On to which way is correct: Is it Nam, or Namu? First Namu is two characters, so technically there is no such word or character as nam. There is either na or namu. I won’t go into great length here to talk about some of the characteristics of spoken Japanese except to say that frequently a final vowel sound such as ‘u’ is unvoiced. I say unvoiced because Japanese speakers are adamant that the sound still exists. So, though we do not hear it, to them it doesn’t go away. It still remains. From that perspective, no matter how you end up saying it, it still remains Namu. And that is how we should hold it in our minds as well. We should never let go of the whole word Namu, regardless whether we voice the entire word or not.