[Guide] Roleplaying Japanese/Someone from Japan

While Japanese RP is somewhat uncommon, I rarely see it actually done with Japanese culture in mind. The goal of this guide is so that more people are aware of how some portions of Japanese culture work, and how to make your roleplay more authentic to someone from Japan.

Disclaimer: While I do know a good bit about Japan, I'm not an expert. I may not know every side to everything here, and I definitely don't know everything about Japan.

I. Referring to Others Properly

I can't stress enough how important respect and showing proper respect is in Japan, using the wrong honorific or no honorific at all can be a deal-breaker for certain Japanese people as soon as you're introduced to them, and you may give them the wrong impression of you very quickly. This mainly is in reference to roleplaying with other players who are playing a Japanese character, and many of these conventions could be dropped with non-Japanese characters. If you don't want to RP a Japanese character in depth, at least make sure you skim Honorifics and Name Usage as at least proper Name Usage is a must.

Ia. Honorifics

In Japan, they have a concept known as "honorifics" being used with names. While you may have heard many of these before, you might not be familiar with the term. An honorific is a word appended to the end of someone's name, a good example of this would be "Yamada-san". Below is a listing of some(but not all!) common honorifics used in Japan for you to utilize in your RP, as a bonus I've added Hiragana(ひらがな) characters to show how it is written in Japan without using Kanji.

san　(さん） - Just about literally translates to Mr/Mrs/Ms, it is a respectful way to refer to most individuals in general.

chan　(ちやん) - Chan is used to refer to young children(Normally under the age of 12 or so) and to girls. Children may be referred with the -chan honorific regardless of gender, and it is common for young children to refer to each other or many adults with -chan. It may be considered offensive to refer to a grown woman you do not know well as -chan, being that it essentially means "Cute little...". May be fine if referring to your friend, however.

kun　(くん) - Generally used to refer to a man/boy. I suggest using -san until you are somewhat well acquainted as -kun is not as respectful as -san.

sama　(さま) - This is used as a term of great respect towards a boss or deity, reserve this for the highest of the high as it shows great superiority to yourself.

dono　(どの) - Akin to saying "milord" or similar. Is a term of great respect, however not as high as sama.

bucho　(ぶちょ) - "Boss" or "Chief" of something. This is a job-related honorific.

sensei　(せんせい) - Literally means "teacher". This may apply to any sort of teacher, and is not only limited to martial arts or normal school teachers.

Honorifics are used until a close friendship between two people is formed where neither party really minds if respect is shown or not. Unless it is in the preference of the person being spoken to, don't use an honorific with their first name as it generally doesn't make much sense. More on that in Ib.

Ib. Name Usage & Introducing Yourself

In Japan, the common way to give someone your name is by using your family name(last name), then your given name(first name). For example if Jin Ooishi were introducing himself, he might say "Hello, I am Ooishi Jin" as opposed to "Jin Ooishi". This might be something to keep in mind when talking to others RPing a Japanese character, but is more optional around other San Andreas residents. For respect and generally not looking like an arrogant individual, you should never use honorifics when referring to yourself. People who use honorifics in reference to themselves, especially more respectful ones such as -sama, are seen as arrogant in Japan and generally do not come off well to strangers.

To expand on the note I made at the end of Honorifics, one should refrain from referring to another Japanese character by their given name, and instead use their last name until you are both comfortable. The use of given names is something that generally comes, as with dropping honorifics, with a close and generally lasting relationship(significantly closer than dropping the honorifics themselves). The use of a given name between individuals usually signifies that they are lovers or best friends. Again, this is something that you may drop in conversation with other San Andreas residents, but take somewhat seriously with other Japanese characters. It may not be unreasonable however, to ask for others to refer to you by last name, or to ask the other party to refer to you with an honorific like -san.

II. Common Japanese Words & Linguistic Notes

IIa. Common Japanese Words

If you wish to add further authenticity similarly to how people RPing Mexicans use Mexican slang, you can opt to use Japanese words in your RP. However I suggest to not use these in the middle of sentences, and leave them as one-offs with the words below as suggestions. Here are a few common Japanese words with Hiragana versions:

Konnichiwa (こんにちわ) - Hello or Good Afternoon

Moshi moshi (もしもし) - Hello or Hey, almost exclusively used on the phone. Don't use this in person if you don't want to look weird.

Ohayō gozaimas(u) (おはようございます) - Translates to "Good Morning". While there is a present 'u' sound at the end, it is not pronounced.

Konbanwa (こんばんわ) - Good evening

Oyasuminasai (おやすみなさい) - Good night

Arigato (ありがと） - Thank you or Thanks.

Domo Arigato (どもありがと) - Thank you very much

Onegai (おねがい) - Please / Good luck (Contextual)

Des(u) (です) - Not actually used as a word in a sentence, but more similarly to a period. Unless you're saying full sentences in Japanese, you shouldn't use desu. This is mainly here to warn against it's use, not promote it in the context of NGG as it simply doesn't work here. Derivative of De-Arimas(u) (であります） with the same usage, just shortened.

Sumimasen (すみません） - Excuse me / I'm Sorry. Mainly used as 'Excuse me' when you, for instance, step on someone's foot, or to get their attention.

Gomennasai (ごめんなさい) - Sorry (Apologetic)

hai (はい) - Yes

Ie (いえ） - No(as in No, not at all, definitive 'no'). Pronounced like "E eh"

Chigou (ちごう) - Another form of "No", however has slightly different usage from Ie.

Nihon(go) (にほん(ご)) - Japan(nihon), or the Japanese Language(nihongo). When used in a sentence, nihongo is generally made into nihongoga.


Possibly more stuff to be added here in the future if anyone is curious about anything not mentioned here, drop a post and I might add the answer to your question or your suggestion here.