katakana

syllabary used for foreign words

Kana is a term that means "syllabary," and is used to refer to both the hiragana and katakana. A syllabary uses symbols that represent the sounds of syllables, as opposed to the alphabet which represents the sounds of individual letters. Katakana is used for foreign words, many of which are derived from English. Katakana is frequently used in advertisements.

In the picture to the left, note that my signature (traditionally placed on the left side of the drawing), Rinda (ri-n-da), is in katakana.