2, etc. In translations, these, too, should be
> replaced with suitable English footnote markers.

Like that page states, I would guess that the information after the ※ in your
example is to give information that is parenthetical.

