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I am trying to convey a meaning using old Japanese numeral wordplay. The idea is to say something similar to the word for Sweets or Confection with up to 3 numbers. My understanding is that this word is Okashi. I have gotten as far as to get 0_4. I seem unable to complete this word however, as I am missing a number that represents the "Ka" sound. How should I best convey the idea of a cake, candy, or other sweet confection through this method?

This is apparently a code used on old Japanese pagers. For example: 831 converts to Veggie, 049 = Swim, 187 = Spark

Dee Lysh
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    This seems off topic to me. Also, I'm not sure how zero represents "O" except by mere shape in Japanese. Though in English, we read the number zero as "oh" sometimes, this is not something that is done in Japanese as far as I know. Generally, 0 is read as ゼロ or レイ, but not お – A.Ellett Nov 03 '20 at 00:59
  • I am trying to use a special form of text code that was apparently used in Japanese pagers. – Dee Lysh Nov 03 '20 at 02:57
  • Thanks for the explanation. Now I can see that this makes more sense. And the examples in the question also help clarify. – A.Ellett Nov 03 '20 at 03:27
  • The Wikipedia page about this kind of wordplay (numerical "goroawase") lists the common sounds that can be represented ; unfortunately the sound "ka" is not one of them. https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%AA%9E%E5%91%82%E5%90%88%E3%82%8F%E3%81%9B Maybe you can try to find a synonym of お菓子 with which it would work better? – wip Nov 03 '20 at 04:39
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    I also found this page that converts words for you ; for Sweets it returns 054 https://www.nin-fan.net/tool/goro/%E3%81%8A%E3%81%8B%E3%81%97/ – wip Nov 03 '20 at 04:41
  • @A.Ellett: See this topic: Rules for slang of Japanese numbers – istrasci Nov 03 '20 at 16:52
  • Thank you all, this is very helpful. I am new to this site and cannot find some sort of up-vote feature, but I want you to know know that I appreciate the help. – Dee Lysh Nov 03 '20 at 18:11

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I think that おかし is not appropriate for your wordplay because "ka" sound doesn't exist in Japanese numbers' sound. I think that おやつ is appropriate, and it is 082.

Yuuichi Tam
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  • That "snack" seems like a wonderful choice, though I don't quite follow the translation. I see that the 0 is "O" and 8 "yattsu" I think, but is 2 also "tsu"? – Dee Lysh Nov 03 '20 at 18:15
  • 0 is "O", 8 is "ya" and 2 is "tsu" because of "two(ツー)". – Yuuichi Tam Nov 03 '20 at 19:01