Because I’ve watched a lot of Japanese dramas and movies and I noticed that most of the characters called their classmates, their colleagues and even their bf/gf by their last names.
Colleagues = last name with honorific, friends or closer = first name or nickname.
Japanese uses last names for all relationships by default, period. First names are for some kind of additional special relationship.
This “special” relationship can take many forms. Family is usually first name. Close romantic relationships are usually first name. Young children tend to use first name with their friends and then may feel it’s weird to “downgrade” to last name as adults. With older friends, it depends on how close you are, how long you’ve known them, etc.
There’s a lot of nuance, but the overriding point is that last names are the default without some specific reason to use first name, and it’s not something you just unilaterally decide to do on your own.
There is one added wrinkle, however: many Japanese are taught that Westerners use first names for everything by default. And so in order to make you comfortable, they will change to using first names around you. This can give you a skewed sense of how names are actually used in Japan.
Really depends on our work situation as well. If you are teaching English in after school classes or you are teaching in places like kindergartens, than mostly first names will be used. In all other situations I think it’s mainly last names. But as a foreigner, many people may talk to you using your first name, as a response just keep using their last name unless they say you can use their first name.
As for friends, I guess it really depends on the kind of friends haha Mostly first name bases if you know the other person well enough. Using the last name always happens at first, unless you know each other from elementary school.
PS: This is just what I understand of the whole naming situation here in Japan. Been living here for 3+ years and this is kind of what I picked up on it. 😉
3 comments
Colleagues = last name with honorific, friends or closer = first name or nickname.
Japanese uses last names for all relationships by default, period. First names are for some kind of additional special relationship.
This “special” relationship can take many forms. Family is usually first name. Close romantic relationships are usually first name. Young children tend to use first name with their friends and then may feel it’s weird to “downgrade” to last name as adults. With older friends, it depends on how close you are, how long you’ve known them, etc.
There’s a lot of nuance, but the overriding point is that last names are the default without some specific reason to use first name, and it’s not something you just unilaterally decide to do on your own.
There is one added wrinkle, however: many Japanese are taught that Westerners use first names for everything by default. And so in order to make you comfortable, they will change to using first names around you. This can give you a skewed sense of how names are actually used in Japan.
Really depends on our work situation as well. If you are teaching English in after school classes or you are teaching in places like kindergartens, than mostly first names will be used. In all other situations I think it’s mainly last names. But as a foreigner, many people may talk to you using your first name, as a response just keep using their last name unless they say you can use their first name.
As for friends, I guess it really depends on the kind of friends haha Mostly first name bases if you know the other person well enough. Using the last name always happens at first, unless you know each other from elementary school.
PS: This is just what I understand of the whole naming situation here in Japan. Been living here for 3+ years and this is kind of what I picked up on it. 😉