Japanese Greetings

Greetings through the day

• おはようございます (ohayō gozaimasu): good morning; with friends, just おはよう
• こんにちは (konnichiwa): hello / good afternoon
• こんばんは (konbanwa): good evening
• おやすみなさい (oyasuminasai): good night, said before sleeping

Meeting someone new

The standard self-introduction has three parts: はじめまして (nice to meet you), your name with です, and よろしく お願いします (please treat me kindly).

• はじめまして。リヤです。インドから 来ました。よろしく お願いします。
• — Nice to meet you. I'm Riya. I'm from India. Pleased to meet you.

Saying goodbye

さようなら is a fairly formal goodbye, often used when you won't see someone for a while. With friends, people say じゃあね or またね (see you). At work, you say お先に 失礼します when you leave before others.

Leaving and coming home

• いってきます: I'm off (said by the person leaving)
• いってらっしゃい: see you later (said by the person staying)
• ただいま: I'm home
• おかえりなさい: welcome home

At meals

Before eating, people say いただきます (I humbly receive). After the meal, ごちそうさまでした thanks the cook or host. Both are used at home, with friends and in restaurants.

Thanks and apologies

ありがとう is thank you; ありがとうございます is more polite. すみません means both “excuse me” and “I'm sorry”, and is one of the most useful words in Japan. Use it to call a waiter, get past someone, or apologise for small things.

Bowing

A greeting usually comes with a small bow from the waist. A slight nod is fine with friends; a deeper bow shows more respect, for example when meeting a client or apologising.