We Japanese call them "furigana". "furi" means assign or attach. "gana" means hira"gana" and kata"kana". So "furigana" means attaching kanas to Kanji (or some string need furigana).
"Requirements for Japanese Text Layout" will help you. 3.3 Ruby and Emphasis Dots http://www.w3.org/TR/jlreq/#en-subheading2_3 -- NARUSE, Yui <[email protected]>
