Yesterday was yet another holiday here in Singapore... Hari Raya Haji. It is a Muslim celebration held annually in February but counted as the 12th month of the Islamic calendar. The pilgrims perform the pilgrimage to the Islamic sacred city of Mecca. Male pilgrims are given the title of Haji, while female pilgrims Hajjah. The highlight of the celebration is the sacrifice of a goat or buffalo (which later would be given to the poor) as gratitude to Allah (Muslim God). This is done at dawn after which they chant prayers at the mosque. Muslim families also visit each others' homes during this festival.



Papa's still in Japan... *sigh*... and tomorrow's Valentine's Day. Anyway, when Papa was preparing for this seminar, he was exchanging emails with their office in Japan to coordinate preparing materials, equipments and stuff. In the emails, he was addressed as 'Jay San' and the co-respondent was 'Ikagami San'. At first I thought adding 'san' to their names was like calling them brothers or something, and then I saw that the emails were copied to 'Jo San' and Papa copied me an email sent to Antonia mentioning that "she better email 'Mariko San' because he told her she would"... Jo is a female staff in the Singapore office and I gathered as much about Mariko too... so now I'm at a loss.



With my curiosity hightened, I searched for the answer and this is what I learned... and more.

Unless being intenionally rude (or referring to a foreigner thus using a different edicit) all Japanese affix a suffix to names of people they address. It is roughly the equvalent to "Mr." but each term has different shades of meaning and establishes hieararchy. eg: Mister Smith= Smith San. They are attached to both first and last names though reffering to someone by thier first name is rare except in the most casual situations. There is also a tendency to refer to a person by his position rather than name as well. For example, Morita Sensei, will often just be called "Sensei" by inferiors. 'Kocho' means boss and is oft times used in lieu of the bosses' name.

From most polite to least:



'Sama' - like 'my lord', highly honorific... Used to betters, customers and in the old days those in higher station. (e. g. "Fujimori Sama")
'Sensei' - Used for teachers, artsists of repute, notable public figures. Can be condescending if used wrong.
'San'- most neutral.... Said to equals or strangers. (e. g. "Yamada San"). most likely to not offend unless the Emperor of Japan saddles up to you and you inadvertantly use this.
'Kun' - Used by close friends. Also reserved for referring to young boys. Informal. (e. g. "Morita Kun")
'Chan' - highly informal... Used by mothers to children, "pet" names and for young females. Girls will call their boyfriends this as a pet name.(e. g. "Ai-chan")

Okay, now I'm an enlightened person. Just one more thing though...

Will somebody tell me who the hell is M.Y. San?