Japanese business manners are choreography for reducing uncertainty.
You do not need to imitate every bow. You do need to show that you understand the relationship and the other person’s time. In a first meeting, a calm greeting and a carefully handled 名刺 (meishi · business card) do more work than elaborate gestures.
The opening phrase
After hajimemashite and your name, use yoroshiku onegaishimasu. If you already work with the company, the standard email or meeting greeting is osewa ni natte orimasu — お世話になっております (osewa ni natte orimasu · thank you for your continued support). It acknowledges an ongoing relationship rather than making a literal claim about being “in someone’s care.”
Business cards
Offer your card with both hands, Japanese side facing the recipient if appropriate. Receive theirs with both hands, look at the name, and place it neatly on the table. Do not write on it during the meeting or stuff it into a pocket immediately. In a casual international meeting, these rules soften; attention and respect remain the point.
Seating and timing
The guest is often offered the more comfortable or farther seat, but follow the host’s direction. Arrive early enough to find the room and silence your phone. If you need to interrupt, shitsurei shimasu — 失礼します (shitsurei shimasu · excuse me) — gives the interruption a polite frame.
The honest part
Formal language can hide uncertainty. If you do not understand a deadline or decision, ask for 確認 (kakunin · confirmation): mou ichido kakunin shite mo ii desu ka? Clear questions prevent more trouble than smiling through a meeting.
Email phrases that travel into meetings
Japanese business communication relies on set openings and closings. Osewa ni natte orimasu begins many messages to an existing contact. Gohakkinai no hodo onegaishimasu requests a response by a certain date; go-kakunin kudasai asks the recipient to check something. These formulas can sound stiff when translated, but they make the relationship explicit and reduce ambiguity.
When a meeting ends, honjitsu wa arigatou gozaimashita means “thank you for today,” and shitsurei itashimasu marks your departure in a more formal register. You do not need to produce every phrase perfectly. Recognizing them helps you hear where the conversation is moving: greeting, request, confirmation, and closing. That structure is the real etiquette underneath the vocabulary.
Sources & further reading
For learners, the best business-manner exercise is to write one short message and identify its function: greeting, request, deadline, or closing. Do not translate every formula literally. Ask what the phrase is doing to the relationship. Once that purpose is clear, the polite wording becomes easier to remember and less likely to sound like a copied template.
Japanese-language sources — what Japanese readers read about this, not what's written for visitors.
I write Honne Japan — honest notes on Japanese living, the real thing behind the polite face. One small, un-aesthetic idea each week: Honne Japan on Substack →.