Numbers in Japanese don't have a single pronunciation: both kun'yomi (native Japanese) and on'yomi (Chinese-derived) readings are commonly used. Japanese speakers take advantage of these different phonetic readings, mixing them freely to produce mnemonic phrases to remember long numbers, such as phone numbers or entrance exam IDs. This device, called goroawase (wordplay), also can be reversed to convert many Japanese names or phrases into code numbers.
Goroawase numbers are read digit for digit, with each digit arbitrarily assigned a kun'yomi, on'yomi or Gratuitous English reading, often shortened to the first syllable or phonetically modified. Here is a list of digits and some of their possible readings (an asterisk [*] denotes that it is rarely used):
| Number | Kanji | Kun'yomi reading | On'yomi reading | English transliteration |
| 0 | 零 | maru, ma, wa | rei, re | ō, zero, ze |
| 1 | 一 | hito, hi | ichi, i | wan |
| 2 | 二 | futa, fu, bu, pu | ni, ji | tsu, tsū |
| 3 | 三 | mi | san, sa, za | surī |
| 4 | 四 | yon, yo | shi, ji | fō, ho |
| 5 | 五 | itsu, i | go, ko | faibu* |
| 6 | 六 | mu | roku, ro | shikkusu* |
| 7 | 七 | nana, na | shichi | sebun* |
| 8 | 八 | ya | ha(chi), ba, pa | eito, e |
| 9 | 九 | kokono, ko | kyū, ku | nain* |
| 10 | 十 | to, tō | jū | ten* |
| . (decimal point) | 点 | ten |
May overlap with Numerical Theme Naming.
A Super-Trope to One, Two, Three, Four, Go!, Seven Is Nana, Four Is Death.
See also Phone Word.
Examples:
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Anime and Manga
- The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You: Suu Hifumi's Number Obsession is so extreme she sees numbers more like people than she does other human beings. This hinders her integration into Rentaro's Family as tries to view everybody as ones to no avail. Ahko helps Suu by helping her link everyone's name to Goroawase Numbers to memorize everyone more easily. For example, one for Mei and Mai, three and two for Momiji, eight for Hahari, Hakari, and Yamame, and so on. The sequence ends with the reveal that Ahko has become the only person other than Rentaro Suu doesn't need such a mnemonic device with. Further cementing this, her Birthday is 1/23, and her introductory chapter was 123. 123 can be read as "hi-fu-mi" - her name.
- Ah! My Goddess: the protagonist sometimes signs his name as "K1" (Keiichi).
- Koro-sensei from Assassination Classroom is sometimes associated with the number 56 (which can be pronounced as "Ko-ro"). His baseball uniform has "56" on the back, and one Imagine Spot of Koro-sensei and Itona together has the former holding a board with "56" written on it. Also, in the same Imagine Spot, Itona holds a board with "1107" (1-10-7, "I-to-na") on it.
- Atom: The Beginning: A106, the sixth robot made in Umataro and Hiroshi's A10 series, is pronounced "A-Ten-Six". Although nobody outright calls him such, the parsing can be read in Japanese as "A-to-mu", or Atom.
- Azumanga Daioh: Yomi's student ID number when she goes to see if she passed the make-up entrance exam is 3661 - "Sa-mu-ra-i, huh?" It makes her feel like fate is mocking her because "Rōnin" has a modern meaning of "high school graduate who can't pass a college entrance exam".
- Bleach: Ichigo's name is stated in-universe as meaning 'one who protects' but it also uses the numbers 1 and 5, something he likes making use of. He starts the show aged 15, was born on the 15th July and has the number 15 on his bedroom door and some of his t-shirts. His sister Karin calls him 'Ichi-ni', which means 'Ichi-brother' (one-brother) as a deliberate pun of the numbers 'one-two' whereas his other sister Yuzu calls him the politer 'ichi-ni-san'; as well as 'one-brother', it's also a deliberate pun of 'one-two-three'.
- Case Closed:
- Kogoro likes to use his name in number format (5563, which reads "Kogoro-san", meaning "Mr. Kogoro") as a password.
- The many different pronunciations of numbers are actually a plot point in several instances. In Episode 400, Ran recalls a time Shinichi used this principle to spot a fake license plate that was using an illegal combination, and she herself uses this memory to deduce Shinichi's cell phone's numerical password, 4869 (Shi-Ya-Ro-Ku, or Sherlock). This reading of 4869 is particularly prominent because 4869 is a series-spanning Arc Number, not only associated with Shinichi (as a modern and intentional Expy of Sherlock Holmes) but also with the crime syndicate he's pursuing, who notably are developing an experimental substance called Apoptoxin 4869, codenamed "the Experimental Detective" for this very reason. Its purpose is currently unknown, but its current state is used as an undetectable poison—one that they force-fed Shinichi in the pilot episode, kicking off the plot.
- Cells at Work!: White Blood Cell has the number U-1146. "46" can be read as "shiro", meaning "white". His counterpart in Cells at Work! CODE BLACK is U-1196, "96" being readable as "kuro", meaning "black".
- In Cells NOT at Work!, the Erythroblasts are referred to by nicknames based on their numbers, according to the Alternate Character Reading that accompanies them. 871 is nicknamed "Yanai", 328 is "Mitsuba", 036 is "Osami", 1516 is "Hikojuurou", and 3104 is "Saionji". The English translation does away with the alternate reading and leaves it at their numbers.
- The title of Classi9 seems pretty random in English — sure, there are 9 male characters, but why replace that letter? It makes a lot more sense when you know that 9 is read "kyu", and the English word "classic" is pronounced like "kurashikku" in Japan.
- DARLING in the FRANXX: All the children are only given code numbers by the society that calls them 'parasites', but Hiro (016), The Nicknamer, starts creating names for himself and his friends out of the code numbers.
- As part of a special Dragon Ball event, May 9 ("go"-"ku", 5-9) was declared Goku Day.
- The Demon Girl Next Door: Momo's door code is 56562, which she initially gives (in a fever-addled daze) as "gorogoro nya-chan" or "purr purr meow".
- Niko from Dr. Ramune: Mysterious Disease Specialist wears an apron that has 2525 ("Niko-Niko") written on it. Niko-niko is also an onomatopoeia-like word that can mean 'smiling', which is doubly fitting for the Perpetual Smiler.
- Dr. STONE:
- 14 comes up a lot because it can be read as "Ishi" (stone). Senku's birthday is January 4th, which Byakuya set up as a holiday for Ishigami Village named "Stone Day". Additionally, the 14th of the 100 Tales reveals that Byakuya hid a recorded message for Senku within his gravestone.
- One of the visuals showing a modern-style cell phone has the model as "SEN 9", which can be read as "Senku".
- In the animal adventure episode of Excel♡Saga, the gambler of the group gets disturbed when he tosses his dice and they come up 4-2 ("shi ni", or "to death"). All the dogs, except for Menchi, are dead by the end of the episode.
- The Girl Who Leapt Through Time: the weather will be nice (na-i-su) on July 13 (7-1-3).
- Gundam Build Fighters Try:
- Super-Deformed Gunpla tend to use Goroawase in their model numbers; Fumina's Winning Gundam is SD-237 (Fu-Mi-Na) while Lady Kawaguchi's "Kurenai Musha" Red Warrior Amazing is SD-9071A (Ku-Re-Na-I).
- The Scramble Gundam introduced in the OVA Island Wars has the model number BN-876, which didn't make much sense...until an upgraded version dubbed the Hot Scramble Gundam was revealed to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Gundam video games, which are now made by Bandai Namco Entertainment (Ba-Na-Mu).
- In Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto, Hayabusa's name is written as 8823.
- In Inazuma Eleven, Tsunami's surfboard has "273" written on it.
- Initial D:
- At the end of the manga, Takumi drives past a Toyota GT-86 with the plate number 86-239. This reads as Hachiroku-ni sankyuu (thank you big brother 86), thanking its spiritual predecessor and the series' hero car, the Toyota AE86 Sprinter Trueno GT-Apex or "Hachiroku".note
- A much less funny example comes in the form of Rin Hojo's "37-564" (mi-na-go-ro-shi, massacre) plate number.
- In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run, Gyro makes a joke while passing Johnny in which he holds up four fingers, then two, then makes a zero with his index finger and thumb - the joke is that these numbers can be read as "shitsurei," which means "excuse me." This joke is notorious among the English-speaking fandom for making absolutely no sense when the character are supposed to be speaking English.
- Several of this trope can be seen in K-On!.
- The musical instrument shop 10GIA where Yui bought her guitar is based on the real life JEUGIA shop in Kyoto.
- In K-On! the Movie, the song "Gohan wa Okazu" ("Rice as a Side Dish") is played in London during the Light Music Club's graduation trip, which is what they tell their fellow students when they get back. A girl, coincidentally named Ichigo, says a word from the song ("Donaiyanen?"), and Ritsu says, "That's right, Ichigo!" This is quite appropriate, as the refrain of the song is basically counting from ichi to go and adding han to make the last number mean "rice".
- Major: Protagonist Goro Shigeno wears jersey number 56 regularly once he starts playing professionally (beginning in the Minor Leagues), matching his given name.
- In My Hero Academia, all the One for All Torchbearers whose name is known have the order they have held One for All in their names: Izuku Midoriya is the Ninth, Toshinori Yagi is the Eighth, Nana Shimura is the Seventh, Daigoro Banjo is the Fifth, Hikage Shinomori is the Fourth and Yoichi Shigaraki is the First.
- Nanbaka has the prisoners use their prisoner numbers as names. The Chinese sect even has its prisoners make relevant puns off their numbers in their native language!
- Used for a gag in Okusan when the title character's friends get a hold of her cell phone in an attempt to read an embarrassing email she received. She isn't worried at first as she confidently claims they'll never guess her passcode, up until one of them immediately guesses (correctly) that the code is 093 (o-ku-san).
- One Piece:
- All of the Yonko's bounties have this kind of pun in them:
- Big Mom's bounty of 4,388,000,000 has 88, in Japanese is "haha", which translates to "mom".
- Kaido's bounty of 4,611,100,000 has 110, in Japanese is "hyakujuu", which translates to "lot's of animals". It can also be translated in kyajyjuunoou, which means "King of the beasts".
- Blackbeard's bounty of 3,996,000,000 has 96, in Japanese translates to "kuro", which translates to "black".
- His former bounty of 2,247,600,000 has 47, in Japanese is "shishi", which translates to "one's mentor", hinting at his connection to Xebec. Though it has also been noted that this is the real Blackbeard's bounty, inflated to today's rate and transferred into yen.
- Shanks' bounty of 4,048,900,000 has 489, in Japanese translates to "shiyaku", which can be pronounced as "Shanks".
- Whitebeard's bounty of 5,046,000,000 has 46, in Japanese translates to "shiro", which translates to "white".
- Gol D. Roger's bounty of 5,564,800,000 has 648, in Japanese translates to "rojiya", which can be pronounced as "Roger".
- In the letter columns run in the manga, fans frequently suggest birthdays for characters both major and minor. Dates that become ascended by Eiichiro Oda either fall into this trope or match up to holidays that suit the character in some way.
- Luffy is often drawn wearing shirts bearing the number 56 (go-mu, "rubber").
- Donquixote Rocinante's Marine Code is 01746. When it is read in reverse, it is 6, 4, 7, 10 - Ro, Shi, Na, Ten, or "Rosinate".
- All of the Yonko's bounties have this kind of pun in them:
- In Osomatsu-kun and Osomatsu-san, Iyami is often associated with the number 183 (i-ya-mi), and Jyushimatsu with the number 14 (jyuu-shi).
- In Pokémon: The Series, Jessie and James are sometimes associated with the numbers 634 and 546 (or 526), respectively, referencing their Japanese names of Musashi and Kojiro:
- In the Red and Blue-era episode "The Ultimate Test", Jessie and James' exam numbers are 634 and 546. Additionally, in the episode "The Purr-fect Hero", Team Rocket rides a show car with the license plate "R-634-526".
- The 63rd episode of the XY-era anime is a Jessie-centric one, while the 54th is a James-centric one, referencing these numbers minus the last digit.
- In the Sun and Moon-era episode "This Magik Moment!" when Jessie is auditioning for a role in a TV miniseries, she's audition number 634.
- In the Pokémon Journeys: The Series episode "Kicking It From Here Into Tomorrow!", James enters the code "634526" to access Team Rocket's secret base.
- In Pokémon Adventures, the password of Wallace's aircar is 3818, which translates to "Sapphire".
- In The Quintessential Quintuplets, Yotsuba Nakano is occasionally seen wearing a shirt or hoodie with the number 428 on it. In Japanese, the number can be phonetically pronounced as yo-tsu-ba, thus spelling out her own name.
- The quintuplets have names based in their order of birth: Ichika, Nino, Miku, Yotsuba and Itsuki. It seems to run in the family, as their mother was called Rena.
- Reborn! (2004):
- This trope is all over in the characters' names:
27: Tsunayoshi Sawada
59: Hayato Gokudera
80: Takeshi Yamamoto
69: Mukuro Rokudo
96: Chrome (Kuromu) Dokuro
18: Kyoya Hibari
101: Irie Shouichi
100: Byakuran ("B/Hyaku" = 100) - This is also how they list their Shipping, so don't be surprised if a Yaoi Fangirl has a sort of random four digit (or sometimes five or six or more digit) number in their fanfic summaries.
- This trope is all over in the characters' names:
- In RIN-NE, Sakura needs to deduce the combination to Sabato's safe, but she has no clues because she doesn't know anything about him except his name. So she tries 3-8-10 (sa-ba-to). It works.
- In Sgt. Frog, Keroro, Kururu/Kululu and Natsumi are often associated with the numbers K66, 966 and 723.
- In Soul Eater, the number to call Shinigami is 42-42-564 (shini-shini-goroshi, "death-death-murder").
- Special 7: Special Crime Investigation Unit has a police squad composed of seven characters with numbers in their name.
- Witch Watch: Morihito's (1) house eventually becomes hosts to Nico (2), Miharu (3), Kanshi (4), and Keigo (5). Once the last of them moves in, they get appropriately numbered placards for their rooms. Another major character that doesn't live in the same house is Nemu (6).
- Yu-Gi-Oh! GX does a variation on this with Chazz/Manjoume's post-North Academy "Manjoume Thunder" chant.
1: Ichi!
10: Jyuu!
100: Hyaku!
1,000: Sen!
10,000: Man-joume San-da! - Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL takes advantage of this with their Number monsters. For instance, No. 39 Kibou-ou Hope ("Utopia" in the dub) is Yuma's trump card, and its number can be read as "sankyu" (English word "thank you") or "miku" (Japanese for "future"), referencing either Yuma as the protagonist helping people around him who in turn thanks him for the help, or the term "hope for the future". On the other hand, one recurring villain is No. 96 Black Mist ("Dark Mist" in the dub), with 96 being "kuro", or "black". And that's just two examples. There are 100 Number monsters that uses number puns like this.
Education
- In a rare example of English number names using this trope, some of the imagery in the Times Tables the Fun Way
stories make use of numerical puns to teach multiplication equations, such as “too late” (28) for 7 x 4, “thirsty sixes” (36) for 6 x 6, and “cake is for the eight” (48) for 6 x 8.
Fan Works
- Some Touhou Project fanworks give Gensoukyou the (postal or telephone) area code 890. (Ha-ku-rei)
- This comic (Possibly NSFW ads) shows off Cirno's math skills. To wit:
4 + 6 = Youmu
1 + 9 + 3 = Iku-san
0 + 6 = Reimu
3 + 9 + 8 = Sakuya - Does this mean that Sakuya Izayoi's full phone number is (890) 398-1341?
- Common examples are Patchouli's 69 (after her Verbal Tic, mu-kyu), Futo's 210, ("fu-to"), Koishi's 514 (often as the date 5/14) and Byakuren's 763 ("Namusan~").
- This comic
- The cover for New Vegas Showtime depicts Makoto Niijima in combat armor with "09", for "Mako", written on it.
- Strangely, this is used in the Steven Universe fanfic Seeds of Rebellion for gem designation numbers:
- Ruby and Sapphire's shared number is 8291 which can be read as hatsukoi (first love) if using the kokono reading of 9.
- Pearl String 24976 = tsuyoku naro (let's become strong).
Film — Live-Action
- In Yojimbo, Sanjuro's Line-of-Sight Alias is a pun on his age of 36.
Literature
- In Fuse, book 2 of The Pure Trilogy by Julianna Baggott, the heroine dreams she is counting with the words "Itchy knee. Sun, she go." It puzzles her at first, but these words turn out to hold the key to her missing memories of childhood in Japan.
- In Ninja Slayer, the password to the hideout where Yoroshisan Pharmaceuticals is cloning Yakuza soldiers is 4643893 (Yo-Ro-Shi-San Ya-Ku-Za). The Narrator even calls them out for using such an obvious password.
- In Nyaruko: Crawling with Love!, Doujin artist Tsuruko tries to psych herself up to talk to Mahiro (about whom she wrote a Boys' Love doujin) by practicing her introduction; in it, she mentions that her favorite number is 801 — Ya-O-I.
Jokes
- Rare Western example: Vinny the New Yorker is seeking a job and is very qualified. The potential boss cannot stand Vinny's very thick New York accent. So he is looking for an excuse to not hire him. The boss finally meets with Vinny in his office and says, "Okay, Vinny, we need people who can communicate very well. To test that, can show me the number nine in a way that doesn't use the symbol OR nine items?" Vinny thinks for a moment, takes a piece of paper and proceeds to draw on it. He hands back the paper and the boss looks at the paper and shakes his head, "Vinny, you just drew a forest. Why did you think that would make nine?." Vinny laughs, "You don't see it? I drew you a tree and a tree and a tree. As anyone knows, Tree (three) and Tree and Tree makes Nine." The boss is flustered but a little amused and hands the paper back, "Okay, Vinny, draw 99 without drawling any more trees." Again, Vinny things for a moment before he starts drawling on the paper. He hands it back to the boss, even quicker than the last time. The boss takes a look, shakes his head, and says, "Vinny, you just drew smudges on your trees. That can't be 99." Vinny laughs and says, "Well, imagine if New York Sanitation goes on strike. And the mayor, he doesn't want to give sanitation their money. So as the strike goes on, the city gets very filthy and gross. And if you go walk your dog in Central park, you'd see Dirty-Tree (Thirty-Three) and Dirty-Tree and Dirty-Tree. And that's 99." The boss is even more flustered, but so curious, he wants to try and get Vinny. "Okay Vinny, but without drawling Dirty Trees, can you show me 100?" Vinny takes the paper, quickly draws some thing on it and hands it back to the boss. "Okay, Vinny, how do these black blobs you drew by your dirty trees make 100?" Vinny smiles, "Well, I'm walkin' my dog in Central Park during a sanitation strike. And Rover, he ain't so well trained, you see. So the entire way to the park, he's been eatin' all of the garbage he can find on the side of the street. By the time we get there, Rover has a tummy ache and it's a bad one. So he walks up to one dirty tree, and does his business... but he still has a tummy ache so he goes to another dirty tree and does some more business and another one after that and now you have Dirty-Tree-and-a-Turd (33 and a Third) and Dirty-Tree-and-a-Turd (and Dirty-Tree-and-a-Turd) and that makes a hundred."
Live-Action TV
- Kamen Rider:
- Kamen Rider 555 has phone-based Transformation Trinkets and uses Goroawase as the activation codes for two Riders; Kaixa has 913 (ku-i-sa) and Psyga has 315 (sa-i-go). They're not exact, but they're the closest they could get. The main Rider, Faiz, has a similar number pun in that his code is 555 — in other words, Faiz has fives. The 20th anniversary movie added a new Rider, Muez, with a similar pun as Faiz as the code is 666, or "mu"s.
- Much like 555, Kamen Rider Kiva has Kamen Rider Ixa, who activates his Super Mode by dialing 193 (i-ku-sa) into his phone-gun.
- When he loses the IXA System, Keisuke Nago tries to become a Big Brother Mentor to its new user and starts wearing a T-shirt with 753 — Nago-san — on it. Since then, 753 has become a fandom short-hand for Nago's name. It even gets referenced in Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider Gaim & Wizard: The Fateful Sengoku Movie Battle, where the leader of the Kiva Army (played by Nago's actor Keisuke Kato) wears a Martial Arts Headband with "753" on it.
- In Kamen Rider Decade, in Kuuga's World Tsukasa discerns a pattern in the birthdates of the policewomen murdered by the Grongi, making the cops believe that the Grongi are trying to send a message. The message in this case being "Mi-na-go-ro-shi" or "kill everyone", with shi being the next cop being targeted. As it turns out, Tsukasa was lying through his teeth; the "hidden message" was just a Red Herring to get the police out of the way guarding another cop while he used the real next victim as bait. Truly Tsukasa is quite the Magnificent Bastard.
- Kamen Rider Ex-Aid: In the first episode of the Kamen Sentai Gorider net spinoff, Emu finds a broken mirror with a sequence of numbers written in blood: 201089609. In the third episode, the meaning is finally revealed. Emu himself wrote it after being fatally stabbed by Kazuma Kenzaki (Kamen Rider Blade) in a previous time-loop — "Blade is the mastermind"note . However, at the end of the second episode after Emu is stabbed again and "Kenzaki" reveals his true identity to rub salt in the wound, Emu finds the message and alters it, crossing out the 9609 and adding 9610: "Blade is Kuroto" — Emu's enemy Kuroto Dan, Kamen Rider Genm.
- Kamen Rider Build: Kazumi's dog tag number is 90710108, alluding to his actor's previous role as Otoya Kurenai in Kiva.note
- While Kamen Rider Zero-One's name is officially pronounced in English, 01 can also be read as "rei-wan"; a pun on how Zero-One is the first Rider in the Reiwa era.
- Super Sentai:
- Kyūkyū Sentai GoGoV was a Rescue-themed Super Sentai series that aired in 1999. "Kyukyu" means "rescue" but also sounds like "nine-nine", referring to the airing year; and "Go Go V" ("go go five") refers to Japan's emergency services number of 555.
- Juken Sentai Gekiranger has a character named Gou; his younger brother Retsu often calls him "Gou-niisan" ("my big brother Gou"). This sounds like "go-ni-san", i.e. 523, that 523 is sometimes used as shorthand for his name among fans.
- Uchu Sentai Kyuranger
- The eagle-themed Pink Ranger is a Robot Girl named Raptor 283. 283 can be read as "tsu-ba-sa", or "wing".
- Lucky's Super Mode is activated by the Saiko ("Ultimate") Kyutama; while most Kyutama are labeled with two-digit numbers, Saiko's number is 315 - "sa-i-ko".
- In Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger, the Lupinrangers use Dial Fighters that they enter codes to activate. Their personal ones used to transform have codes that translate to sound-alikes for their colors; Red's code is 010 (re-to), Blue's is 260 (bu-ro-o), and Yellow's is 116 (i-i-ro). The other ones have codes reflecting their name: Cyclone is 319 (sa-i-ku, which is a part of how "Cyclone" is read in Japanese - "saikuron"), Magic is 029 (ma-ji-ku), and Lupin X's X Train Fire is 218 (fu-i-ya). At least one toy-exclusive Dial Fighter, though, uses a non-Goroawase number gag; as the Christmas Dial Fighter code is 1225 after the holiday's date.
- Ultraman Decker: Mother Spheresaurus, the Big Bad of the series, is 88 meters tall and weighs 88,000 tons; both stats containing 88 (haha, translating to "mom" in Japanese) alludes to her title of "Mother".
Music
- Vocaloid:
- One concert featuring Hatsune Miku was titled "39's Giving Day." "3 9" (as "three nine" rather than "thirty-nine") can be read either as "Miku" or a phonetic approximation of "Thank You" (sankyuu).
- '39' is something of an Arc Number in Vocaloid. Miku also has a song titled "39"; when it is featured in Project DIVA, the subtitles display it as "THANK YOU (39)" rather than kana or romaji.
- The Mind Screwy song Matryoshka, which many have tried to decipher the meaning of, twice mentions the number sequence "524" in English. In a bit of an example of playing with this trope, and keeping in line with the song's Mind Screwy nature , it's the omitted numbers in the sequence, 1 and 3, that hold the message: Imi, or "meaning"... Ergo, 1 and 3 are omitted because there is no imi/meaning in the song.
- Japanese band Go!Go! 7188 loves to play with numbers as their name suggest, one of his albums is named 569, which is read as "Goroku" (Go Rock).
- The names of various songs on the PROMARE soundtrack utilize goroawase:
- Burning Rescue's theme is titled "BURNING-RES9" or Burning Res-kyuu.
- Kray Foresight's theme is 904SITE or ku-rei-four-site, mixing Japanese and English.
- There's a song entitled "BAR2ING 4MA14YON", or 'bar-ni-ing four-ma-i-shi-yon'/'Burning Formation', again mixing English and Japanese number pronunciations (using 4 twice within the same word, even!).
- Mad Burnish's theme is Bar2tsush, which is an interesting transliteration of how Burnish would be pronounced in Japanese: 'bur' and 'bar' would both be rendered as 'baa', with 2 being 'ni', and a small 'tsu' character doubling up the following consonant, culminating in 'Baanisshu'.
- The Japanese band 175R is pronounced "Inago Rider" and is a Shout-Out to the original Kamen Rider, namely the fact that the main hero is grasshopper themed. 175 is goroawase for i-na-go, and inago is Japanese for "grasshopper".
- Hinatazaka46 member Nanami Konishi associates herself with the digits 524-773 (ko-ni-shi na-na-mi).
Video Games
- 573 stands for Konami, and the number appears in many of their games; it appears on high score tables and background elements from time to time. The background elements in question are sometimes quite subtle or hidden references.
- The MAX series of songs - with the exception of Maxx Unlimited - references 573 with their notecounts in their Expert charts. Max 300 has a maximum combo of 555, with 18 jumps of 2 notes to reach 573, while The Legend of Max has a maximum combo of 500 with 73 jumps. Max Period has a maximum combo of 573 naturally, counting its 82 jumps as one note each. Maxx Unlimited is an exception, as it has a maximum combo of 555 with 45 jumps for 600 arrows total.
- deltaMAX by DM Ashura, a remix of MAX 300, starts at 100 BPM, and on each beat its BPM increases by one, until it hits 573 BPM. The song even plays an orchestra hit every 100 BPM so you can tally at how many BPM you are, and the video has the BPM in the background so you can tell how far into the song can you go. The Expert chart as well also has a maximum combo of 573.
- BEMANI:
- On really old beatmania versions, there is a mix of the Metal Gear Solid theme where you repeatedly trigger a bass drum sample - 5 times, then 7 times, then 3 times - on sixteenths, with well-spaced single hits in between.
- beatmania IIDX has a song titled ".59", read as tengoku (heaven). About 8 years later we have "G59", read as jigoku (hell), by the same composer.
- In some versions of IIDX that have high score tables, one of the default score names is "4CTAKA", meant to be read as "Yoshitaka", as in DJ YOSHITAKA.
- A number of songs have begun referencing the number 753, which uses all the same digits but allows for much higher difficulty, such as Paranoia Revolution in DDR, IX in DDR and SOUND VOLTEX, and Cleopatrysm in Beatmania IIDX.
- Finish a song in IIDX with exactly 80% and you get a bonus of 5730 points.
- Then tricoro goes ahead and makes unlock conditions for a series of boss songs all revolve around 573 too.
- In many cell-phone games that feature the Konami Code, "B and A" at the end is often replaced by 573.
- Castlevania: Bloodlines has a musical Easter Egg enabled by going into option mode and setting the BGM to 05 and the sound effects to 073.
- Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow has three areas where you need a certain three digits at the end of your money amount to open doors. One of them is, yes, 573.
- In Mitsumete Knight R: Daibouken Hen, the icon sprite of one of the game's numerous pieces of equipement, the "No-Brand Pendant", depicts a necklace with the number "573" written on it.
- Some Yu-Gi-Oh! games have an achievement for winning a match with 5730 Life Points remaining. As you can guess, it's nearly impossible to pull off in normal gameplay.
- In one particular Yugioh game, using the code increases your money by 573 instead.
- In TwinBee Yahoo!, powerup bells collected by players already at full power are worth 57300 points each.
- Even the phone numbers for Konami's offices frequently end in 573. Especially Konami's Japanese offices, whose number is nothing but 5s, 7s, 3s and 0s.
- Para-Medic's radio frequency number in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops is 145.73 (ishi konami, or "Dr. Konami").
- The default top score in the arcade version of Gradius is 57,300 points.
- In Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, the license plate on Raiden's car is 573-PTG, a reference to both Konami and PlatinumGames.
- Konami's official YouTube channel is KONAMI573ch.
- In Hard Corps: Uprising, the mid-boss and end-boss in Mission 3 are mechs codenamed the 573 Tigris and the 573 Draconis respectively (they are called Kasuga-Tora and Kasuga-Ryu in the Japanese version). Additionally, the 30-lives upgrade costs 57,300,000 Corps Points, and the maximum number of credits the player can attain after accumulating more than 16 hours of playtime is 573.
- Otomedius G has a set of achievements for playing the game for 5 minutes, 57 minutes and 573 minutes, and another set of achievements for touching the angels 5 times, 57 times and 573 times.
- The "Snake Escape" minigame in Ape Escape 3 is unlocked by purchasing it from the Hobby Shop with 573 coins.
- The song "Nengo Rock/Suwa Hideo no gorogoro nengo oboe uta ketteiban" from Pop n' Music is full of Goroawase Numbers, including a "573" at the end.
- In pop n' music, one of the "ojama" modifiers will cause a variety of random numbers to show up for the combo counter... including, of course, 573.
- In Lightning Fighters, the star bonus items max out at 5730 points each.
- In Tokimeki Memorial, setting your nickname as "こなみまん (Konami Man)" will automatically set all of your stats to 573 at the start of the game.
- Their arcade system boards during the PlayStation era were called System 573
- Yuichi Asami, an employee with a long tenure of producing music for Konami's games, often stylizes his name as "U1" or "U1-ASAMi".
- 765 stands for Namco (namuko), and the number likewise appears in many of their games.
- Xiaomu from Namco × Capcom is 765 years old.
- The Namco Museum Vol. 3 version of The Tower of Druaga includes the secret "Another Tower," where the trick to revealing the treasure chest on one of the floors is letting the timer reach 7650.
- The Idolmaster revolves around fictional talent agency 765 Production, whose rival company 961 Production is headed by a man named Kuroi. This crosses over with the tie-in DLC for Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation, where the iDOLM@STER-themed DLC planes were given ammo counts referencing their respective character's height and three sizes - the themed A-10, representing the full cast at once, was instead given 765 standard missiles and 70 rockets, 60 fuel-air explosive bombs, or 50 air-to-ground missiles.
- Other branches of the iDOLM@STER franchise would follow suit with the agency Goroawase naming motif. Dearly Stars has 876 Production (ba-na-mu - see the Bandai Namco section below), Cinderella Girls has 346 Production (mi-shi-ro, "beautiful castle"), SideM has 315 Production (sa-i-ko, "ultimate") and Shiny Colors has 283 Production (tsu-ba-sa, "wing").
- A maximum of 7650 points can be scored at once in Pac-Land, Pac-Mania, Marchen Maze and Marvel Land.
- The address of Pac-Man's house in Pac-Man World 1 is 7650.
- In Pac-Man Championship Edition 2, eating all the ghost trains in a maze nets you a bonus 76500 points.
- In the Super Smash Bros. series, Pac-Man's Final Smash has point numbers appear if he eats things, and the score caps at 7650 (an Event Match in For 3DS/Wii U and a Challenge in Ultimate both require reaching this number). Additionally, the base damage of Pac-Man's forward aerial in Ultimate is 7.65% damage. In a reference to Pac-Land, one of Pac's victory poses◊ has a sign appear next to him that reads "7650", and a retro version of the same sign will occasionally appear during the Break Time segments on the Pac-Land stage.
- One of the bosses in the 2010 version of Splatterhouse is named Experiment 765.
- In Tekken Tag Tournament 2, you can get a trophy by tagging out with your partner 765 times. Gold Boxes may contain 765,000 gold instead of an item, and Lucky Boxes can contain up to 765,000 gold.
- An update to Tekken 7 introduces the newest highest rank of Tekken God Omega, which is also called the 765th dan.
- In Tales of the Abyss, the world of Auldrant has a 765-day year.
- Tales of Vesperia, Tales of Legendia and Yumeria have the 765kg Hammer.
- NOBY NOBY BOY has a trophy for reporting a length of exactly 765m.
- Most cover cars in the Ridge Racer series sport the number 765. There's also a fictional sponsor in the game, obviously called 765, which apparently is a fuel company. Oh, and then there's the racetrack "Seaside Route 765".
- One trophy in Taiko no Tatsujin V Version requires you to get 76500 total drum hits throughout the game.
- Each plane in Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War has a Kill Tally to show how many planes you shot down. Once you reach 765, the kill tally visually changes into Pac-Man, Ghosts, and Pellets to represent 100, 10, and individual kills, respectively.
- One of the recurring "Lucky Numbers" (a rank at which you can receive one of the top-tier rewards without being in that tier) in Ace Combat Infinity's ranking events is 765.
- One of the achievements in Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown is to fly 76,500 km in the campaign mode.
- In Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1, Vert asks for advice from 765-chan. What's interesting about this is that this game isn't made by Namco and has nothing to do with them.
- In Pokkén Tournament, the hit counter for Machamp's Burst Attack, Dynamic Fury, hits 1000 times and pauses at 765 hits.
- The default high score on Baraduke is 7650.
- After the merger of Bandai and Namco into Bandai Namco Entertainment, 876 (ba-na-mu, "BanNam") joined up with 765 in game appearances.
- Bandai Namco's official Japanese YouTube channel is named 876 TV.
- The Hot Scramble Gundam, a video game-exclusive Gundam mobile suit featured in the Gundam Vs Series and SD Gundam G Generation Genesis, has the model number BN-876.
- As stated above, THE iDOLM@STER: Dearly Stars revolves around fictional talent agency 876 Production.
- Soulcalibur V has an achievement for moving over 87,600 total meters across the stages in-game.
- 428, a Visual Novel set in the city of Shibuya.
- Atlantis no Nazo has "Key Word ~Nagoya~" appearing over a pyramid in the 20th Zone, to the right of three Moai statues. "Nagoya" is supposed to be a clue to stand on each of the three heads in turn and throw bombs seven, five and eight times, respectively. (This text was changed to "7 5 8" in the unreleased US localization Super Pitfall II, since the original wordplay would be incomprehensible to non-Japanese players.)
- 2424, Puyo Puyo. Is occasionally an Arc Number in the minimal storylines, and often extended one digit to 24242 to be the default high score value in the games that keep track of that. February 4th (2/4) is officially celebrated as Puyo Day. Additionally, some of the games have punny titles for the sequel: Puyo Puyo Tsu (two) for the second, Puyo Puyo Sun (san) for the third, and Puyo Puyo~n (yon) for the fourth.
- In Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side, Himuro Reiichi is nicknamed "01" by some of his students. In TMGS 2, his cousin Hikami takes the joke a step further by addressing a gift to "0123" ("Reiichi-niisan").
- In Deardrops, the numbers in "Live Space 696" can be pronounced ro-ku-ro (Rock'n'Roll).
- In an alphanumeric example, when the Xbox One was revealed one of the nicknames that popped up in Japan for it took its "X1" abbreviation and made it "batsu-ichi" - meaning "divorcee" with a subtext of failure.
- In Gitaroo Man, the main character U-1 is named Yuichi. In English, he's Ewan (pronounced "you won").
- Inverted with Miyo in Higurashi: When They Cry; she changed the kanji of her given name to 34 to show her dedication to following the work of her adopted father, Hifumi (123). It's implied that if she kept her full given name, Miyoko (345), she might have gotten further.
- The creator, Ryukishi07, can be prounounced Ryukishi Reina or Rena; another Higurashi character.
- One of the racetracks in WipEout 3 is called "Hi-Fumi" (123).
- In Persona 4, Yukiko's Persona is Konohana Sakuya. "Sakuya" can also be read as 398, and her Instant KO in Persona 4: Arena appropriately deals 398 hits.
- Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors has this as a plot point: The protagonists believe they are looking for a door marked with a number 9 (kyu), when in fact they're looking for a door with a Q (kyu) on it. In English, the wordplay is removed, and instead hinges entirely on the fact that a lowercase q kind of looks like a 9 if written a certain way.
- In Final Fantasy IV, Golbez's maximum HP when he fights Zemus at the end of the game, 2943, can be read as nikushimi, meaning "hatred". In Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, the Man in Black's starting HP of 2971 instead reads as tsugunai; "atonement".
- In Final Fantasy IX, you can randomly run into a weird creature called Ragtime Mouse that asks you Pop Quiz questions. Once you answer all of them, the next time you run into him, he tells you the percentage of correct answers and if you got all of them right, he gives you 23852 Experience divided amongst the 4 party members, totalling 5963 Experience each as well as 59630 Gil: 5963 can be read as "gokurosan", which stands for "good job".
- In the Toaplan Shoot 'Em Up Batsugun, one Boss Battle has a series of tanks which come out in two files, and bombing them all at once will score 59630 (gokurosan) points each.
- In Yo-kai Watch:
- Completing a quest given to you by a dog earns you 111 EXP and 1111 Gold. In Gratuitous English, 1 is pronounced "wan", which is also the onomatopoeia for a dog barking.
- In Yo-kai Watch 3, the quest that unlocks Katie's Yo-kai form comes from Fancy That! Issue no. 23. 23 can be read as "Fumi," which is Katie's Japanese name (Fumiko).
- In a non-Japanese example, The Elder Scrolls Altmer (High Elf) race have names heavily inspired by Tolkien's "Quenya" Conlang. However, The Pocket Guide to the Empire (a work of dubious in-universe accuracy), suggests that Altmer don't bother to give themselves names. When they greet, they address one another with a long combination of numbers that sounds like a name if you aren't fluent in their language. (The Elder Scrolls Online further buries this idea with a statement that Altmer have are inverse Sesquipedalian Smith which, while hard to pronounce, consist of long surnames based on family members.)
- Like a Dragon:
- Defeating the Optional Boss in the first Yakuza game earned you a million yen and 893 experience. 893 is one of the possible roots of the term "yakuza".
- 56 can be read as "go-ro". Goro Majima takes every opportunity to use this.
- Yakuza 0: When Majima leaves behind Makoto's watch, he sets it to 16:40 (16+40=56) to give them a clue, should they want to find him.
- Yakuza Kiwami: When Majima tries to goad you into a fight by horrendously overcharging you for drinks, how much does he charge? 560000 yen, of course!
- Yakuza Kiwami 2 has the DLC item "Majima's Maji Bun", which gives you 5600 health recovery, 560 EXP points for all stats, refills your hunger by 56 and can be sold for ¥56.
- Yakuza: Dead Souls: The MJM56 "Crazy Dog" and MJM56-55 "Exorcist" shotguns are, of course, Goro Majima's special weapons.
- Yakuza 5: Tetsuo Shinada played baseball with jersey number 47 (shi-na-da, get it?)
- In Yakuza 0, one of the side-stories has you help a cabaret club named "Sunshine" (San-shine) get on its feet and become the best club in Sotenbori. Yakuza 2 Kiwami has Sunshine get bought out and come under hostile management, so former cabaret girl Yuki starts her own cabaret club named "Four Shine" to literally one-up her former workplace.
- Several Kirby games have the number 86 (ha-ru, "HAL"), as a reference to their developer, HAL Laboratory.
- Kirby Mass Attack has exactly 186 medals.
- Some Easter Eggs in Kirby: Triple Deluxe, Kirby: Planet Robobot, Kirby Star Allies, Kirby Fighters 2, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Kirby's Dream Buffet and Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe require the player to wait for 86 seconds to access them.
- Dedede's Drum Dash Deluxe, the Updated Re-release of Dedede's Drum Dash, has 86,555 ("HAL Go Go Go") as the developer's intended best possible score on the final secret stage.
- Reaching level 10 in Team Kirby Clash rewards 39,860 experience points (san-kyu ha-ru, "Thank You HAL").
- In Kirby Star Allies, 86,555 is the score earned for defeating the True Final Boss of the Soul Melter EX difficulty of the Boss Rush mode "The Ultimate Choice".
- In Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Fecto Forgo is codenamed specimen ID-F86, though this is somewhat obscured as it uses the standard pronunciation hachi-roku rather than ha-ru.
- In Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe, the final upgrade of Magolor's "Trickery" skill in the Magolor Epilogue costs 5,586 ("go go HAL") Magic Points. Additionally, the epilogue's Secret Stage gives you 860 Magic Points if cleared perfectly, and another 860 as the first-clear bonus.
- Kirby: Planet Robobot has two additional instances of goroawase not related to HAL; the "model numbers" for Mecha Knight and Dedede Clone are, respectively, #M-7110 (na-i-to, knight) and #D-0030 (o-o-sa-ma, king).
- In Mighty No. 9, the Robot Factory boss Nameless' height is listed as 774 ("nanashi", "nameless").
- Used occasionally in Pokémon:
- In most localizations of Pokémon Sun and Moon (except for English and French), it was revealed that Looker had the prior codename of "No. 836". In goroawase, it can be translated to "hansamu", i.e. "Handsome", his current codename in Japanese.
- Each of the gym leaders and rivals in Pokémon Sword and Shield has a three-digit number listed on their Gym Challenge uniform. Gym Challengers (including the player) get to choose their own League number, so all involved presumably intentionally chose goroawase puns important to them.
- Milo, the Grass-type gym leader, has the number 831 for "yasai" ("vegetables").
- Nessa, the Water-type gym leader, has the number 049 for "oyogu" ("to swim").
- Kabu, the Fire-type gym leader, has the number 187 for "hibana" ("spark").
- Bea, the Fighting-type gym leader, has the number 193 for "ikusa" ("fight").
- Allister, the Ghost-type gym leader, has the number 291 for "nikui" ("hateful").
- Opal, the Fairy-type gym leader, has the number 910 for an approximation of the English word "cute".
- Gordie, the Rock-type gym leader, has the number 188 for "iwaba" ("rocky area").
- Melony, the Ice-type gym leader, has the number 361 for "samui" ("cold").
- Piers, the Dark-type gym leader, has the number 061 for "warui" ("bad").
- Raihan, the Dragon-type gym leader, has the number 241 for "tsuyoi" ("strong").
- Hop, the player's main rival, puns on his name by choosing number 189 for "hiyaku" ("leaping").
- Bede, the player's second rival, has the number 908 for "kureba", which is close to the English word "clever". He's an Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy and exactly the type of person who would use his number as an excuse to boast, as well as alluding to the mental prowess of his Psychic-types. He ends up taking over for Opal, the only other character with a number that evokes an English word, as the Fairy-type Gym Leader.
- Marnie, the player's third rival, has the number 960 for "kuromaru" ("to blacken"). She's Piers' sister and specializes in Dark-types like he does.
- Averted by Leon and Mustard, who are the only characters with numbers on their league cards that is not Goroawase, being 1 and 0, representing their positions as the champion and a former champion, respectively.
- Also played with by the player characters. On one hand, official artwork shows them wearing number 227, which is an uncharacteristic "bujina" ("safely"), and is more likely a reference to February 27th, the day that Pokémon Red and Green were first released in Japan. On the other hand, as mentioned above, you can choose your own uniform number, so a smart player can write a custom goroawase pun.
- Klara, a Poison-type specialist in the Isle of Armor DLC for Sword, has the number 881 for "yabai" ("dangerous"). Klara is dead-set on becoming the strongest student at the Isle's dojo, in an effort to become the region's Poison-type Gym Leader (and boost her pop-idol status in the process). She quickly develops a less-than-friendly rivalry with the player, culminating in a formal dojo battle in which she dangerously cheats by dropping a toxic stage-hazard move before the player can act.
- Avery, a Psychic-type specialist in the Isle of Armor DLC for Shield, has the number 026 for "otsumu" ("brain"). Avery is the youngest member of the family that has run Galar's (minor-league) Psychic-type Gym for generations, but was ostracized for "only" being psychic enough to use telekinesis in a family of teleporters and mind-readers.
- Peony, a Steel-type specialist in the Crown Tundra DLC, has the number 082 for "oyaji" ("father"). He's a doting dad who organized the expedition to the titular area as a father-daughter adventure.
- Pokémon Legends: Arceus introduced the Water/Ghost-type Basculegion, which evolves from White-Striped Basculin after losing at least 294 HP from recoil damage in total. The specific amount of 294 may be goroawase for 憎し nikushi (archaic Japanese for "hatred").
- Super Mario RPG has an item called a Muku Cookie that can be purchased for 69 coins. When used, it restores 69 HP.
- The safe password in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story uses this. The password 9898-88241-983 can be read as Kuppa Kuppa yappa(ri) tsuyoi Kuppa-sa(ma), or roughly "Koopa, Koopa, strong as expected, Lord Koopa" in Japanese. Needless to say, the pun was Lost in Translation to English. The German and French translations had Bowser recite a mnemonic that rhymes with the number sequence as he types in the password.
- lowiro, the team behind Arcaea, sometimes has its name written as "616" ("roiro"). In particular, one of the reward you can obtain in the game's World Mode is 616 Fragments, and Ayu's skill picks from a pool of randoom Fragment bonuses upon completing a song, with one of the bonuses being 616 Fragments.note
- In Radiant Silvergun, goroawase is used in several of the level boss names, such as a giant arthropod named DAN-564 (dango mushi, Japanese for "pill bug") or an ascending elevator named UE2A-GAL ("ue ni agaru", or "to go up").
- Used in the Japanese translation for Chapter 2 of Deltarune:
- The enemy Ambyu-Lance is renamed to "Q-9"; it is pronounced "kyūkyū", which is a play on the Japanese word for ambulance, "kyūkyūsha" (救急車).
- Spamton always refers to himself with the overly formal and old-fashioned first-person pronoun "watakushi" — however, thanks to his Electronic Speech Impediment, instead of the standard spelling (私 or わたくし), it's spelled "ワタ94". This additionally plays into his tendency in the Japanese script to insert inappropriate references to death, as the pronunciation of "nine-four" that he uses is a homophone with "suffer and die."
- Drebin's full codename in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is Drebin 893, obviously referencing his personality. It shows up several other times related to him as well, including his Codec number of 148.93, and the maximum ammo the player can carry of any given type being 893.
- Splatoon 3 uses this for a pun. In Japanese, Mr. Grizz's name is Kuma-san. His real name, Bear #03, is...Kuma San.
- Many of the locker items' prices are goroawase too. For example, the coconut cereal's price of 5572 (ko-ko-na-tsu, "coconuts"), the various flavours of munchy snacks prices of 8989 (pa-ku-pa-ku, a common sound effect for eating rapidly), the stack of newspapers' price of 6397 (mu-sa-ku-na, "ugly"), or the power clam's price of 71104 (na-i-to-yo, "not necessary"). Any time an item has a weird price, it's likely because of goroawase.
- NieR Re[in]carnation celebrates the 28th of each month as Nier Day - 28, of course, being read as "Ni Ya", relatively close to "Niia".
- Super Paper Mario: Fort Francis's passcodes equal phrases in Japanese. The first one, 2828, can be read as にゃにゃ」(nyanya), for a meowing sound, befitting the many cat robots Francis has around. The other passcode, 2323, is「兄さん兄さん」(nii-san nii-san), an affectionate way to refer to your master, since Francis made all the robots serve him.
- 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim has Kyuta Shiba. His proper name is "Synthetic Personality 48Q", with one possible reading of that being "shi-ba kyu".
Web Animation
- Nijisanji has 2434 as a significant number, with it appearing in various contexts such as in several members' Twitter handles and the Apex Legends 2434 Kill Relay. It's also extremely common for the talents to receive Superchats totaling ¥2434.
- hololive:
- Sakura Miko's fans are officially known as 35P, read as "Miko P". Her birthday is 3/5, as in "mi-ko", and the number 35 is often associated with her in official and fanmade contents.
- Natsuiro Matsuri's Reddit account is u/7216_official, "na-tsu-i-ro", after her surname.
- One fan sent a series of Superchats to Chloe Sakamata that totalled ¥26,816, which using Goroawase Numbers says "fu-ro-ha-i-ro", or "get a bath", referencing Chloe claiming to taking showers only twice a week.
- It's common to see fans of Sakamata Chloe send her Superchats totaling ¥961, reading "ku-ro-i", or "Chloe". It's also common to see fans of Inugami Korone sending Superchats of ¥563, reading "ko-ro-san", or "Koro-san", fans of Kazama Iroha to send ¥168 "i-ro-ha", and so on.
Webcomics
- In NEXT!!! Sound of the Future, the basis for most of the androids’ nicknames are Japanese number puns based on the last 4 digits of their serial codes, such as "4N01" becoming "Shine" (4/shi-N), "X0T9" becoming "Tech" (T-9/ku), and "6RU9" becoming "Roll" (6/ro-ru).
- In episode 245 of Not Quite Daily Comic a pun is made on the Kanji for 1, 2 being read like "itchy knee".
- Related to the above, in Homestuck, member number 1 of the notorious billiard-themed gang The Felt is nicknamed "Itchy" (as in "ichi").
Real Life
- Suda51, the name adopted by the video game creator Suda Gōichi.
- 524 Records, a label established by Yasuharu Konishi.
- In the traditional card game Oicho-Kabu, 8-9-3 (ya-ku-sa) is considered one of the worst possible hands to have, thus becoming the origin of the word "Yakuza". As such, references to them will often involve this number, such as protection money being paid to "Customer #893."
- "888..." is read as "pachipachipachi..."note , an onomotopeia for clapping. You can sometimes see long streams of 8s in Nico Nico Douga video scrolling comments.
- The PokéPark Theme Park in Nagoya, Japan was located on Route 758.
- Many gaijin interested in Japanese media use 39 or 3Q to mean "thank you", as "san kyu".
- Race cars backed or entered by Nissan often carry the number 23.
- Also, 3923 can also mean "Thank you Nissan!" in which can be translated as "Thank you, big brother!"note .
- This also crops up in Chinese every now and then, thanks to the extensive amount of homophones and near-homophones. One such example is saying goodbye on text messages with "88"; the number 8 in Mandarin is "bā", so two 8s spoken together is "bābā" which sounds like the English "bye-bye."
- It also pops up in Korean occasionally, notably the number 18 ("eighteen" here, not "one eight") pronounced "ship-phal," which sounds an awful lot like "sship hal" meaning "let's fuck."
- In Japan, February 22nd is both National Ninja Day and National Cat Day, because the date of 2/22 can be read as "nin/ninnin" ("nin" being part of the word "ninja") or "nyan/nyannyan" ("nyan" being the Japanese counterpart to "meow").
- BEMANI composer Yuichi Asami goes by the handle U1-ASAMi.
- Some Japanese restaurants have special offers on meat dishes on the 29th day of the month, since that is "Niku (Meat) Day".
- Minako Kotobuki uses 375 as her number, most commonly on her radio show where it is included in the official e-mail address.
- Mangaka Harukawa 35, pronounced as Harukawa Sango.
- Both Mini owners and Nissan Sunny owners will meet up (alongside Nissan R32 Skyline GT-R owners) at the famed Daikoku parking area on March 2, aka 3/2, which can be read as either "mini" or "sanni" (Sunny).
- The world's highest tower, Tokyo Skytree, is 634 meters tall. This height read numerically - 6 (mu), 3 (sa), 4 (shi) - spells the name of the old region which contains present-day Tokyo: Musashi.
- Proving the trope is Older Than Radio: Famed Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku's given name comes from an older pronunciation of the word for "fifty-six," his father's age when he was born.
- Former HKT48 and AKB48 member Rino Sashihara social media username involving 345 which read "Sa-Shi-Ko", her nickname. This also presents in other members of 48 Groups as well, such as 39 and 75 for Sakura Miyawaki and Nako Yabuki note former general manager Minami Takahashi use Taka37 which reads "Takamina" who's also her nickname and so on
- Rare Western example: There is a brainteaser that gives you the number sequence 000011248 and asks you to rearrange them to make a sentence. The answer is 102004180, or "I ought to owe nothing, for I ate nothing".
- Baseball player Ichiro Suzuki, professionally just Ichiro, was celebrated in Seattle as "the One". He wore jersey number 51 ("go ichi") for the majority of his career.
