Continuing the theme of social standing, another interesting facet of Japanese society is how people are called only by their title even when away from work or even after quitting their job!
For example, each office in a company generally has one \u8ab2\u9577 (kachou, section chief). When subordinate staff talk to or about him, they will call him \u8ab2\u9577, instead of his name. This is generally true even if they meet for drinks after work, or some other relaxed setting. And a \u6821\u9577\u5148\u751f (kouchou sensei, school principal) will always be called \u6821\u9577\u5148\u751f, long after he quits the job to tend to his flowers.<\/p>\n
Foreigners working as English teachers in Japan experience this sometimes, when people who they\u2019ve never taught refer to them directly as \u5148\u751f (sensei, teacher). Women who are obviously married (whether because of wedding ring, or just attitude) will often be called \u5965\u3055\u3093 (okusan, literally “wife”), almost the Japanese equivalent of \u201cmadam\u201d, by shop staff and salesmen. Other people in a store will be called \u304a\u5ba2\u69d8 (okyakusama, customer) to their faces, as in \u300c\u304a\u5ba2\u69d8\u3001\u3053\u3061\u3089\u306e\u7a93\u53e3\u3067\u304a\u9858\u3044\u3057\u307e\u3059\u3002\u300d (\u201cOkyakusama, kochira no madoguchi de onegai shimasu\u201d, \u201cSir\/Madam, I\u2019ll help you at this window”).<\/p>\n
It can often seem somewhat cold to a native English speaker to call a person by their job title rather than name, especially after you\u2019ve become friends with them. But in Japan, it\u2019s what\u2019s expected of you. The good thing is, it means you don\u2019t have to remember everybody\u2019s name, as long as you can remember their title!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
| Continuing the theme of social standing, another interesting facet of Japanese society is how people are called only by their title even when away from work or even after quitting their job!For example, each office in a company generally has one \u8ab2\u9577 (kachou, section chief). When subordinate staff talk to or about him, they…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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