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Japanese Titles
WelcomeIn Japanese, like other languages, uses a broad array of titles for addressing or referring to people with respect. In Japanese, these forms of address follow a person's name in the manner of a suffix. The most common—and well-known outside Japan—is san, which semantically coincides roughly with the courtesy titles "Mr.", "Mrs.", and "Ms." in English. Unlike in English, in Japanese honorifics may be attached to surnames, first names, and even professional titles. Other common ones include sama (the more-respectful form of san), sensei (for teachers and professionals), kun (usually used among or towards boys), and chan (used towards children).
-Credits to Wikipedia for suffixes/Titles
San(さん)San is the most common honorific and is used when addressing persons outside one's immediate family and close circle of friends—non-family members and acquaintances, for example. San is used unless the addressee's status or the relationship with the addressee warrants one of the other terms mentioned below. Although in translation san is usually rendered as a common courtesy title like "Mr." or "Ms.", unlike these it is never used in self-reference.San may also be used in combination with nouns describing the addressee or referent other than the person's name; for example, a bookseller might be addressed or referred to as honya-san ("bookseller" + san) and a butcher, as nikuya-san ("butcher" + san). San is also used when talking about companies and other similar entities. For example, the offices or shop of a company called Kojima Denki might be referred to as "Kojima Denki-san" by another nearby company. This may be seen on the small maps often used in phone books and business cards in Japan, where the names of surrounding companies are written using san. Although, strictly speaking, not an honorific title in this usage, san is also attached to the names of some kinds of foods; for example, fish used for cooking can be referred to as sakana-san. Likewise, this suffix is sometimes applied to animals—a rabbit might be usagi-san. In western Japan (Kansai), particularly in the Kyoto area, Han (はん) is used instead of san. Kun (君)Kun is an informal honorific primarily used towards males (it is still used towards females, but rarely).It is used by persons of senior status in addressing those of junior status, by males of roughly the same age and status when addressing each other, and by anyone in addressing male children. In business settings, women, particularly young women, may also be addressed as kun by older males of senior status. It is sometimes used towards male pets as well.School teachers typically address male students using kun, while female students are addressed as san or chan. The use of kun to address male children is similar to the use of san when addressing adults. In other words, not using kun would be considered rude in most situations, but, like the rule for using san in reference to family members, kun is traditionally not used when addressing or referring to one's own child (unless kun is part of a nickname: "Akira-kun"—Ak-kun). In the Diet of Japan, diet members and ministers are called kun by the chairpersons. For example, Junichiro Koizumi is called "Koizumi Jun'ichirō-kun". The only exception was that when Takako Doi was the chairperson of the lower house, she used the san title.
Chan (ちゃん)Chan is a diminutive suffix. It is an informal version of "san" used to address children and female family members. It may also be used towards animals, lovers, intimate friends, and people whom one has known since childhood. "Chan" continues to be used as a term of endearment, especially for girls, into adulthood. Parents will probably always call their daughters "chan" and their sons "kun," though "chan" can be used towards boys just as easily. Adults may use "chan" as a term of endearment to women with whom they are on close terms.Chan can be considered a feminine mode of speech in that it is used mainly by, or towards, females. Its pattern of usage is similar to using "dear" when addressing someone in English. Males would not use chan when addressing other males (other than very young children, or idiomatic cases like Shuwa-chan, described below). Pet names" are often made by attaching chan to a truncated stem of a name. This implies even greater intimacy than simply attaching it to the full name. So for example, a pet rabbit (usagi) might be called usa-chan rather than usagi-chan. Similarly, Chan is sometimes used to form pet names for celebrities. For example, Arnold Schwarzenegger gained the nickname Shuwa chan in Japanese. Although traditionally honorifics are not applied to oneself_ some young women adopt the affectation of referring to themselves in the third person using chan, a mode of speech normally only found amongst small children. For example, a young woman named Maki might call herself Maki-chan rather than using a first person pronoun. The Japanese media use chan when mentioning pre-elementary school children and sometimes elementary-school girls.
Senpai (先輩)Senpai is used to address senior colleagues or mentor figures, e.g. students referring to or addressing more senior students in schools, junior athletics more senior ones in a sports club, or a mentor or more experienced or senior colleague in a business environment. As with English titles such as Doctor, senpai can be used either by itself as a title, or with a person's name in place of san.Kohai (後輩)Kōhai is the reverse of this. It is used to refer to juniors (but not normally address them: kouhais are normally addressed by name +kun; addressing someone directly as kouhai would be somewhat rude).
Sensei (先生)Sensei is used to refer to or address teachers, practitioners of a profession such as doctors and lawyers, politicians, and other authority figures. It is used to show respect to someone who has achieved a certain level of mastery in an art form or some other skill. For example, Japanese manga fans refer to manga artists using the term sensei, as in Takahashi-sensei for manga artist Rumiko Takahashi; the term is used similarly by fans of other creative professionals such as novelists, musicians, and artists. It is also a common martial arts title when referring to the instructor.Sensei can also be used fawningly, as evinced by adherents in addressing or talking about charismatic business, political, and religious leaders (especially unordained ones). Japanese speakers will also use the term sarcastically to ridicule overblown or fawning adulation of such leaders, and the Japanese media frequently invoke it (rendered in katakana, akin to scare quotes or italics in English) to highlight the megalomania of those who allow themselves to be sycophantically addressed with the term. A further, similar use is to address or refer to someone who acts in a self-important or self-aggrandizing manner. As with senpai, Sensei can be used not only as a suffix but a title by itself, translating to "Professor" or "Teacher". Dono/Tono(殿)Dono came from the word Tono, roughly meaning "lord". This title is no longer used in daily conversation, though it is still used in some types of written business correspondence. It is also seen on drug prescriptions, certificates and awards, and in written correspondence in tea ceremonies.Ue(上)Ue literally means "above" and, appropriately, denotes a high level of respect. While its use is no longer very common, it is still seen in constructions like 父上 (chichi-ue) and 母上 (haha-ue), reverent terms for one's own, or someone else's, father and mother, respectively
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