1737
Do Japanese writers use underline to emphasize a point, or other techniques?
Wikipedia mentions the use of katakana in its article on
[Emphasis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emphasis_%28typography%29) and in its
article on [Katakana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katakana#Usage), but I'm
not sure whether it's appropriate.

**Background:** I’m incorporating [XKCD 386](https://xkcd.com/386/) (with the
text modified) into a talk given in English with Japanese subtitles. I'm doing
the cartoons side by side, and I'm wondering what the equivalent of
underlining "wrong" in a western cartoon would be.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-07-04T13:43:14.620
1735
2014-06-19T17:35:22.207
2014-06-19T17:35:22.207
1628
91
question
orthography publishing
Do Japanese writers use underline for emphasis?
The Japanese equivalent of underlining for emphasis would probably be using
[傍点【ぼうてん】](http://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=2022) or
[脇点【わきてん】](http://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=25E6):

Dots added over (if writing horizontally) or to the right (if vertically) of
each character.

Wikipedia Japan has a [page detailing their
use](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%9C%8F%E7%82%B9#.E6.AD.B4.E5.8F.B2), as
well as their variants:

> 文字種としては、縦書きの場合は主に黒ゴマあるいは白ゴマが使用され、横書きの場合はビュレット（黒丸および白丸）が使用される。
> 上記以外にも二重丸や蛇の目などが使用されることもある。 傍点はゴマ、圏点は丸と区別することもあるが、区別しない場合も多い。

In substance:

> If writing vertically, people mainly use the "black sesame (goma)":﹅ or
> "white sesame":﹆.
>
> If writing horizontally, the round black (●) or white (○) dots are
> preferred.
>
> The "good work" double-circle (◎) and bull's eye circle (◉) are also used.
>
> While some people differentiate between "sesame" ( _goma_ ) and round signs,
> many people don't and use them indifferently.

(there are a couple other particular cases, such as when reporting an erratum,
but I don't think you are particularly interested).

To conclude, you probably want to use the simple round black marker, like such
(with slightly less distance between the lines, typically where the furigana
would be):

```

    ・・
    よく聞いてくれ
    
```

> Listen _really_ well
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-07-04T13:59:09.070
1737
2011-07-05T01:19:43.933
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
-1
290
1735
answer