Hello!
Today is one of my best friend’s birthday, and I’m writing her a card.
We’re both Asian, but I’m Chinese and she’s Japanese. I don’t know much japanese, but I occasionally like to end birthday cards in some japanese since I can write some of the characters.
We’ve been close friends since highschool, and we’re now graduating college, and she’s always been such a great influence in my life, and was the first person I came out to when we were teens.
To be absolutely clear, we have no romantic interests in each other, but I absolutely love her and we always end our calls saying it. She’s one of the closest people in my life, and means a lot to me.
What’s a good Japanese ending to a letter/birthday card that could portray this?
11 comments
When you say love in Japanese, you’re not escaping romantic meaning no matter what…
親愛なる○○さんへ
○○ is the name of your friend
You’re going to ruin your friendship if you aren’t careful about this.
○○さん大大大大大大大大大好き！
○○ is the name of your friend
should be fine don’t worry about it
If you always end your calls saying it, why not just end the letter the same way? I’m sure the feelings will get across just fine.
So you both live in the US and normally speak english with each other? Cause if you would normally write it in english and now you write it in japanese instead, she’ll probably get it even if it is usually romantic. She might still cringe though
Say it in English, since that’s already how you are saying it.
I think you’re confusing the english meaning of “I love you” with what it actually means. If a word got multiple meanings in one language its a misconception to think that the same applies for another language.
So I think instead of a direct translation with same words you should instead just look to translate the meaning behind what you want to convey. And like other commenters mentioned I would probably go for something along the lines of 僕の大切な友達
Your friendship seems so sweet
How about 永遠の親友 (えいえん の しんゆう), “best friend forever”?
Love, in Japan, will always mean “love”. But I already saw many girl friends talking to each other and saying 大好き to each other but without any romantic feelings, so idk, maybe between girls this is normal. One of my friends, as example, she always say this when she says goodbye to her best friend after a funny night in Izakaya (we went out together many times already and she ALWAYS says 大好きだよ！またね！).