All about Japanese Font Family

Coding/2021.09.14

Japanese sans-serif fonts are called Gothic (ゴシック), while serif fonts are Mincho (明朝). Their difference are that of Mincho being stylized at the end of strokes while Gothic have even thickness.

Japanese font-family can be hard to search for while figuring out all their differences and whether they are still supported. Because different OS have different available fonts, it is especially hard to check for how they are displayed on your website.

Here are a list of all available Japanese fonts on different OS with their release dates and images for easy comparison without viewing from another device.

Sans-serif / Gothic

Windows

Meiryo / メイリオ (2007)

Meiryo is the default Japanese Windows system font as of Windows Vista release. This is also the fallback sans-serif font.

Meiryo UI (2007)

Yu Gothic / 游ゴシック (2013)

Yu Fonts are characterized by the lightness of its appearance. This is because of its thin strokes and smaller characters that opens up more space in between. Yu Fonts are the only font available on both Windows and macOS platforms.

MS UI Gothic (1998)

MS PGothic / ＭＳＰゴシック (1995)

MS Gothic / ＭＳゴシック (1992)

MS Gothic Fonts are the former default font of Windows systems. They are visibly less smoother so it’s better to avoid them specially on modern displays.

macOS

Hiragino Sans / ヒラギノ角ゴシック (2015)

Hiragino Sans is the default Japanese font on macOS and also the fallback font of sans-serif. It is styled similarly to Hiragino Kaku Gothic ProN but is new and improved.

Add W0 to W9 at the end to adjust the thickness being W9 as the thickest. If not specified, P tags are default to W4 thickness while headings range from W1-W6.