Empress Suiko

Empress Suiko (554-7 March 628) was the first reigning empress of the Yamato kingdom. She had Prince Shoutoku act as regent and encouraged the spread of Buddhism in Japan. She resisted the pressures of the powerful families, including Soga no Umako, who made demands of her, and maintained her independence. Part of her reasoning in country-wide adoption of Buddhism was that it would turn Yamato in a peaceful country. To help achieve that, she issued the Flourishing Three Treasures Edict in 594, and due to her support, important temples were erected, such as Shitennō-ji (present day Osaka, oldest officially administered temple in Japan), Asukadera (Nara), and Hōryū-ji (Nara, the pagoda of the temple is one of the oldest wooden buildings in the world.

Tips for sending Japanese business mail

When sending a mail, it is customary to include in the recipient name's field the company he / she belongs to, the name of the recipient and an honorific.

If the recipient is not a specific person, but a group of people, honorific forms that include groups are used, such as :

• 御中 = Messrs. & Co.
• 各位 = Ladies and Gentlemen 

 Examples:

- for communication between companies and organizations:　「～御中」　

- for groups and messages inside a company: 「～各位」、「～の皆様」

Formality level (from high to low)

Inside the company	Outside the company
鈴木太郎様	～株式会社　営業部部長　鈴木太郎様
鈴木様	～株式会社　営業部　鈴木太郎様
鈴木さま、鈴木さん	～株式会社　鈴木太郎様、鈴木様

 
Opening sentences

Before jumping straight into the matter at hand, there are some standard openings for an e-mail. If writing to someone for the first time, state the fact that this is the first time when you send them a mail, in a polite way:

「初めてメールを送らせていただきます」

If the recipient is someone who you've had exchanges before, use a fixed expression to show appreciation for their previous assitance:

「いつもお世話になっております」

Depending on the situation, you might use different openers:

- if you've had a meeting with the recipient the previous day, thank them for taking the time to see you: 「昨日は貴重なお時間をいただき、ありがとうございました」

- if you've been treated to a meal the day before, thank them for the treat: 「先日はごちそうさまでした」

- in case you need to apologize for a mistake on your part: 「ご面倒をおかけして申し訳ございませんでした」

Getting to the subject

After the opening, you can use certain words such as 「さて」 or 「さっそくですが」 to signify that now you are about to go into the subject of the mail. You begin by outlining your actions and the steps you took for a certain course of action, before requesting what is needed from the recipient.

Examples 

- asking for confirmation: 「確認して返事を下さい」

- requesting a meeting: 「日時 のご指定をお願いします」

Quoting

If you want to answer to some questions in the mail you received, you can copy them from the sender's mail and paste them in your answer, preceded by the > mark. That way you can answer directly to the query in a way that is clear for the other party as well.

> pasted content from the sender's mail
your answer here

Ending

It is impolite to end a mail abruptly. Instead, some fixed phrases are used at the end to conclude the communication:

「どうぞよろしくお願いいたします」

「それではご検討のほど、よろしくお願いします」

「まずはお礼まで」 

PS

There are 2 types of postscript messages that can be inserted after the ending.

「追記」 - content that is not directly related to the main subject. It shouldn't exceed 2-3 lines

「追伸」 -  words that express the concern towards the health of a close person, information useful for the recipient

Signature

In the signature you insert your contact details. These are generally comprised of your own company name, your department and name, the address of the company, the telephone number, fax and e-mail address. You can also include items such as the company website, your mobile phone, or the business hours.

Mail composition tips

• don't skip the opening passage (self-introduction, expressing your gratitude for previous assistance etc.)
• aim for readability (keep lines around 30 characters, don't exceed more than 3-5 lines for paragraphs, don't add too much blank space)
• highlight the important parts (use headings, underlines, bullets, brackets etc.)
• keep the content short  (not long enough to warrant scrolling). If it can't be helped to send a long mail, let the other party know in advance about it (before entering the main content). Use apologetic statements such as 「長文となりますがお許し下さい」 (I apologize for the long e-mail) or 「ご質問についての内容（長文です）」 (Regarding the received questions (long answer) )

The 3 things to keep in mind when writing a business mail are conciseness (keep it short and simple), correctness (don't have any mistakes) and  specificity (address issues that are to the point)

Sending e-mail to a mobile phone

Many Japanese users keep separate e-mail addresses from their mobile providers, which are limited in the amount of data they can receive. Because of this, sending business mail to a mobile mail address is generally avoided, unless there's an emergency. When you have to do it nonetheless, it's a good practice to also CC it to the recipient's company mail address. Keep it short and you can also include some apologies for e-mailing a mobile phone address like 「携帯電話にまでメールをお送りして申し訳ございません」 or 「形態にまで失礼します」

Samurai language - 5 fixed phrases

                             

1) 大儀である　[taigi de aru] 

- approximate meaning: ご苦労さん

- expression used by superiors towards their subordinates as a token of thanks and appreciation for their work and efforts

- its original meaning refers to something tiring and burdensome

彼と交渉するのは大儀だ。

It is a chore to negotiate with him.

お迎え、大儀である。

Thank you for coming all the way to greet me.

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When Uesugi Kagekatsu was summoned by Toyotomi Hideyoshi to the capital, he went and was received by one of Hideyoshi's attendants, whom he thanked for coming to welcome him.

2) 罷り越す 　[makarikosu]

- approximate meaning: 突然の訪問で失礼いたします

- to visit, to call on

- used to apologize for suddenly visiting someone who you are not well acquainted with

少々うかがいたいことがあって、罷り越した。

Please excuse my sudden visit, but there is something I wanted to ask you.

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Because of some out of the ordinary circumstances, a low class samurai had to go to the house of another samurai whom he didn't know, and ask him something. He used this phrase to apologize for the sudden visit

3) 物申す [mono mousu]

- approximate meaning: 物を申し上げる、抗議することがある

- speak, object to, protest against

- it expresses a strong objection

知事の政策に物申す。

I object to the governor's policy.

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When his fiancée was made pregnant by a samurai of a powerful family and she then killed herself, a low class warrior went to the house of the perpetrator's family to protest in anger about the situation.

4) おさおさ [osaosa]

- approximate meaning: めったに（ない）、すこしも

- not ~ at all; not ~ even one bit

- it is used with negative words

用意おさおさ怠りない。

We have left nothing to chance.

5) 御光来 [gokourai]

- visit, presence

- honorific form

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From the Shinsengumi commander, Kondō Isami's letters, it was revealed that he used this honorific towards Watanabe Noboru, a skilled swordsman who came to assist Kondō when challengers apeared at his dojo

The Seventeen Article Constitution of Prince Shōtoku

Translation by W.G. Aston

1.  Harmony is to be valued, and an avoidance of wanton opposition to be honoured. All men are influenced by class-feelings, and there are few who are intelligent. Hence there are some who disobey their lords and fathers, or who maintain feuds with the neighbouring villages. But when those above are harmonious and those below are friendly, and there is concord in the discussion of business, right views of things spontaneously gain acceptance. Then what is there which cannot be accomplished!
2. Sincerely reverence the three treasures. The three treasures, Buddha, the Law and the Priesthood, are the final refuge of the four generated beings, and are the supreme objects of faith in all countries. What man in what age can fail to reverence this law? Few men are utterly bad. They may be taught to follow it. But if they do not betake them to the three treasures, how shall their crookedness be made straight ?
3. When you receive the Imperial commands, fail not to obey them scrupulously. The lord is Heaven, the vassal is Earth. Heaven overspreads, and Earth upbears. When this is so, the four seasons follow their due course, and the powers of Nature obtain their efficacy. If the Earth attempted to overspread, Heaven would simply fall in ruin. Therefore when the lord speaks, the vassal listens; when the superior acts, the inferior complies. Consequently when you receive the Imperial commands, fail not to carry them out scrupulously. Let there be a want of care in this matter and ruin is the natural consequence.
4. The Ministers and functionaries should make decorous behaviour their leading principle, for the leading principle of the government of the people consists in decorous behaviour. If the superiors do not behave with decorum, the inferiors are disorderly: if inferiors are wanting in proper behaviour, there must necessarily be offences. Therefore it is that when lord and vassal behave with propriety, the distinctions of rank are not confused: when the people behave with propriety, the Government of the Commonwealth proceeds of itself.
5. Ceasing from gluttony and abandoning covetous desires, deal impartially with the suits which are submitted to you. Of complaints brought by the people there are a thousand in one day. If in one day there are so many, how many will there be in a series of years? If the man who is to decide suits at law makes gain his ordinary motive, and hears causes with a view to receiving bribes, then will the suits of the rich man be like a stone flung into water while the complaints of the poor will resemble water cast upon a stone. Under these circumstances the poor man will not know where to take their complaints. Here too there is a deficiency in the duty of the Minister.
6. Chastise that which is evil and encourage that which is good. This was the excellent rule of antiquity. Conceal not, therefore, the good qualities of others, and fail not to correct that which is wrong when you see it. Flatterers and deceivers are a sharp weapon for the overthrow of the State, and a pointed sword for the destruction of the people. Sycophants are also fond, when they meet, of dilating to their superiors on the errors of their inferiors; to their inferiors, they censure the faults of their superiors. Men of this kind are all wanting in fidelity to their lord and in benevolence towards the people. From such an origin great civil disturbances arise.
7. Let every man have his own charge and let not the spheres of duty be confused. When wise men are entrusted with office, the sound of praise arises. If unprincipled men hold office, disasters and tumults are multiplied. In this world, few are born with knowledge: wisdom is the product of earnest meditation. In all things, whether great or small, find the right man, and they will surely be well managed. On all occasions, be they urgent or the reverse, meet but with a wise man, and they will of themselves be amenable. In this way will the State be lasting and the Temples of the Earth and of Grain will be free from danger. Therefore did the wise sovereigns of antiquity seek the man to fill the office, and not the office for the sake of the man.
8.  Let the Ministers and functionaries attend the Court early in the morning and retire late. The business of the state does not admit of remissness and the whole day is hardly enough for its accomplishment. If, therefore, the attendance at Court is late, emergencies cannot be met. If officials retire soon, the work cannot be completed.
9. Good faith is the foundation of right. In everything let there be good faith, for in it there surely consists the good and the bad, success and failure. If the lord and the vassal observe good faith one with another, what is there which cannot be accomplished? If the lord and the vassal do not observe good faith tovvards one another, everything without exception ends in failure.
10. Let us cease from wrath and refrain from angry looks. Nor let us be resentful when others differ from us. For all men have hearts, and each heart has its own leanings. Their right is our wrong, and our right is their wrong. We are not unquestionably sages, nor are they unquestionably fools. Both of us are simply ordinary men. How can any one lay down a rule by which to distinguish right from wrong? For we are all, one with another, wise and foolish, like a ring which has no end. Therefore, although others give way to anger, let us on the contrary dread our own faults, and though we alone may be in the right, let us follow the multitude and act like them.
11. Give clear appreciation to merit and demerit and deal out to each its sure reward or punishment. In these days, reward does not attend upon merit nor punishment upon crime. All you high functionaries who have charge of public affairs, let it be your task to make clear rewards and punishments.
12. Let not the provincial authorities or the Kuni no Miyakko levy exactions on the people. In a country there are not two lords; the people cannot have two masters. The sovereign is the master of the people of the whole country. The officials to whom he gives charge are all his vassals. How can they, as well as the Government, presume to levy taxes on the people?
13. Let all persons entrusted with office attend equally to their functions. Owing to their illness or to their being sent on missions, their work may sometimes be neglected. But whenever they become able to attend to business, let them be as accommodating as if they had had cognizance of it from before, and not hinder public affairs on the score of their not having had to do with them.
14. All you ministers and functionaries! Be not envious. For if we envy others, they in turn will envy us. The evils of envy know no limit. If others excel us in intelligence, it gives us no pleasure; if they surpass us in ability, we are envious. Therefore it is not until after a lapse of five hundred years that we at last meet with a wise man, and even in a thousand years we hardly obtain one sage. But if we do not find wise men and sages, how shall the country be governed?
15. To turn away from that which is private, and to set our faces towards that which is public—this is the path of a Minister. Now if a man is influenced by private motives, he will surely feel resentments, and if he is influenced by resentful feelings, he will surely fail to act harmoniously with others. If he fails to act harmoniously with others, he will surely sacrifice the public interests to his private feelings. When resentment arises, it interferes with order, and is subversive of law. Therefore in the first clause it was said that superiors and inferiors should agree together. The purporse of that first clause is the same as this.
16. Let the people be employed (in forced labour) at seasonable times. This is an ancient and excellent rule. Let them be employed, therefore, in the winter months, when they are at leisure. But from Spring to Autumn, when they are engaged in agriculture or with the mulberry trees, the people should not be so employed. For if they do not attend to agriculture, what will they have to eat? If they do not attend to the mulberry trees, what will they do for clothing?
17. Decisions on important matters should not be made by one person alone. They should be discussed with many. But small matters are of less consequence. It is unnecessary to consult a number of people. It is only in the case of the discussion of weighty affairs, when there is a suspicion that they may miscarry, that one should arrange matters in concert with others, so as to arrive at the right conclusion.

Shōtoku Taishi

Prince Shōtoku (574-22 February 622) is credited with the promulgation of the first constitution-like document in Japan. His real name is said to have been Umayadono. From an early age he displayed an uncanny intelligence, and there are stories claiming that at seven he had read a hundred sutras, or that he was able to listen to ten people at the same time and answer them in an accurate manner.

At 19 years he became regent for Empress Suiko. Being a devoted Buddhist, he worked to further spread Buddhism in Japan and founded the Hōryū-ji temple in 607.

Important political contributions

• in 603 he established the Twelve Level Cap and Rank System that encouraged personal merit and excellence, as opposed to the previous system of hereditary privileges 

Twelve Level Cap and Rank System table (Wikipedia)

•  in 604, he promulgated the Seventeen Article Constitution that laid down the virtues and moral foundation that were expected from government officials
• in 607, he sent an envoy to the Sui emperor of China and maintained diplomatic relations with the Chinese

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.

The proper use of e-mail in Japanese

Writing a business mail in Japanese is an art of itself. There are a lot of fixed phrases, rules and things to take into consideration beyond simply communicating the intent of the mail.

Pros and cons of using e-mail

Pros

• easy to use
• one click takes care of the sending
• documents and pictures can be attached
• can be sent at any time and it doesn't put time constraints on the other party
• documents and written matter can be shared
• easy to reply to or forward
• copies are archived and can be kept

Cons

•  easy to make mistakes (sending to the wrong recipient, typing errors)
• it can give a rude or cold impression
• can't be sure if the recipient read it
•  can't know the reaction of the other party
• sensitive information can be leaked
• once sent, it cannot be taken back

Situations when other forms of communication are better

Phone  
- in an emergency, when you need to contact someone and receive an answer immediately
- in a company, when announcing that you'll be late or absent from work

Face to face communication
- when you need to apologize
- when discussing delicate matters

Handwriting, letters or printed matter
- formal communication (contracts, a change of directors etc.)
- important family ceremonies (weddings, funerals etc.)
- apologies or requests

Fax
- news of a person's death and funerals
- mass invites to events