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I noticed カラオケ (karaoke) is always written in katakana on signs/buildings in
Japan, despite it being a Japanese word. Why is it not written in Kanji or
Hiragana?

As I understand it, the usual reasons for using katakana are things like:

  * words with a Western origin,
  * to emphasise a foreign/unusual accent/voice or onomatopoeia ([especially in manga](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/1930/why-dame-is-written-as-katakana-%E3%83%80%E3%83%A1-in-manga)), or
  * [for traditional emphasis on words that pre-date Kanji](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/13788/why-is-yamata-no-orochi-written-in-katakana?lq=1).

But カラオケ is a modern Japanese word (which has been borrowed by English from
Japanese, rather than the other way around), so I don't understand why it
would be written exclusively in katakana?
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2014-02-19T01:51:45.760
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2019-08-23T16:49:36.293
2017-04-13T12:43:44.397
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etymology katakana
Why is カラオケ (karaoke) written in katakana?
It's not a wholly Japanese word. It's a shortening of [空]{から} ('empty') and
オーケストラ. So, since at least part of it needs to be written with katakana, the
whole word is written with katakana. (Switching between the two within one
word typically only happens in slang verbs like サボる.)
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2014-02-19T03:05:54.640
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2014-02-19T03:05:54.640
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answer