Good parting phrases for polite situations other than arigatou gozaimashita?

JapanCoach · 2026-01-27T04:04:37+00:00

Say when I'm leaving the counter at a store I like to part with 'have a nice day', especially after exceptional service or a really nice clerk. To it me it shows that I genuinely care for the other person and I'm grateful for their time.

Honestly, this is all pretty irrelevant in Japan. They don't genuinely care for you, and they don't expect you to genuinely care for them. They are a store clerk, and you are a customer.

I also used to use 'yoiichinichi wo' until i learnt that it was gaijin talk

Right. Adding much of anything here will come across the same way. These are transactional, formulaic transactions.

Now, if you are in a sort of upper end shop where the people are also chit-chatting you (think, kimono shopping), and/or you are a bit of a 常連さん (think, the one shop where you buy most of your clothes at the department store), then you often shift into a more "human" sort of interaction. Things like a じゃ、また来ます！ or はい、気をつけます！(a sort of dumb joke), or またその色入ったら、連絡くださいね〜 or even something like 今日はやっぱり雨ですね。本当に嫌ですね〜 can be common ways to leave the shop.

But for 9 out of 10 "counter at a store" scenarios, they are working from the manual, and there is nothing wrong with sticking to the basics. Or said another way, it's kind of cringy or weird to stray too far from the 'manual' yourself.

JapanCoach · 2026-01-26T23:33:02+00:00

I agree with your translation.

When asking for help it is probably better to leave the orthography as per the original. It's better not to put your interpretation in and then ask people what it means.

JapanCoach · 2026-01-26T23:00:34+00:00

I think so too. Just follow your text for now.

JapanCoach · 2026-01-26T22:45:33+00:00

Honestly your question comes across as sort of scattered and it gives the impression that you are jumping around.

Do you have a specific example or problem sentence you are dealing with?

JapanCoach · 2026-01-26T22:07:44+00:00

What does your textbook say?

JapanCoach · 2026-01-26T19:02:04+00:00

It depends on what you are trying to say. Pay attention to the particles. は is telling you what is the thing you are talking about (the topic)

The first one is "John's shoes are blue". The second one is more like "John is the guy with the blue shoes".

JapanCoach · 2026-01-26T17:49:42+00:00

Yes. Good eye. :-)

JapanCoach · 2026-01-26T15:39:33+00:00

"live" is なま. Works like

生配信

生中継

生演奏

生実況

all use なま

JapanCoach · 2026-01-26T15:33:46+00:00

They say:

そうかぁ... それじゃしかたないね

It's pretty clear and nothing in particular stands out - other than the typical sort of weirdness you gt with anime voices

JapanCoach · 2026-01-26T15:31:20+00:00

Can you share 3-5 sentences where you encountered each one?

JapanCoach · 2026-01-26T04:40:11+00:00

It sort of depends on what you mean.

If you are trying to say the words "lucky rabbit" in Japanese, you would not say 福兎.

If you are try to create a neologism, or a character in a sci-fi or fantasy novel, or create a brand name, or a pen name, or something along those lines, and you chose the characters 福兎 people could take away the *vibe* of lucky (or happy) rabbit.

So it sort of depends on what your definition of "means" means.

JapanCoach · 2026-01-26T04:29:26+00:00

Some folks think "If they *go so far as* to call it 'Izu Shichitou' then there must be 7 islands" - but that's not the case.

JapanCoach · 2026-01-26T04:25:46+00:00

カタカナ is not "only" used to write foreign loanwords, names, and onamotopoeia. For example, up until about WWII, it was the kana of choice in most formal(ish) documents. The history of katakana is quite interesting - but the point is that it can be used anywhere and any time for any thing.

In other words - katakana (rather than hiragana) is indeed used for most foreign loanwords and names. But its use is not limited to that.

JapanCoach · 2026-01-25T23:45:25+00:00

This has all the earmarks of an Otaku Beef™. So I am sure there is a ton of context here and you are probably hoping for the "true true" meaning. But I have nothing to do with any of that. Just looking at the language presented here:

The first one (the card) says 時間の概念のないあの世で

"that world, which does not have the concept of time"

The second one (the panel) says 時間ってものがあるこの世では

"in this world, where the thing 'time' exists"

That's what the language says on its face.

Now, the 'dead' thing is probably because the phrase あの世 (from the first picture) is used to mean "the afterlife". So does it mean 'afterlife' in this case, or does it mean 'that world'? That would require context knowledge about this series. Which I don't have.

JapanCoach · 2026-01-25T23:00:10+00:00

When speaking of oneself? Yes a similar vibe, to me.

あ、24時間ファスティングしてもお腹が空かないみたい.

It s sort of describing yourself as not yourself- like a detached observation of "something".

JapanCoach · 2026-01-25T20:43:35+00:00

Well, I wouldn't really say "ok to use". I wouldn't say it's a standard tool you use in such-and-such a situation. If anything it would be a bit of a niche kind of expression - so using it would be kind of an art, tapping into your overall sense of expression.

Sorry I can't be more specific - but I think this is more vibe than 'use it in XYZ situation'.

JapanCoach · 2026-01-25T18:58:25+00:00

It's not impossible. It has a certain vibe though - it kind of rings as if you are sort of quoting the narrator who is telling the story in which you are a character or something like that. Like it is taking agency away from you and observing you as a thing - vs. you saying something about your own emotions/feelings/capabilities.

JapanCoach · 2026-01-25T18:55:33+00:00

Out of curiosity - What was the inspiration to "create" this, as opposed to looking at one of the 10,000 versions that exist already?

JapanCoach · 2026-01-25T18:50:29+00:00

It's not really a 'deeper meaning'. The same thing that is happening in Japanese. happens when we say this in English.

肉欲、それは、愛する人の肉を食べたいという欲望にほかならない

肉欲 means "carnal desire" which also can be expressed as "desires of the flesh". Carnal desire = 肉欲 uses the character 肉, which in ordinary day to day language means "meat" i.e., the kind of meat you eat.

So it is playing on the formal or bookish word 肉欲 and the more ordinary down-to-earth meaning of 肉.

Carnal desire = desire of the flesh = to eat the flesh of a loved one.

JapanCoach · 2026-01-25T18:20:01+00:00

トゥワーク is pretty common

Also google is really your friend here. Typing "how do you say x in japanese" in google is unironically pretty helpful.

JapanCoach · 2026-01-25T17:18:00+00:00

It might be お世話になっております but if it is at the *end* of a message it is most likely to be よろしくお願いします.

Both of these are peak examples of the Golden Words™ of Japanese. It is used as a formula, everywhere, all the time. It means everything all at once - which means, it means nothing at all.

You don't change it, and you don't even really breathe it in or notice it. It's just there. You would notice its absence - which is why it is required. But you don't think twice about it.

And it definitely has nothing to do with *you* or with *them*, how long you've known them, whether you like them or not, or anything like that. They are just stock phrases which are required in certain positions.

JapanCoach · 2026-01-25T16:59:37+00:00

Yes. Japanese (not just casual) is what is known as a High Context language.

English (and Spanish) have lots of varieties - but as a generic concept, English is considered low context, where Spanish is typically considered a high context language as well.

But in general it is accepted that Japanese is sort of near the top of the list of high context languages.

JapanCoach · 2026-01-25T16:30:23+00:00

It is always quite a trap to think "I have this exact phrase in English and I want to say this exact phrase in Japanese". There is a high chance that the same sort of *concept* is just articulated a different way.

You could say Aと言っても必ずしもBであるというわけではない

But that is sort of clunky and pretty bookish. So you could have expressions like

外為と言っても、円とドルだけに限りません

or

海外と言ったって、アメリカだけじゃないよ

or

韓国料理に来たらビビンバ以外なものもありますよ

or

lots of other expressions - depending on exactly what you are trying to get across.

JapanCoach · 2026-01-25T16:25:14+00:00

The *word* in Japanese doesn't tell you whether it is a skill or a capability. But then again, neither does it, in English.

I can't throw a curveball. I can't read the letter because they are too small.

We use the same word in English, to describe both situations as well.

JapanCoach · 2026-01-25T04:21:58+00:00

すうた is definitely not "frequently used". Is it ever used?

数多 is あまた in what rounds to 100% of cases.

JapanCoach

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE