title: How to convert Hiragana, Katakana or Kanji to Romaji using PHP
body: <p>I want to categorize Japanese words base on there first character. For example:</p>
  
  <p>Group 1 
  All Japanese word that starts from</p>
  
  <pre><code>あa いi うu えe おo
  かka きki くku けke こko
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Group 2
  All Japanese word that starts from</p>
  
  <pre><code>さsa しshi すsu せse そso
  たta ちchi つtsu てte とto
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What makes it difficult is some characters in Japanese are written to different type such as Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji which words are written differently but same in meaning.</p>
  
  <p>It might be possible if I could only convert hiragana, katakana or kanji to romaji.</p>
  
  <p>Can someone help me, Is it possible in PHP? or is their a plugin in Wordpress that can do this? </p>