4 Free Asian-Styled Fonts

While Asian languages don't use the same alphabet as Western languages, you can add hints of Japanese characters to your text with Yama Moto. The font provides all the symbols and accented letters you could need, although the letters are all upper case. Yama Moto is also available in several different versions, such as an italic version and an outlined version. It isn't the easiest font to read but it's ideal for titles or accenting a project with a small amount of text set in the font.

Recognizable from the many takeaway containers you may have seen over the years, Chinese Takeaway provides a font that easily mimics the text you see on the sides of cartons. While more of an Americanized version of an Asian typeface, it will likely be familiar to many of your readers, though they may not be sure why. This font is an accent or title font only and it offers capital letters, numerals and some symbols.

Made In China is a stylized font, offering both the traditional feel of an Asian font with a more modern appearance. The letters are easier to read than many other Asian-themed fonts, relying more on small decorations than an overall character design. However, this font remains primarily a title or an accent font. It has a full set of letters and numbers but it has only a handful of punctuation marks and few of the other characters necessary to create a complete font.

Many Asian cultures are known for beautiful calligraphy, which is reflected in Kaneiwa. Text set in the font appears hand written by a calligrapher familiar with the forms of different Asian characters. It's possible to point out individual brush strokes in each character. The font offers both upper and lower case letters, as well as numbers and punctuation marks. You can even see the hand-written elements in symbols.

The four fonts above are just a starting point for using free Asian themed fonts. If you need something a little different for your desktop publishing project, there are many more options listed in most font directories. Dafont's listings for foreign-themed fonts includes more than fifty different under the Japanese and Chinese headings.