As a rule of thumb, in Japanese business life, the surname name is always followed by the honorific suffix “san” (meaning “dear” or actually “honorable Mr/Ms.”). There are of course many other options such as “sama” (highly revered customer or company manager) or “sensei” (Dr. or professor).

As you may know, Japanese society values hierarchy and someone of higher status may drop the honorific title. San, the most common one, could be translated as “Mr.”, “Mrs.” and “Ms.” and is gender neutral.

–San (さん), the most common honorific, equivalent to “Mr.” or “Mrs.” It’s a title of respect between equals, so it’s okay to use for anyone, especially if you are not sure which honorific to use. It can also be attached to occupation names. For example, ‘bookstore (本屋) + san (さん) = “bookseller” (本屋さん). ‘

In Japanese business settings, people usually call each other by their last names plus the suffix –san. In more conservative companies, people are often addressed by their titles rather than their names, such as bucho-san for a department head. Seldom would first names be used in business in Japan.

Using “San” expresses one’s caring for others. Therefore, it is recommended to use “San” in any type of situations. “Kun(君)” is usually used for boys, especially the younger ones. On the contrary, “Chan” is for girls. So very close friends use “Chan” to call each other even if they are boys.

1 : conferring or conveying honor honorific titles. 2 : belonging to or constituting a class of grammatical forms used in speaking to or about a social superior.

Kun (君【くん】) is generally used by people of senior status addressing or referring to those of junior status, or it can be used when referring to men in general, male children or male teenagers, or among male friends. For example, -kun can be used to name a close personal friend or family member of any gender.

San in Japanese As I said earlier, -さん (-san) in Japanese means “Mr.”, “Mrs.”, or “Ms.” It’s gender neutral and is used regardless of marital status, which makes it easy! It’s the honorific most often used.

Using Japanese Honorific Titles (E.g. San, Sama, Kun and Chan) San (さん), Sama (さま), Kun (くん) and Chan (ちゃん) Concept of 呼び捨て (Yobisute) Other Japanese Honorific Titles. If you have heard san, sama, kun and chan before, then you know that in Japan, you just simply do not call people by their names! Or you would be very rude.

Japanese Honorific suffixes are titles used to refer to others in a polite way. さん (San), 様 (Sama), 君 (Kun), ちゃん (Chan) are common Japanese honorific titles used in daily conversation.

Deities such as native Shinto kami and Jesus Christ are referred to as kami -sama, meaning “Revered spirit -sama “. When used to refer to oneself, -sama expresses extreme arrogance (or self-effacing irony), as in praising oneself to be of a higher rank, as with ore-sama (俺様, “my esteemed self”).