Business Japanese — The Art of Email and Phone

• Introduction
• The Basic Structure of a Business Email
  • 件名 (Subject)
  • 宛名 (Address)
  • 挨拶 (Greeting)
  • 本文 (Body)
  • 結び (Closing)
  • 署名 (Signature)
• A Roundup of Set Expressions
  • Thanks and Apologies
  • Requests and Confirmation
  • Notice and Reporting
  • Scheduling
• Sample Emails
• The Art of Phone Handling
  • Answering a Call (受電)
  • Transferring to the Person in Charge (取次ぎ)
  • Handling Absence (不在対応)
  • Messages and Callbacks (伝言・かけ直し)
• Using Keigo
• Internal vs External Tone
• Common Mistakes and Traps
  • 二重敬語 (Double Honorifics)
  • Overusing させていただく
  • ら抜き言葉 (Dropped Ra)
  • Other Common Mistakes
• Differences from Korean Business Culture
• Closing
• References

Introduction

Anyone who has worked in Japan or done business with a Japanese company hits the same wall. Their spoken Japanese is passable, but the moment they try to write an email, their hands freeze. Conversely, plenty of people can copy an email template just fine, yet their heart sinks the instant the phone rings.

The reason business Japanese is hard is not grammar. Japanese grammar itself follows nearly the same word order as Korean, which makes it one of the easiest foreign languages in the world for a Korean speaker. The real wall lies in the fixed set expressions, the handling of honorifics (keigo), and the sense of judging the distance between you and the other party.

Japanese business communication is astonishingly rigid in its forms. The first line of an email is almost always predetermined, and the first words you say when answering a phone are predetermined too. If you do not know these forms, no matter how politely you try to write, something will feel off, and in bad cases it will come across as rude. Conversely, once you master the forms, you look more fluent than your actual ability. It is a world where form itself reads as competence.

This article dismantles, one by one, the standards of email and phone use that Japanese companies rely on every day. Rather than simply listing expressions, it also covers why they are used the way they are, when they must not be used, and how they differ from Korean business culture. After reading it, at least your hands will no longer freeze in front of an email.

The Basic Structure of a Business Email

A Japanese business email consists of six blocks. Simply keeping this order right gets you halfway to success.

件名 (Subject)

The subject is the first thing the recipient sees in their inbox. In Japanese business, it is common for people to receive dozens or hundreds of emails a day, so they must be able to grasp the point and urgency from the subject alone.

There are three principles for a good subject. First, state the point clearly. Second, include the company name or your name so they know who you are. Third, if a reply or confirmation is needed, make that fact visible.

Bracketed labels are used often. If confirmation is needed, put confirmation; if urgent, urgent; if sending materials, document dispatch. Attaching the nature of the request up front makes it easy for the recipient to set priorities.

宛名 (Address)

The first line of the body is the recipient's name. A Japanese business email always begins by naming the recipient explicitly. The order is company name, department, title, then name.

For external parties, add 様 (sama) after the name. When addressing the company itself, use 御中 (onchu). 様 and 御中 are never used together. 様 for a person's name, 御中 for an organization's name.

There is one caution when using a title. Adding 様 again after a title, as in 部長様 (buchou-sama), is 二重敬語 (double honorific) and is incorrect. Because 部長 already carries respect, you write 田中部長 (Tanaka-buchou) or Sales Manager Tanaka Taro sama.

挨拶 (Greeting)

The line after the recipient always has a greeting. The opening greeting of an external email is fixed with almost no exceptions.

The most basic is いつもお世話になっております (itsumo osewa ni natte orimasu). Literally it means I am always in your care, but in practice it is a worn-down set phrase closer to hello. If it is your first contact, you begin with 突然のご連絡失礼いたします (excuse the sudden contact) or 初めてご連絡いたします (I am contacting you for the first time).

This is where the decisive difference between internal and external appears. For external, お世話になっております; for internal, お疲れ様です. Swapping the two feels wrong. Saying osewa ni natte orimasu to a colleague sounds like treating them as a stranger, and saying otsukaresama desu to an external client is rude.

本文 (Body)

After the greeting, briefly state a self-introduction or the background of your point, then go straight to the matter. What matters especially in Japanese email is not writing a single sentence too long, and dividing chunks with appropriate line breaks.

There are connecting expressions often used when entering the main point.

When asking for something, it is polite to place a so-called cushion phrase in front. Putting 恐れ入りますが (I am sorry to trouble you, but) or お手数をおかけしますが (this will be a bother, but) before a request makes it far softer.

結び (Closing)

At the end of the body, add a closing to wrap up the email. The most representative is 何卒 (nanitozo) よろしくお願いいたします. 何卒 means kindly or by all means, and raises the formality one level.

のほど softens and makes the request more indirect. ご確認のほどよろしくお願いいたします is far more polite than ご確認ください.

署名 (Signature)

At the very end comes the signature. It carries the company name, department, name, address, phone number, and email address. Usually a divider line separates it from the body.

A Roundup of Set Expressions

It is no exaggeration to call a Japanese business email a collection of set phrases. Memorize the expressions below wholesale and you can cover most situations.

Thanks and Apologies

Requests and Confirmation

いただけますと幸いです is a very frequently used polite request. Literally it means it would be fortunate if you would do this, and becomes a soft request with the imperative tone entirely removed.

Notice and Reporting

ご査収ください is a set phrase used when sending an attachment or materials, meaning please receive and check it. It is the standard phrase that accompanies sending documents.

Scheduling

Sample Emails

The fastest way to understand how set expressions combine in an actual email is to see one. Below is a typical external email arranging a meeting date.

件名：お打ち合わせ日程のご相談（ヤング商事・キム）

株式会社サクラ
営業部 田中太郎様

いつもお世話になっております。
ヤング商事のキムでございます。

さて、先日ご相談させていただきました新製品の件につきまして、
一度お打ち合わせのお時間をいただけますでしょうか。

つきましては、下記の候補日時の中から、
ご都合の良い日時をお知らせいただけますと幸いです。

・7月10日（金）14:00〜16:00
・7月13日（月）10:00〜12:00
・7月14日（火）終日

ご多忙のところ恐縮ですが、
何卒よろしくお願いいたします。

――――――――――――――――
ヤング商事株式会社
営業部　キム・ヨンジュ
TEL：03-1234-5678
Email：kim@example.co.jp
――――――――――――――――

Next is an email sending materials as an attachment.

件名：【資料送付】新製品カタログのご送付

株式会社サクラ
営業部 田中太郎様

いつもお世話になっております。
ヤング商事のキムでございます。

先日お問い合わせいただきました新製品カタログを、
本メールに添付いたしましたので、ご査収ください。

ご不明な点がございましたら、
お気軽にお問い合わせくださいませ。

引き続き、何卒よろしくお願いいたします。

Next is an example of an apology email. When apologizing, the principle is apology first, then cause and countermeasure, before any excuse.

件名：納期遅延のお詫び

株式会社サクラ
営業部 田中太郎様

いつもお世話になっております。
ヤング商事のキムでございます。

この度は、納品が遅れておりますこと、
誠に申し訳ございません。

原因は弊社の在庫管理の不備によるものでございます。
現在、7月20日の納品を目指して対応を進めております。

ご迷惑をおかけし、重ねてお詫び申し上げます。
今後このようなことのないよう、再発防止に努めてまいります。

何卒よろしくお願い申し上げます。

The Art of Phone Handling

The reason the phone feels far harder than email is that it is real-time. There is no time to think. That is precisely why, for the phone, you must drill set expressions until they come out reflexively.

Answering a Call (受電)

もしもし (moshi moshi) is not used in Japanese business calls. もしもし is an expression for private calls. When you answer a company phone, you answer by stating the company name.

If you answered after the phone rang three or more times, it is good manners to add お待たせいたしました (sorry to keep you waiting) to your first words.

Transferring to the Person in Charge (取次ぎ)

If the person who answered is not the one in charge, they transfer the call (取次ぎ) to that person. Here you need an expression that has the caller wait briefly.

Here is an important honorific rule. When you speak to an external party about someone from your own company, you do not attach honorifics to that person, no matter how senior. To the question is Manager Tanaka there, you answer with 田中は席を外しております, humbling your own company's people. This is where Korean speakers make mistakes most often.

Handling Absence (不在対応)

These are expressions for when the person in charge is not at their desk. 席を外しております is the core expression.

Putting あいにく (unfortunately) in front adds a nuance of regret and makes it more polite. And because you do not use respectful language for your own company's people, it is 田中はおりません, not 田中はいらっしゃいません.

Messages and Callbacks (伝言・かけ直し)

If the person in charge is out, you either take the caller's message (伝言) or offer to call back (かけ直し).

承る (uketamawaru) is the humble form of to receive or to hear. Saying ご伝言を承ります when offering to take a message is very polite. 折り返し (orikaeshi) means to call back and is an essential word in phone handling.

There is an order for hanging up too. In principle the caller hangs up first, and the person who answered confirms the other has hung up before quietly hanging up. Not slamming the receiver down, and instead pressing the hook with a finger to end the call, is also good manners.

Using Keigo

Keigo (honorifics) is the heart of business Japanese. It divides broadly into three types.

The key is direction. Actions the other party performs are raised with respectful language; actions you perform are lowered with humble language. Even the same verb changes form completely depending on who the subject is.

For example, when saying you saw materials: if you saw them, it is 拝見しました; if the other party saw them, it is ご覧になりましたか. 拝見 is humble, so it must not be used for the other party's action. ご資料を拝見してください is wrong. When asking the other party to look, ご覧ください is correct.

Internal vs External Tone

Inside the company (社内) and outside (社外) differ in tone. Being overly formal internally actually creates distance, and lowering formality externally is rude.

The most confusing is how to refer to a boss. When speaking directly to a boss internally, you attach the title and raise them, as in 田中部長. But when mentioning that boss to an external person, it is name only, 田中, lowered with no honorific. The view is that the client from outside ranks above your own boss.

One more: the distinction between ご苦労様です and お疲れ様です. ご苦労様 is an expression a superior uses toward a subordinate. Saying ご苦労様です to your boss is rude. For colleagues and superiors, always use お疲れ様です.

Common Mistakes and Traps

The more skilled someone is at Japanese, the more likely they are to fall into certain traps.

二重敬語 (Double Honorifics)

This is the mistake of stacking honorifics twice. It is the classic case of trying to be polite and getting it wrong instead.

おっしゃる is already respectful, and adding られる to it makes a double honorific. Politeness once is enough.

Overusing させていただく

させていただく is a humble expression premised on the other party's permission that you do something, but these days it is so overused that it often sounds grating instead. Attaching it even to things you decided regardless of the other party feels awkward.

The principle is to use させていただく only when the other party's permission or favor is actually involved.

ら抜き言葉 (Dropped Ra)

This is the phenomenon of dropping ら, saying 見れる for 見られる and 食べれる for 食べられる. It is common in conversation, but in business documents it is treated as incorrect.

Other Common Mistakes

One addition: 御社 (onsha) is used when speaking, and 貴社 (kisha) when writing. 御社 is more natural on the phone, 貴社 in an email.

Differences from Korean Business Culture

Both are East Asian, yet Korean and Japanese business communication have different textures. Understanding this difference reveals the background of the expressions.

First, the weight of form differs. Korea observes formality too, but Japan is far more sensitive to any deviation from form. An email that omits お世話になっております reads as a breach of etiquette in itself. Keeping to the form is itself an expression of respect for the other party.

Second, the culture of humbling one's own company is strong. The contrast of lowering your own organization with 弊社 or 小社 while raising the other's with 御社 is far more thorough than in Korea. As seen earlier, to an external person you even lower your own boss.

Third, the degree of indirectness differs. Japanese business avoids direct refusal. Expressions like 難しいです (it is difficult), 検討します (I will consider it), and 前向きに考えます (I will think about it positively) are often, in effect, signals of refusal or deferral. Taking them literally leads to misunderstanding.

Fourth, phone culture is still strong. Korea has largely shifted to messengers and email, but Japan retains the custom of confirming and finishing things by phone. As a result, phone-handling ability carries a large weight in actual work.

Closing

The core of business Japanese is not special talent but mastery of form. The six blocks of an email, the set expressions of the phone, the directional sense of keigo, and the tone difference between internal and external. Master just these four axes and most situations are solved by combination.

At first, it is good to start by memorizing set phrases wholesale. お世話になっております, 恐れ入りますが, 何卒よろしくお願いいたします, 席を外しております, 折り返しお電話いたします. Once these expressions come out reflexively, before you know it your hands and mouth no longer freeze in front of an email or a phone.

Form is not a prison but a support. Because there is form, you can focus on content, and because you keep to the form, the other party feels at ease. Mastering the standards of Japanese business communication is, in the end, learning the grammar of a language that considers the other person.

References

• Weblio Dictionary (business keigo): https://www.weblio.jp/
• Kotobank: https://kotobank.jp/
• NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute (language): https://www.nhk.or.jp/bunken/
• Mynavi Tenshoku business manners: https://tenshoku.mynavi.jp/knowhow/
• doda how to write a business email: https://doda.jp/guide/
• Agency for Cultural Affairs, guidelines on keigo: https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/bunkashingikai/kokugo/
• Rikunabi NEXT business manners: https://next.rikunabi.com/journal/
• goo Dictionary (keigo): https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/