18 in Japanese
十八
Updated May 2026
Eighteen (current age of majority)
NUMERAL
18
KANJI
十八
HIRAGANA
じゅうはち
ROMAJI
jū-hachi
Counter-attached forms
How 18 attaches to common counters. Each links to the per-counter deep-dive.
Cultural context
On 1 April 2022, Japan lowered the age of majority from 20 to 18. Eighteen-year-olds in Japan now have voting rights (since 2016) and the legal capacity to enter most contracts (since 2022). Drinking and smoking remain at age 20.
Real sentence examples
十八歳から大人として扱われます (jū-hass-sai kara otona to shite atsukawaremasu): from age 18, you are treated as an adult.
十八歳の選挙権が始まったのは二〇一六年からです (jū-hass-sai no senkyo-ken ga hajimatta no wa ni-sen-jū-roku-nen kara desu): voting at age 18 began from 2016.
Pronunciation and morphology notes
Eighteen in Japanese is jū-hachi. Age 18 uses the gemination jū-hass-sai (the /s/ doubles to has-sai after the preceding consonant). 8 and 18 both trigger the gemination. Eighteen has cultural weight in Japan since the 2022 lowering of the age of majority.
Related numbers
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