Email etiquette for Japan?

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

Rob Hudson wondered: <<I will be contacting some folks in Japan and  
wondered how I should open my email since we have not yet become  
acquainted.>>

I'm not an expert in this area (my main expertise is with China), but  
colleagues in Japan recommended the following formally (perhaps  
overly so) opening and close to an e-mail:

[business letter opening: name and title of the person receiving the  
message]

Itsumo taihen osewani natteorimasu.

[body of the message]

Dozo yoroshiku onegai itashimasu.

[professional signature line, stripped of any clever quotes]

I've used this successfully for several years. In addition, remember  
to be formally polite until you have clearly established an informal  
relationship, and be very careful with idiom and phrasal verbs until  
you've established your colleague's level of English skill. Some of  
my Japanese clients have superb English skills; others, not so much.

If you review your e-mail before sending it (something too few people  
do), pay particular attention to looking for things you take for  
granted in English correspondence, and simplify phrases. Don't dumb  
it down by any means, but rather avoid some of the complexities we  
use all the time in English. For example, I love parentheses,  
semicolons, parenthetical comments, and em dashes, and overuse them  
shamelessly, so I always have to remind myself not to do so in  
corresponding with my ESL clients. <g>


----------------------------------------------------
-- Geoff Hart
ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
www.geoff-hart.com
--------------------------------------------------
Coming soon:  _Effective onscreen editing_
(http://www.geoff-hart.com/home/onscreen-book.htm)


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