Personally vetted instructors
Business Japanese tutors, lessons & classes
お世話になっております The standard business opener that colleagues and clients use on every email and call.
Personally vetted tutors who teach Japanese for the workplace. Lessons built around meetings, emails, business-card exchange, and the three layers of keigo that separate a competent foreign professional from a fluent one.
Your instructors
Business Japanese tutors for private lessons & classes
Strommen has been teaching languages since 2006, and we vet every teacher ourselves rather than running an open marketplace. The business roster is curated tightly because workplace Japanese rewards a tutor who has actually worked inside the system, not just one who can teach it from a book.
Filter by location, age, or price, then book a 30-minute free trial. Bring a real email you need to write or a real meeting you need to prepare for; a good tutor will use it as the lesson.
Below are the Strommen tutors who specialize in Business Japanese. Photos, ratings, and rates are real. Click any card to read a bio and book a free 30-minute trial.
ビジネス business — language at work
5 workplace essentials every foreign professional working with Japan needs to know
These are not optional grace notes. They are the small, high-frequency moves Japanese business culture expects, and a professional who handles them cleanly earns trust faster than language ability alone explains. Save the list and book a tutor to drill them.
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01
敬語 keigo (三段階 three tiers)
The honorific system layered onto every Japanese verb and pronoun in a professional setting. Teineigo is polite -masu/-desu speech, the floor of adult Japanese. Sonkeigo elevates the listener (used for clients, customers, seniors). Kenjogo lowers the self (used for your own actions toward someone you respect). Mixing the tiers up is the single most visible competence signal for a foreign professional.
e.g. Senior: いらっしゃいますか (sonkeigo). Self: 参ります (kenjogo). Neutral polite: 行きます (teineigo).
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02
名刺交換 meishi kōkan
The business-card exchange ritual that opens nearly every first meeting. Cards are received with both hands, by the corners so the print is not covered, read carefully for several seconds, then placed on the table to the recipient's upper-right for the meeting's duration. The card is never written on, never pocketed mid-meeting, and never placed in a back pocket.
e.g. Hand your card with both hands, name side toward the recipient: 株式会社ストロメンの佐藤と申します。Kabushiki-gaisha Strommen no Satō to mōshimasu.
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03
失礼します shitsurei shimasu
Literally "I will commit a discourtesy." Said on entering a senior person's office, on leaving a meeting, and on departing the office at the end of the workday before colleagues who are still working. Sumimasen will not substitute in any of those moments. Using the right phrase in the right moment is the small move that marks fluency.
e.g. Entering a meeting room: 失礼します。Shitsurei shimasu. Leaving the office at 6pm: お先に失礼します。Osaki ni shitsurei shimasu.
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04
申し訳ございません mōshiwake gozaimasen
The deep professional apology, used when something has actually gone wrong: a missed deadline, a shipment error, a meeting double-booked. Literal meaning is "there is no excuse," and the social weight is closer to a bow than to an English I'm sorry. Sumimasen is for small inconveniences; mōshiwake gozaimasen is for substantive offenses. Deploying it casually devalues it.
e.g. ご迷惑をおかけして申し訳ございません。Gomeiwaku o okake shite mōshiwake gozaimasen. ("I'm deeply sorry for the trouble caused.")
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05
お世話になっております osewa ni natte orimasu
The standard business email and phone opener, with no exact English counterpart. Roughly "thank you for your continued partnership / hope you are well." Expected on essentially every external business email and on the opening of most professional phone calls with an outside contact. Skipping it reads as either rude or untrained.
e.g. Email opening line: いつもお世話になっております。ストロメンの佐藤です。Itsumo osewa ni natte orimasu. Strommen no Satō desu.
About Business Japanese
Working in Japan, in the right register
Business Japanese is its own dialect of the language, and a foreign professional who treats it as polite Japanese plus some vocabulary will get blindsided in the first meeting. The grammar is the same. The script is the same. What changes is the register: a separate system called keigo, layered onto every verb and pronoun, that signals respect for the listener, humility about the speaker, and a careful neutrality toward anyone whose status is unclear. A tutor working with a professional learner spends most of the first few months on this register and the situations that demand it.
Keigo splits into three tiers, and the distinction matters because using the wrong tier toward the wrong person is the kind of error that lingers in a colleague's memory. Teineigo is the polite -masu / -desu speech that any adult textbook teaches; it is the floor of professional Japanese, not the ceiling. Sonkeigo is honorific speech, used when describing the actions of someone you respect: a client, a senior colleague, a customer. Sonkeigo elevates the subject. Kenjogo is humble speech, used when describing your own actions or those of your in-group toward someone you respect. Kenjogo lowers the self. A request from a salesperson to a client uses kenjogo for the salesperson's own action and sonkeigo for the client's. A new hire briefing a senior manager about their team's work uses kenjogo for the team and sonkeigo for the manager. Tutors teach the tiers as a system rather than as a vocabulary list, because that is the only way the right form arrives at the right moment under pressure.
Business correspondence is its own subject. A Japanese business email opens with osewa ni natte orimasu, the equivalent of "hope you are well, thank you for your continued partnership," which has no exact English counterpart and is expected on essentially every external email. The body uses bungo-influenced phrasing more formal than spoken keigo, signs off with yoroshiku onegai itashimasu, and frequently carries a postscript line acknowledging the season or weather. Skipping the opener or the close reads as either rude or untrained. Tutors walk learners through real anonymized email exchanges, then have you draft replies that pass a native eye. By the third month most students are writing emails their Japanese counterparts can no longer distinguish from a junior native colleague's.
Meishi kokan, the exchange of business cards, is the most rehearsable of the workplace rituals and the one that most foreign professionals get wrong on instinct. Cards are received with both hands, held by the corners so the print is not covered, read carefully for ten seconds before being placed on the table to the recipient's upper-right for the duration of the meeting. The card is never written on, pocketed mid-meeting, or placed in a back pocket. Lessons include a roleplay with real cards because the muscle memory of two-handed reception is what carries the moment when the actual meeting comes. The ritual takes ninety seconds, and a foreign professional who performs it cleanly signals fluency in the surrounding system before a word is exchanged.
Meeting entrance and exit have their own scripts. Shitsurei shimasu, literally "I will commit a discourtesy," is what a junior person says on entering a senior person's office; it is also said on leaving the meeting, and again at the end of the workday on departing the office before colleagues who are still working. Sumimasen will not substitute. A meeting that opens with the wrong phrase establishes the wrong footing for everything that follows.
Apology language scales up to fit the size of the offense. Sumimasen handles a small inconvenience. Moushiwake gozaimasen is the deep apology a salesperson offers a client over a shipment error or a missed deadline; the literal meaning is "there is no excuse," and the social weight of using it is closer to a bow than to an English I'm sorry. A learner who deploys moushiwake gozaimasen casually devalues it and confuses the colleague on the receiving end. Tutors teach the apology scale explicitly because the misalignment is hard to feel without instruction.
A candid note on name use, which trips up even experienced foreign professionals. First names are essentially not used in Japanese business outside of close peer relationships built over years. The default is surname plus -san for colleagues at peer level or below, surname plus title (shacho, bucho, kacho) for management, and last-name-only for senior figures in formal third-person reference. American instinct to soften by reaching for a first name lands as either presumptuous or accidentally intimate. Lessons cover the title system, the keigo verb pairings that go with each level, and the safe defaults for an external meeting where you do not yet know the room.
Our business Japanese tutors include native speakers with corporate experience inside Japanese companies, plus longtime bilinguals who have coached foreign executives, attorneys, and engineers through real assignments. They calibrate to your actual context, whether you are preparing for a Tokyo posting, leading a joint venture, negotiating supplier terms, or writing legal correspondence with a Japanese counterparty. The bar for adult professional Japanese is high; the path to clearing it is methodical.
What you'll cover
Lessons & classes tailored to Business Japanese
Keigo, the three-tier honorific system
Lessons build keigo as a system rather than a vocabulary list, because the right form has to arrive at the right moment under real-time pressure. Tutors drill teineigo first as the floor of adult Japanese, then layer in sonkeigo for elevating clients and seniors, then kenjogo for humbling the self toward someone respected. The keigo verb pairings (iku / irassharu / mairu, suru / nasaru / itasu) get explicit practice because they are not derivable from the polite form alone.
Email, correspondence, and the bungo-influenced formal register
A Japanese business email opens with osewa ni natte orimasu, uses formal phrasing more rigid than spoken keigo, signs off with yoroshiku onegai itashimasu, and often carries a seasonal acknowledgment. Tutors walk learners through real anonymized exchanges, then have you draft replies that pass a native eye. Most students reach the point of writing emails indistinguishable from a junior native colleague's within a few months of consistent work.
Meeting rituals, business-card exchange, and apology language
Workplace fluency is partly grammatical and partly performative. Meishi kokan is the most rehearsable ritual and the one most foreign professionals get wrong on instinct. Shitsurei shimasu on entry and exit, the apology scale from sumimasen to mōshiwake gozaimasen, and the title system around named seniors are each drilled as discrete skills. Roleplays use real props (actual business cards) because the muscle memory carries the moment when the real meeting comes.
Industry-specific vocabulary and contract language
Lessons calibrate to your actual context: finance, legal, engineering, supply chain, media, hospitality. Tutors with corporate experience inside Japanese companies bring industry vocabulary that does not appear in general textbooks. For learners working toward a more formal Japanese proficiency credential, paths open from business Japanese toward JLPT N2 or N1 preparation, or laterally toward conversational Japanese for the relationship-building side of the workday. Our Japanese classes page covers small-group options for teams.
FAQ
About Business Japanese lessons & classes
How do I switch from desu-masu to keigo without sounding stiff?
Practice in low-stakes situations first. Tutors run roleplays where you have to greet a client, explain a delay, and request a meeting using sonkeigo and kenjogo, then review the recording together. Stiffness usually comes from translating English politeness into keigo verbs one at a time rather than absorbing common phrases as whole units. Memorize the high-frequency patterns (irasshaimase, osewa ni natte orimasu, shōshō omachi kudasai, sasete itadakimasu) as chunks, and the surrounding sentences relax around them.
What's the rule for receiving a business card?
Both hands, by the corners so the print is not covered, eyes on the card for several seconds, then placed on the table to your upper-right for the duration of the meeting. Never write on the card, never pocket it mid-meeting, never put it in a back pocket. If you are seated across from multiple people, lay their cards out in the order they are seated so you can address each by name. The whole exchange takes about ninety seconds and is the first impression you make on the room.
When can I use first names with Japanese colleagues?
Essentially never in a default professional setting. The standard is surname plus -san for colleagues at peer level or below, surname plus title (shachō, buchō, kachō) for management, and last-name-only for senior figures in formal third-person reference. First names enter only in close peer relationships built over years, and even then often only in private settings. American instinct to soften by reaching for a first name lands as either presumptuous or accidentally intimate.
How long does it take to be conversant in business Japanese?
It depends on your starting Japanese level. A learner with solid intermediate Japanese (around JLPT N3) typically needs six to nine months of business-specific lessons to handle internal meetings and routine email correspondence comfortably. An advanced learner already at N2 can reach negotiation-grade fluency in three to four months of focused work. A learner starting closer to zero should plan a longer foundation phase first; business Japanese sits on top of solid general Japanese, not in place of it.
Do your tutors have actual Japanese workplace experience?
Most of the business-track tutors do, either inside Japanese companies in Tokyo or Osaka, or in joint-venture and US-based Japanese subsidiary roles. Several have coached foreign executives, attorneys, and engineers through real assignments. Each bio specifies background, industry experience, and teaching focus, so you can match to a tutor whose context resembles your own.
Can lessons cover legal or technical Japanese?
Yes. Several tutors specialize in legal, financial, or engineering vocabulary, and lessons can be built around real anonymized documents you are working with: contracts, technical specifications, regulatory correspondence. For deeply specialized fields, the tutor may bring in supplementary glossaries or recommend a parallel reading text in your area.
Can I take business Japanese lessons online?
Yes. Most of our business Japanese tutors teach online via Zoom or Jitsi and are available worldwide. Several also teach in person around Los Angeles and can run on-site sessions for corporate teams. The booking widget on each tutor's profile shows their available formats and times.
Will I need to take the JLPT or BJT for my employer?
Sometimes. JLPT N2 is the common benchmark Japanese employers cite for foreign hires in roles requiring meaningful Japanese use, and N1 is the standard for roles where Japanese is the working language. The BJT (Business Japanese Proficiency Test) is more specialized and asked for less often. Your tutor can build a study plan around whichever credential your employer or visa pathway expects.
Ready for Business Japanese lessons or classes?
Book a free 30-minute trial with one of our personally vetted tutors. Private lessons or small-group classes — your choice.