Shinsho

Shinsho, is a Yashimese syllabary found in Yamatai, a basic component of the New Yashimese writing system, along with hiragana, katakana and kanji. Shinsho literally translates to "New Writing".

Heavily based on the hiragana and katakana syllabaries, each sound in the Yashimese language is represented by one block character that contains two characters. The lower character denotes a basic vowel (a, i, u, e, o), while the upper character denotes the consonant series (i.e. ka, ki, ku, ke, ko). Hiragana and katakana requires a reader to recognise 46 distinct characters, rising to 71 if diacritics are included. Within the Shinsho system, only 20 unique characters need to be recognised. Shinsho block characters cannot be used alongside other forms of written Yashimese, doing so being considered improper from a cultural standpoint. Shinsho is used to replicate both hiragana and katakana, showing no distinction between the two.

With the rapid flow of information of the modern era and the need for universal education to operate increasingly complex technology, in 2278 the Yamataian government undertook a study to create a new form of written Yashimese to improve recognition speed and ease of learning. It was believed that with a simplified system tasks requiring rapid recognition such as piloting aerospace fighter craft would be made more efficient, as well as solving the "keyboard problem", which had existed since pre-20th century times whereby basic kana-based keyboards had over 46 keys, requiring increasingly sophisticated hard and software to shrink these keyboards. Shinsho was also praised for its ease of teaching and learning, allowing education to be sped up somewhat. Despite heavy resistance by the traditional and educational communities, Shinsho was put into use as a secondary script second to the traditional forms of writing. A theory exists that Shinsho was created expressly to aid communications with potential foreign space powers.

Shinsho is used in everyday aspects to simplify reading and to speed up education, ensuring most of Yamataian society is literate. As of 2550, Shinsho is understood by at least 91% of Yamataian society. 74% of Yamataians are literate in both Shinsho and the traditional kana, with kanji use increasingly waning with only 45% literacy, primarily appearing in government, military and upper class civilian use. Shinsho is also the main technical language, appearing on computer displays and other readouts. Typing in Shinsho is also simplified as keyboards now only require 20 character keys, saving space and providing an alternative layout to simplify the typing of other written Yashimese.