I am going to travel to japan the next spring and I just want to be able to
read most of the signs (and of course speak some Japanese). Any answers on
what is the most common to use on signs: Katakana, Hiragana or Kanji?
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kanji katakana hiragana
What is mostly used on signs in Tokyo: Katakana, Hiragana or Kanji?
Statistically speaking, the answer is definitely kanji, because the vast
majority of Japanese nouns (including place names) are written in kanji. For
example, on signboards, Tokyo is 東京 (kanji), Ginza is 銀座 (kanji), _subway_ is
地下鉄 (kanji). However, there are over 1000 common kanji each with more than one
reading, while there are only 40-some hiragana/katakana. It usually makes no
sense to remember only kanji, but if all you want to do is to identify a few
words for fun, you may choose to do so. By the way, almost all important signs
have [romaji](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanization_of_Japanese) like
[this](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Japanese_Road_sign_105-A.svg),
too.

I recommend you read a basic article about the Japanese writing system.
Japanese uses a combination of kanji, katakana and hiragana to write a
sentence. This means a typical Japanese sentence has all kanji, hiragana and
katakana mixed together (see [example
here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_writing_system#Examples)).
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2019-10-28T05:38:46.767
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The road signs in most places in Japan have been
[standardised](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_signs_in_Japan), such that
any directional signs will typically have both Japanese (typically kanji with
kana where appropriate) and English for place names. Most other signs will
either have just a symbol or include a small amount of Japanese (e.g. 止まれ),
possibly with English as well.

As for shop signs, they can vary widely. As you can see in the images in [this
Lonely Planet article](https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/best-places-to-
shop-tokyo), there are some recognisable logos, some bilingual signs, and some
signs completely in one language.

If you don't know much Japanese yet, then reading signs will be a combination
of luck, pattern recognition, and having a good reference to work from.
Getting your hands on an English or bilingual map of the area you're going to
be in will be extremely helpful, as will having a mobile internet connection
(for maps and also possibly automated translation through Google Translate or
a similar service). Many Japanese people speak some level of English, so you
may survive just by looking sufficiently helpless and asking for directions.
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answer