Summary
Highlights
Tezuka, a Japanese teacher, introduces a guide to writing business emails in Japanese. She emphasizes the fixed structure of these emails, which, once learned, enables users to write professional communications like native speakers.
The video outlines the seven key elements of a Japanese business email: subject, recipient's name, greeting, self-introduction, summary, main content, closing greeting, and signature.
The subject line is crucial in Japanese emails as people often glance at it before deciding to read. Clear and concise subjects are paramount, using phrases like "About N (noun)", "N matter", "N contact", "N's request", "N's thank you", or "N's consultation" to convey the email's purpose effectively.
The body of the email starts with the recipient's company, department, and name, always adding "sama" for politeness. Greetings and self-introductions vary based on whether the email is internal (e.g., "Thank you for your hard work") or external (e.g., "I am always indebted to you. I am Yuki Tezuka from XX company.").
A summary of the email's purpose and reason should follow the greeting, using phrases like "I've contacted you for XX" or "I've emailed you about XX." The main content should be clear, concise, and can utilize bullet points for readability, especially for details like dates, times, and participants.
The email concludes with a polite closing greeting, which also varies depending on the recipient. For example, internal emails might end with "I'm sorry to trouble you, but thank you," while external emails could use "I'm sorry for your busy schedule, but thank you for your cooperation." The signature block should include the company name, department, title, contact person, address, phone/fax number, email, and website URL, adhering to company specific formats.
An example email for arranging a meeting with an external business partner is presented, demonstrating the practical application of all the steps: a clear subject, proper recipient and self-introduction, a concise summary, itemized meeting details, polite closing, and a complete signature.
The video concludes by inviting viewers to ask questions in the comments for further clarification or specific scenarios and encourages them to like the video and subscribe to the channel for more content.