Letter To A Japanese Friend
Nancie Fazzari
Okay here is my dilemma, I am going to a write to a Japanese friend a birthday letter but I don't know how should I construct it; I've tried to search around the net and I found both formal and informal letters.
I think that it is perfectly fine to use -さん when writing the letter, since that's what you normally use anyway. If you often speak to him informally, then you can revert to that style of speech after the opening. I find this to be a good example:
Writing a letter in Japanese is quite the epic topic. It's sadly not as easy as writing something, stuffing it in an envelope, stamping it, and sending it. Japanese letters require you to think about certain formalities, set expressions, styles of writing, and even relationships between you and the person you're writing to. It's so complicated and convoluted that even Japanese people will buy books on the subject so that they can "read up on" and study the latest letter writing rules. Don't feel bad if you feel lost.
The goal of this article is to help you to understand Japanese letters. It will take a little more research and studying to be able to write a letter in Japanese, but I think I'll be covering the difficult part. After reading this article, I want you to understand things like the relationship between you and the person you're writing to, the format of a Japanese letter (both vertical and horizontal), how to write the address on the envelope, as well as the concept of "set expressions." This will give you the tools to write a letter, make things less confusing, and eventually get you to the point where you should be able to piece together a Japanese letter on your own (resources included in the last section of this article).
In Japanese, hierarchy is much more important than in many other countries. You have the senpai-kohai relationship. Then you have teacher vs. student, boss vs. minion, older people vs. younger people, and the list goes on and on. On top of this, relationship statuses change when you're asking for a request, but this (and many other things) will depend on how close you are to the other person. Relationships, your closeness, and where you stand in the hierarchy of said relationship dictate how you act and speak with that other person. Of course, this carries over to letters as well.
You may have noticed some patterns here. Informal relationships are people of a similar age, aka people who are on the same hierarchy level as you. Then, there's neutral (which is really just regular-polite level) which has teachers and other superiors whom you have at least a moderately close relationship with, though friends that you are requesting something of get bumped up to this rung (because you have to be nice if you're asking for something). Lastly, there's formal, which includes people you don't have a close relationship with (people you don't know), as well as superiors that you're asking something of. Asking something of someone automatically bumps them up to the next rung, as a rule of thumb.
Of course, as long as you stay in the Neutral or Formal levels, you'll probably always be okay, so that's what I'll be sticking with in these articles as well. Informal is informal, and doesn't really need to follow so many of the rules that I'll be laying out here during this series.
Now that you know who you're writing to, it's time to figure out what materials you need to use. I think a lot of this is just common sense, but just in case it isn't, I've summarized and simplified a list provided by the (excellent) textbook, Writing Letters In Japanese.
I will cover two types of letter: Vertical and Horizontal. This refers to how you're writing your text. Does it go up to down or does it go right to left? Depending on which one you choose, there are a few differences you need to take note of.
These are the most personal. I suppose you're putting a lot more work into this kind, because in general you're writing them out by hand. Horizontal rule letters feel a little colder and less personal, though I think that's changing. Usually, though, you can't go wrong with a vertical letter, as it's the standard style for letter writing in Japan.
Set Expression #1: Right at the beginning of the letter there should be a set expression. This could be one of many predetermined topics or phrases, which are usually about weather, the season, health of the addressee, and so on and so forth. Certain topics will have certain opening set expressions as well, but we'll go more into that later.
Horizontal letters are easier, but they can be considered rude if you send them in the wrong situations. Of course, email is a whole other thing (it's all horizontal there), and I think it's causing the mindset to shift a bit on this. Still, though, vertical is the default go-to for writing letters (especially by hand), so be sure learn about it even though this one is easier.
The address system in Japan is quite different from America and much of the rest of the world. You'll want to know about that before sending a letter, otherwise it may not get to the desired location (that being said, the Japanese postal system is baller). Once you know the address, though, there are some rules as to where you should be putting the mailing address, return address, and stamp.
As you can see there are a few different things compared to the envelopes you might be used to. First off, you'll want to put the postal code in boxes provided. Then, on the front of the envelope, you'll want to put the address on the right side (written vertically) and the addressee's name on the left, written in slightly bigger letters than the address to help differentiate. On the flap side of the envelope you should write the return address. Your name and address should go on the left side in the same format as the addressee's name and address (though size isn't going to matter as much), and your postal code should go in the boxes if they're provided.
When you are sending a letter to Japan from outside of Japan, you can write the address in romaji (though Japanese is preferred, if you can), and write it in the format that's normally accepted in your country. Just be sure to write "JAPAN" at the bottom of the addressee's address so they know to send it there!
This is perhaps the most difficult section of all when it comes to writing letters in Japanese. Luckily, these are set expressions, meaning you can just look them up, use them, and gone on with your life. The tricky part comes when you have to come up with some of your own (in certain specific situations), though we're going to just ignore that for now.
The first set of set expressions is the one that comes before the start of your actual content. It generally has to do with weather, the season, or health of the addressee. There are expressions for each month, season, as well as different opening greetings for various inquisitions on the addressee's health. Here are some examples, though there are many more set expressions worth knowing (or knowing where to find, which I'll go over at the end).
These set expressions are only a drop in the bucket. There are at least several set expressions for each month, season, and situation, and there are probably more out there. The thing about set expressions is you are expected to write with said set expressions, otherwise your letter isn't going to come off as polite. While creativity is encouraged in Western letters, using some set expression rules is more important in Japanese, which makes things both harder and easier.
So as you can see, writing letters in Japanese is a big ordeal, though once you learn all the rules and do a little practice it's not all that bad. In fact, it's very set in stone, meaning that as long as you follow the rules you'll be able to write a great letter in Japanese.
The next step, I think, is to take a look at examples. Writing letters in Japanese definitely takes an intermediate or advanced knowledge of the language, so if you possess said knowledge and want an English textbook, I'd recommend Writing Letters In Japanese. It contains plenty of example letters as well as lessons going over all of them to help you get your letter writing skills up to snuff. Alternatively, if you're fairly advanced in Japanese, the Japanese website Midori-Japan's 手紙の書き方 will do the trick. This site includes many example letters for many different and often specific situations as well as a list of set expressions that you can pull from. Basically, everything you need to template out a proper Japanese letter.
I hope this article and those sources help you to get started writing letters in Japanese! It's a crazy letter writing world over there, but once you get your foot in the proverbial letter-writing door it become easier. I want to write more on this topic soon, including examples for plenty of different letter-writing situations, but we'll see if it's next week or a week in the future to come. Writing letters in Japanese is a huge topic, as I think everyone has come to understand so long as you've read to this point.
It is recommended to follow the official procedures and give only the requested documentation. Giving more than is required would seem odd. If it does appear suspicious, it will most likely be discarded. A person evaluating a visa application works to see if you qualify or pose a risk. The same would be true of other spurious information such as sending bank statements when none is required.
There are rules for qualifying for a visa and usually an application to fill out with a list of the required supporting documentation. Some countries ask for a letter of invitation but those actually a minority, usually countries who do generally do not welcome tourism. For those that do encourage tourism, then you are more likely to be asked about onward travel and proof of accommodation and those you must provide when required by the application.
If the Japanese embassy website lists invitation letter in visa requirements then it's mandatory to provide it. Where invitation letter is required the usual practice is that it can either be a real person (friend, relative) or a tourist company you engage if your purpose is tourism (and buy a package). Yes, some countries put restrictions like buying a prepaid holiday package from registered tour agency in order to grant a tourist visa. Perhaps this applies to Colombian citizens intending to visit Japan for tourism. Do confirm with the embassy.
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