Writing letters

Correspondance, Japanese style...

Think of this article as the extremely, extremely abbreviated version.

The fact of the matter is that this generation of Japanese has placed less and less emphasis on the rigid structures of Japanese culture that were so important in the past. Letter writing style has been no exception. However, there still are certain general rules to follow when writing traditional letters, and that's what we'll look at now.

At the top of the letter, write the date, in traditional year-month-day format. I like to write this off to the right-hand side. I don't believe there are any hard-and-fast rules with placement, though.

To open a letter in Japan, you generally simply write the person's name, followed by -sama, or sensei if writing to a teacher, doctor, lawyer, or other personage to whom you can apply this title. At the end of that, add the particle e, written with a Hiragana he. So, assuming that we're writing to one Doctor Hayashi, our letter looks like this:

2001-nen 10-gatsu 15-nichi
Hayashi-sensei e

So far so good. The next part is what Westerners tend to leave out because it feels so foreign. Japanese letters never begin addressing the order of business in the first paragraph. Never. They don't even allude to the real reason for writing. Instead, writers of Japanese letters usually make some kind of comment about the season, the weather, or some other innocuous subject. Think of this as a mood-setter, helping the reader to sit down and become comfy as he unfolds the letter, sips his tea, and enjoys the ink-strokes on the rice paper.

Here's a typical opening paragraph for a fairly personable letter:

Ogenki desu ka? Watashi-tachi wa minna genki desu. Koko Seattle wa iyo-iyo aki ni natte, hi ga dandan dandan mijikaku natte ikimasu. Yoru samuku natte, soto he iku noni seetaa mo iru kurai desu. Kotoshi no fuyu wa samusou de, kaze wo hikanai you ni to, ki wo tsukete imasu. ... ...

Are you in good health? We're all fine. Here in Seattle, fall has finally arrived, and the days continue to become shorter and shorter. At night it's now cold enough that one needs a sweater to go outside. This winter looks to be a cold one, and we're taking care to avoid catching cold. ... Etc, etc.

After this introductory paragraph, you can begin the real, heavier content (if there is any). The second paragraph might begin:

Hayashi-sensei ni kaite iru no wa ... ...
The reason I'm writing you is that....

After you've finished the major content of the letter, Japanese people conclude in much the same way as they began. The last paragraph will almost invariably include a reference to the weather and a request that the reader take care of himeself because of the cold, or, if the season is summer, to watch out for the heat. Instead of having a closing salutation like "Sincerely," or "Yours truly," Japanese letters merely close with such a paragraph and sign their names below. The final line in a letter (this is within the paragraph body, not seperate like our closing salutations) might be something like:

O-karada ni ki wo tsukete kudasai.
Jisetsu kara go-jiai kudasai.
Please take good care of yourself.
(These two are virtually identical in meaning.)

In very formal letters, you can use a structure like we do - a closing salutation and signed name on the next line. A few closing salutations are:

Keigu, (for men and women)
Sou-sou, (women only)
Kashiko, (women only)

If you don't mind betraying your Westerner-ness a bit, you can also use closings that are simply translations of Western closings, like:

Ai wo komete,
With love,
Anata no tomo,
Your friend,

and so on. If you do break down and use these Westernized endings, you may decide to use a more Western opening as well. Japan has nominally adopted Shin'ai naru So-and-so as a translation for "Dear So-and-so." Personally, I always use this because it feels warmer, and almost everyone who writes to me uses it as well. You may find the cultural compromise to be enjoyable.

This provides a brief, but hopefully enlightening, look into writing letters in Japan. Having a penpal is very rewarding both socially and liguistically, so I wholeheartedly recommend doing so. Happy writing, and may enjoyable letters fill your mailbox!