JRP Helpline

General Honorifics

-sama This honorific is a high mark of respect, used when other honorifics aren't respectful enough or as a way of teasing between close friends.

-tono/-dono More common in writing than in speaking, this honorific can be used to indicate respect between high ranked individuals. It is generally agreed that -dono is a lower respect level than -sama, although not universally.

-sensei An honorific of respect for certain authority figures, such as doctors, teachers, and lawyers, as well as highly skilled artisans and martial artists. Like -senpai, -sensei can also be used as a noun and paired with other honorifics.

-shi In theory, this honorific is more commonly used in writing than in conversation as a way of showing a standard of respect in referring to a person the speaker/writer hasn't actually met. Preferred over -san for formal writing where other, higher level honorifics are not appropriate.

Familial Honorifics

-nii/-nee Indicates older brother/sister respectively. Can be combined with other honorifics to show more or less formality/intimacy with the other person. Oniisan/Oneesan are commonly used for strangers who are young adults, especially for younger speakers.

-oji/oba Uncle/aunt. Like -nii/nee, -oji/-oba can be combined with other honorifics for more or less formality. Ojisan/Obasan are commonly used for strangers who are middle-aged adults.

-tousan/-kaasan Father/Mother. The roots are actually -tou and -kaa, but they are always paired with -san, -sama, or a derivation of those as a sign of respect.

-jii/-baa Grandfather/Grandmother, often paired with -chan or similar diminutive to show affection. Ojiisan/Obaasan are commonly used for elderly strangers.

Cute Honorifics

-chan Diminutive of -san, -chan started as babyspeak but is now an accepted “proper” honorific for young women. Use of this honorific can also take the place of a term of endearment, since it indicates affection, cuteness, and endearment.

-tan Diminutive of -chan, this honorific is even more cuteness and affectionate. Often used for anthropomorphisms, such as the OS-tans.

-chama Diminutive of -sama, affectionate and cutesy, but could be interpreted as demeaning and offensive in the wrong context.

-tama Diminutive of -chama, even more affectionate and cutesy, but also capable of being seen as offensive in the wrong context.

Archaic Honorifics

You might never run into these honorifics at all, but they're worth noting, because you never know, you just might.

-ue Though rarely used as an honorific, it still sometimes appears in conjugations such as hahaue (honored mother).

no kimi Historically used to indicate a member of the Court (eg Hikaru no kimi), if it is seen now, outside of historical dramas, it is most likely in love letters a man might write to a woman

Changes in Honorifics

Ok, now for the other Big Question we've been asked: how does one know which honorific to use and can they ever change? As we noted last time, in a real world situation, -san is always the safe choice. In our admittedly biased opinion, this is still the safe choice when opening a dialogue with someone you don't otherwise know from Steve. It is, after all, a very Japanese thing to opt for more polite over less~

(So why not go to -sama, you ask? Because that can be too easily read as potentially mocking, especially in the semi-casual context of internet conversations. Unless your muse is working in a service industry and Muse B is a customer, better to stick with -san. And definitely don't use any of the cutesy honorifics until given permission, unless you're trying to pick a fight.)

In the context of JRP, many of the people your muse(s) will meet will be musicians. If your muse is a fresh young face in the music scene, those others are going to be largely senpai to one degree or another. In Japanese, the convention is to use (stage name)-senpai or just senpai with your seniors until one is given explicit permission to use something else. As one progresses in the business and gains kouhai of one's own, the convention is to call them (stage name)-san or (stage name)-kun for inside one's own company, while one's peers continue to be (stage name)-san. Moreover, one's senpai continue to be one's senpai, even after ten, fifteen, twenty years in the same company. Changes in a senpai-kouhai relationship will always come from the senpai side, but even after a senpai grants a kouhai permission to change honorifics, senpai remains respected as senpai. The linguistic convention is to continue with these rules until the senior partner in a pairing gives permission for a change. So for example, in a context where Kazuki is junior to Shinya, Kazuki would continue to call him Shinya-senpai until Shinya gave him explicit permission to call him something (specific) else.

School classmates address each other mostly as (name)-kun. As childhood friends move into other contexts, the use of -kun will continue with some drifting into the cutesy honorifics as shows of intimacy. So for example, given Mitsuki and Takemasa have been friends since high school, it wouldn't be strange for Mitsuki to call Takemasa “Take-chan,” especially in a teasing context.

Because not everyone comes to the music industry at the same age, one may encounter a situation where a musician who is older than another is technically kouhai to the younger one because the younger musician has been with the company and business longer. Politeness would dictate that the younger therefore be addressed as -senpai, however social mores would pressure the younger to offer the use of -san or -kun to the elder in short order. As an example, when Gazette signed with PSC, Miyavi, who had been with the company for awhile already, was their senpai in the company, even though he is younger than Aoi.

In a dating context, a man may use -chan on his girlfriend while she is still using -san on him. Indeed, a woman married to her husband for ten years could still be calling him (name)-san, if not Tousan (to reflect that he is the father of her children). As a general trend, women speak in a more polite form than men, although this trend is slowly changing.

Reflecting Changes in Honorifics in Your RP

As we noted in the previous lesson, there is no one right way agreed by all players on how to handle honorifics in JRP. What feels natural and appropriate to you may not to someone else. Linguistically, an honorific-less name would be far too intimate for use in anything but a private setting. However, in RP contexts, dropped honorifics could mean anything from a -kun level friendship to long-term lovers and the specific meaning will change depending on the mun doing or asking for the dropping. Therefore, our best advice is to find what works best for you and keep communication channels open so your partners know which conventions you're using.

And with that, we do believe we have covered the basics on honorifics! If we've missed something or not fully answered your question, please do let us know!

Conventions of Use

When you are actually speaking and/or writing in Japanese, names are almost never used without some form of honorific attached. A completely naked name would be a level of intimacy inappropriate to being shared outside the house in most cases. When in doubt, the use of -san is generally accepted as correct.

In the context of JRP (and Japanese speakers in other realms of RP), conventions are a bit different, so it's important to be observant. Unlike when you're speaking in language, our RP verses, be they in English, Spanish, Russian, or what have you, are acts of translation - in other words, you're using English (or Spanish or Russian or bongo beats*) to represent Japanese. Translation, especially between two unrelated languages, is something of an art, rather than a strict science, which is why machine translations can be a bit ... hinky or downright nonsensical. As such, there are a couple competing conventions you may need to consider. Some people find tagging every single name with an honorific every single time to be cumbersome and opt to either drop them altogether or only use them sparingly. Others are more particular about their use, especially between casual contacts. There have been a great many arguments over which is correct and, at the end of the day, the truth is both are equally valid. It comes down to context and preference, the same as any other translation job. So the key, then, is open communication so all parties are on the same page.

Foreigners and Honorifics

Foreigners (gaijin**) in Japan are often stereotyped as arrogantly incompetent or well-meaning but inept, meaning many native speakers have low expectations of foreigners' ability to use Japanese correctly. As such, a gaijin using an improper conjugation or the wrong honorific is seen as typical and, if not necessarily given a pass, at least not treated as harshly as a native. The perhaps obvious exception would be for nikkei, diaspora Japanese on return visits to Japan.

What does this mean for your non-Japanese PC or NPC? It is possible for a gaijin resident to live for years in Japan and not progress far or at all in learning the language, but doing so will tend to annoy others and be seen as a bad reflection of one's character. Allowances are made for gaijin, but those who actively try to learn and improve are more likely to be encouraged.

Basic Honorifics

There are literally dozens of possible honorifics, from the common -san to the archaic -ue to the profession-specific -senshu and many, many more. We will cover more of them in the next lesson, but for starters, we'll go with the three one is most likely to encounter in JRP: -san, -kun, and -senpai.

-san When in doubt, -san is nearly always the safest choice of honorific. In formal writing, -san is typically translated as Mr. or Ms., though it is also used in less formal contexts where, in English, the use of those titles would be seen as overly formal. Gender neutral, class neutral, and occupation neutral, it's only considered incorrect where it's obvious another honorific would be more appropriate (e.g., -sensei for a doctor or teacher).

-kun Students are usually introduced to -kun as the honorific used for young boys, but it's actually not as strictly gendered as that. -kun is used between friends, classmates, and co-workers, as well as by seniors (senpai) speaking to their juniors (kouhai). Depending on context, it is a mark of respect and/or closeness. And yes, despite those early lessons, -kun is rightfully used for women, a mark of respect and seeing her as an equal of her peers.

-senpai In school, those students in the grade(s) above you are your senpai. After school, when one is employed by Company K, those who have been at the company longer then become one's senpai, while those who work for rival Company J, regardless of company standing, do not.

In JRP, senpai is usually extended beyond just one's own label, recognizing the hard work other artists have (presumably) put in to being musicians. The use of senpai is not technically linked to the age of the person to whom one is referring, but rather to the number of years that person has been a (professional) working musician. As such, it is possible for a younger musician to be senpai to an older one, though this can introduce special circumstances (we'll get into that more next time).

next lesson: In the next lesson, we'll discuss even more honorifics, as well as covering when to use each of them and when and how a person's honorific can change. We'll cover both how life events change honorifics as a linguistic matter and some options in how to reflect those changes in your RP.