what is the difference? lol

[BamaFan2989]

what is the difference between katakana, hiragana, and kanji, when are they used differently and stuff? and how do you know, by just learning them?

[TwistedMac]

yes, by just learning them

*generally* it's:
hiragana: japanese words. these are like our letters.. they mean nothing one by one but are put together to make words.
katakana: same as hiragana but used for foreign words.
kanji: these are the ones imported frm China.. each one represents a feeling or word or something like that.. i just started with the kanji >_<

anyway, that's a quick answer for ya :P i'll leave it to someone else to give a qualified answer...
(ie. don't put too much weight into my answers as they may be faulty.. this is ALWAYS the case with my answers ;)

[okaeri_man]

hiragana are curvy,
katakana are straight,
kanji are usually complicated and messed up.

japanese is essentially kanji broken up by hiragana particles. you can always tell the difference between chinese and japanese texts since the chinese text is all "kanji", ie a big blob of unrecognisable messed up characters.

also see here! (http://www.jref.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12601)

[Mike Cash]

Spotted in Tokyo the other day:

首都高速中央環状新宿線建設中

[PaulTB]

Spotted in Tokyo the other day:

首都高速中央環状新宿線建設中

Ooh I'm impressed. That even beats
朝鮮民主主義人民共和国

Now with these things it often helps to translate them from the end, back.
建設中 under construction.
新宿線 Shinjuku line
中央環状 central ring (?)
高速 high speed.
首都 capital (??) OK I have no idea how that fits ... ^^;
... OK Google tells me it's 'metropolitan'

"The metropolitan high speed central ring Shinjuku line is currently under construction."
... anywhere near?

[Mike Cash]

Sounds good to me. Except 高速 was actually a shortening of 高速道路, which if it had been there in its entirety I'm sure you would have translated as "expressway".

Here's an even longer one that used to appear on the Akabou trucks:

全国赤帽軽自動車運送協同組合連合会

[PaulTB]

Here's an even longer one that used to appear on the Akabou trucks:

全国赤帽軽自動車運送協同組合連合会
I don't want to monopolise the fun, I'll leave that for someone else to try. :p

[Scrivener]

Here is some information about it:
首都高速道路中央環状線は、現時点では東京都の板橋区の板橋ジャンクションから、北区・足立区・葛飾区を経 由して江戸川区の葛西ジャンクションに至る首都高速道路の路線である。

Here are photos of the Shinjuku part:
1 (http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%94%BB%E5%83%8F:%E5%8F%82%E5%AE%AE%E6%A9%8B%E9% A7%85%E4%B8%8A%E3%82%8A%E6%96%B9001.jpg)
2 (http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%94%BB%E5%83%8F:%E7%AC%B9%E5%A1%9A%E4%BA%A4%E5% B7%AE%E7%82%B9001.jpg)