The structure of a Japanese business mail

Business mail is made up of two main parts: the header and the body. The header consists of the three common fields that are used for e-mail:

Header

1. the "to" field (mail address of the recipient)
2. CC and BCC fields. Mail addresses of other people you want to send the mail to. CC means carbon copy, and the people in these addresses will be able to see each other, along with the original recipients, and vice versa. BCC means blind carbon copy, and these addresses won't be visible to anyone else but the sender
3. The subject of the mail

The body includes all the actual content of the mail:

Body

1. the name of the recipient, his company, job title etc.
2. opening paragraph (self-introduction, greetings etc.)
3. the main part of the mail, the content that you need to communicate
4. ending, usually a set of fixed phrases
5. your contact information

In the "To" field, add the name and company of the recipient, along with an honorific, such as 様. In the "From" field, also add your name and company.

A note on the use of CC and BCC fields

The CC addresses are usually used for those that, although are not the recipients of the conversation, should be kept informed or should be aware of the contents for their own reference. They should be screened out carefully so that they are relevant to the communication, in order not to flood the inbox of too many people with information that is not necessary to them, and also because they and the original recipients are aware of each other.

The information passed on to BCC recipients can save time when the contents should be communicated to multiple parties that are not directly linked to each other, such as the notification of a change in address, or the announcement of a new product etc. The recipients that need to be informed might be from different departments or companies, and so do not need to be aware of each other.

Make the e-mail stand out

A relevant and concise subject is essential for business communication. To further flag a mail as important or requiring a swift reply, a common practice is to put a notice enclosed in parentheses before the subject line. Overuse of such notifications, however, could make the e-mail lose its importance and be treated as just another spam mail.

Examples:

• 「重要」 - important
• 「至急」 - urgent
• 「お知らせ」 - notification
• 「返信不要」 - reply not needed

Replying

When replying to a mail, it is customary not to change the mail subject. However, when the exchange involves a great number of people, there is also an alternate practice of adding your name and company in parentheses after the subject title, to make it easier to sort.