Writing Letters in Japanese by Kikuko TatematsuReview by: Aileen GattenThe Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese, Vol. 27, No. 2 (Nov., 1993), pp. 281-284Published by: American Association of Teachers of JapaneseStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/488931 .

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Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese

WRITING LETTERS IN JAPANESE, by Kikuko Tatematsu et al. (Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies). Tokyo: The Japan Times, 1992. Pp. x + 142. ?1,800 (paper).

Reviewed by Aileen Gatten

Writing a letter in Japanese can spell high anxiety for many of us. The language of formal letters is forbiddingly honorific: the idea of unwittingly being too casual or too polite (and so insulting) can unnerve even the most fluent speakers of Japa- nese. A Westerner faced with writing letters in Japanese usually has two choices: to employ a translator, or to learn to write letters through trial and error, emulating Japanese letters received, and deciphering Japanese letter-writing manuals.

That is, unless one has attended the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies in Yokohama, where letter- writing is taught. Tegami no kakikata, the manual used in that course, now appears in a revised, expanded translation by Jon McGovern as Writing Letters in Japanese. This useful volume may not eliminate every epistolary insecurity, but it provides enough knowledge to enable literate, non-native Japanese speakers to tackle Japanese letter-writing with some confidence.

Writing Letters begins with the basics: letter and envelope formats, levels of formality, and set expressions (including sea- sonal greetings, de rigueur in most letters). The rest of the book deals with practical applications: letters of congratulation, con- cern, and condolence, requests, thank-you letters, announce- ments, invitations, apologies, cover letters, and letters dealing with employment. Sample letters, many handwritten but easily legible, are included for all categories; each sample is followed by a translation and, usually, notes. The intended readership is Westerners residing in Japan, specifically graduate students and business people. (The authors state that they specifically omit business letters "because they have their own special set of vocabulary and writing styles" [p. viii], but examples of the genre do appear in the job-seeking section.)

The Japanese authors of Writing Letters take an optimistic view of the task: "Since Japanese letters are based on set rules,

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282 Volume 27, Number 2

they are easy to learn how to write; the student need only to [sic] follow these rules and to [sic] study letter examples in order to be able to write good letters" (p. 2). There is a catch in this sunny statement: the rules are complicated, involving careful tuning of the correspondents' relative social statuses, and the letters are full of the special vocabulary and grammatical forms reserved largely for letter-writing. The Japanese letter can be seen as an easily-reassembled kit of parts only if major cultural factors are taken into account.

The conscientious authors of Writing Letters mention such items as the necessity of hand-writing, not word-processing, letters, and of making one's letter to a superior at least two pages long. Such rules are easy enough to follow; others are less so. "When congratulating superiors, you should carefully choose your words so as to not [sic] sound patronizing" (p. 34); "Use caution when praising a superior .... [S]ome expressions that would be considered impolite are . . . 'Your [the teacher's] lecture was very interesting"' (p. 60); "Avoid overusing a lot of ornate expressions" (p. 70); "Simply just [sic] emphasizing your strong points, rather than persuading the employer, might have the negative effect of making you seem too pushy" (p. 117). None of these rules can be followed unless the writer-to-be already knows what sounds patronizing, uppity, excessively polite, or pushy to the Japanese. The sample letters suggest that pushiness or condescension is very much in the eye of the letter-reader, a point that seems to have escaped the authors of Writing Letters in Japanese.

The Euro-American letter is designed to convey the writer's message while respecting the boundaries of the recipient. Espe- cially in writing formal letters, writers are taught not to express their opinions or feelings or to intrude into the recipient's emotions, private life, or future plans beyond the limits set by the circumstances addressed in the letter. A letter thanking an elderly couple for a dinner party, for example, is not to contain the writer's amazement at how well the couple manages to en- tertain despite their age, or a suggestion that the couple invite the writer again in the near future.

To judge from the examples in Writing Letters, the Japanese letter seems to have a radically different focus: to show a warm,

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Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese

even familial concern for the recipient. This may require vio- lating the boundaries described above. Consider the following situations.

1. A student, congratulating a professor on his/her seventi- eth birthday, expresses surprise, contrasting the professor's age with his/her good health, sprightliness, and vigor.

2. Tom McLennan, writing to his superior, Mr. Morita, in the hospital, speculates that Mr. Morita became ill from over- work, and cautions him to take better care of his health in the future. Mr. McLennan adds that he may visit Mr. Morita if he has the time.

3. A social inferior sends a gift of peaches. In the cover letter, the writer wonders whether the recipient will like them.

4. John writes his friend Yuko, thanking her for including him on a recent hiking trip. He concludes by asking her to be sure to invite him the next time she plans an excursion.

I am willing to believe that Japanese recipients would wel- come such letters as polite and appropriate. In that respect, the authors of Writing Letters have done an excellent job. But the attitude of Western letter-writers has been overlooked: most of us need to be encouraged to overcome an inborn aversion to sending influential people letters that we read as intrusive, rude, or insinuating.

In other words, if we are to write proper Japanese letters, we must translate more than language and follow rules not stated in Writing Letters in Japanese. Although its authors cannot be expected to bridge the chasm of Japanese-Western communica- tion in a letter-writing manual, they would have done well to warn unwary readers that there is a significant difference be- tween a polite letter in Japanese and one in English. What a Japanese reads as esteem, a Westerner may find patronizing. (This is true of conversation too: how many have been offend- ed when a Japanese acquaintance, trying hard to be polite, ex- presses admiration over our ability to speak or read Japanese?) Concern can be misinterpreted by Westerners as presumptu- ousness or thinly veiled resentment.

Jon McGovern is a competent translator who needs to be more sensitive to nuances of grammar, style, and tone. "Ikaga de irasshaimasu ka/irasshaimasu desho ka" is consistently

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Volume 27, Number 2 Volume 27, Number 2

translated as "How are you doing?" and "Ikaga osugoshi de irasshaimasu ka" as "How are things?" "Odenwa sasete itadaki- masu" becomes "I'll give you a call," and "D6zo yoi otoshi o omukae ni narimasu yo oinori moshiagemasu" is "I hope you have a great new year." The English suggests a student speaking casually to an equal, not the starched good manners of the Japanese text.

Considering its origins as a student manual, I am not sur- prised that Writing Letters in Japanese is directed at student concerns: asking a professor for a letter of recommendation, say, or thanking someone for finding the writer a part-time job. Still, letter-writing goes on-yea, increases-beyond graduate school. Older readers would welcome sample letters for aca- demics, including a letter of recommendation for a former student and a letter to the editor of a Japanese journal that is publishing the writer's article.

This book makes it as easy as it will ever be for non-Japa- nese to write proper Japanese letters. I highly recommend obtaining a copy before the angst of writing Christmas and New Year's greetings is upon us.

JAPANESE STREET SLANG, by Peter Constantine. New York and Tokyo: Tengu Books (distributed by Weatherhill), 1992. Pp. xxiv + 190. $9.95 (paper).

Reviewed by Hiroshi Nara

If you are hungry for "edutainment" and a look into the nether world in the Japanese language, this book might fill that order. Many of the slang words in the book are, in the author's words, "potent" and if used inadvertently, "mass panic might ensue." Potent they are and the fainthearted may not have the courage to peek into the book. Some entries appear simply harmless, such as the useful ichimon nashi "penniless" and the

translated as "How are you doing?" and "Ikaga osugoshi de irasshaimasu ka" as "How are things?" "Odenwa sasete itadaki- masu" becomes "I'll give you a call," and "D6zo yoi otoshi o omukae ni narimasu yo oinori moshiagemasu" is "I hope you have a great new year." The English suggests a student speaking casually to an equal, not the starched good manners of the Japanese text.

Considering its origins as a student manual, I am not sur- prised that Writing Letters in Japanese is directed at student concerns: asking a professor for a letter of recommendation, say, or thanking someone for finding the writer a part-time job. Still, letter-writing goes on-yea, increases-beyond graduate school. Older readers would welcome sample letters for aca- demics, including a letter of recommendation for a former student and a letter to the editor of a Japanese journal that is publishing the writer's article.

This book makes it as easy as it will ever be for non-Japa- nese to write proper Japanese letters. I highly recommend obtaining a copy before the angst of writing Christmas and New Year's greetings is upon us.

JAPANESE STREET SLANG, by Peter Constantine. New York and Tokyo: Tengu Books (distributed by Weatherhill), 1992. Pp. xxiv + 190. $9.95 (paper).

Reviewed by Hiroshi Nara

If you are hungry for "edutainment" and a look into the nether world in the Japanese language, this book might fill that order. Many of the slang words in the book are, in the author's words, "potent" and if used inadvertently, "mass panic might ensue." Potent they are and the fainthearted may not have the courage to peek into the book. Some entries appear simply harmless, such as the useful ichimon nashi "penniless" and the

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