Nori-ba

Nori-ba is a native Japanese word, from noru 'ride on, get on (transportation)' and -ba 'place'. It refers to a place where transportation is accessed, whether a bus stop, a taxi stand/cab rank, or a station platform.

Nori-ba should be written either as or as -- conventions leave the choice up to the user. The sign below uses :

Shatoru basu noriba Shuttle bus stop

However, it is much more common in public places to find nori-ba written in hiragana as . Indeed, railway stations and taxi ranks appear to have standardised on hiragana for writing nori-ba.

Takushii noriba Taxi stand

Noriba Tracks (at railway station)

The rationale for using hiragana is probably a desire to simplify signs in public places so as to reduce clutter and increase legibility. The hiragana form nori-ba is simple to read and identify both for children and for adults. On the other hand, nori-ba is more complex, taking up space and increasing visual clutter.

A Google search revealed the following pattern for nori-ba on the Internet in August 2003. For comparison, results for the similar construction uri-ba (sales counter) are shown alongside:

Form	No. of occurrences	Form	No. of occurrences
	99,000		160,000
	43,200		710
	15,100		101,000
	293		53
	141		97
katakana	37	katakana	92

What is most striking about this comparison is the fact that noriba in hiragana is far more widely current than uriba is. On the other hand, all-kanji uriba is much more common, relatively speaking, than all-kanji noriba. Could the widespread use of noriba at taxi ranks, railway stations, etc., have tipped the scales towards the widespread use of the hiragana form for this word?