How to Count Millions in Japanese

Today we’re going to learn how to count millions in Japanese!

Click these links below if you want to learn about another numbers:
Japanese Numbers (1-99)
Japanese Numbers (Hundreds – Ten thousands)

A million in Japanese doesn’t have a unit. Therefore we’re still going to use the 10.000 unit which is 万. The next unit available is in 100 million, which is 億 (oku)

Counting millions in Japanese with 万

When counting millions, since the dot separates every 3 characters, it will make you confused when you use Japanese unit which uses 4 characters. Therefore, to avoid the confusion, follow these steps below!

Let’s use 15.290.407 as example.

First, strip up the numbers from the dots
It shall become 15290407

Then move the 4 last number away
It shall become 1529 0407

The first part would be the 万 (man) and you just count the later part normally.
1529 万 0407
1000 + 500 + 20 + 9 万 + 400 + 7
sen | go hyaku | ni juu | kyuu | man | yon hyaku | nana

More examples!

Let’s try another one
20.482.140
Strip the dot: 20482140
Divide them: 2048 2140

2048 万 2140
2000 + 40 + 8 万 + 2000 + 100 + 40
ni sen | yon juu | hachi | man | ni sen | hyaku | yon juu

It’s not that bad, right? 😀

If you wanna count objects though…

Don’t forget that just knowing about number is not enough to count things in Japanese. You also need to know about counter. Please check the other article about counting in Japanese!

Happy learning! ｡ﾟ✶ฺ.ヽ(*´∀`*)ﾉ.✶ฺﾟ｡