Katakana is also a Syllabary, with each Hiragana character having a character in Katakana (eg. あ = ア こ = コ). Katakana is used for impact (similar to italics in English) as well as gairaigo words and direct transliterations from English (e.g メニュー - Menyuu (Menu)). Katakana was originally made by Buddhist Monks to teach Japanese people how to read Chinese.