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I’m just wondering if anyone can clear up what the two word’s differences and similarities are in meaning and specifically, usage. I sort of blindly assumed にほん referred to the modern nation state and にぽん to the older idea, not specifically national, Japan. But the other day I realized I’d never actually heard this and just made it up….so some clarification would be nice. Thanks.
It’s actually にっぽん, and I think they’re pretty much interchangeable. にっぽん seems to be getting a little bit archaic, though, but I think older people are still going to use it a bit, and you’re still going to see it in company names and such. For example, the Japanese name for JAL is 日本航空 (にっぽんこうくう), NHK is 日本放送協会 (にっぽんほうそうきょうかい)、NTT is 日本電信電話株式会社 (にっぽんでんしんでんわかぶしきかいしゃ), et cetera.
Ah, にっぽん, I see. ありがとう.
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