Japanese Greetings

Just like in the English language, there are various ways to greet a person in Japanese. This can include ways for saying hello and goodbye in Japanese, plus more time-sensitive greetings like good morning, good afternoon, or good evening.

Scroll down for translations of these and many other Japanese greetings and goodbyes including Nice to meet you and See you later, as well as information about the Japanese terms used when entering or leaving a home: Ittekimasu/Itterashai and Tadaima/Okaeri.

Before you leave, be sure to check out the video at the bottom to hear how a popular greeting is used in song.

Ways to Greet People in Japanese

Words in bold added during the last update. You can also view these greetings from English to Japanese.

Quick links:
Ways of Saying Hello in Japanese
Timed Japanese Greetings
Ways of Saying Goodbye in Japanese
Office Greetings in Japanese
Japanese Terms Used when Leaving and Entering the Home

Ways of Saying Hello in Japanese

Timed Japanese Greetings

Spoken Japanese includes various timed greetings. The most common of these being good morning, good afternoon, and good evening. Here's a brief rundown for each of these greetings, followed by a more-complete list of such greetings.

Good morning in Japanese: The Japanese word for 'good morning' is 'ohayou'. The ending 'gozaimasu' can be added for politeness, extending the phrase to 'ohayou gozaimasu'. Ohayou is generally used until around 10am. Pronounced: Oh-high-yoh go-zeye-ee-moss.

Hello / Good afternoon in Japanese: For a more generic greeting meaning 'hello', the Japanese say 'konnichiwa'. This is used in the late morning hours and through to the late afternoon. Pronounced: Kohn-nee-chee-wah.

Good evening in Japanese: During the evening hours, the Japanese say, 'konbanwa' which translates to 'good evening' in English. Pronounced: Kohn-bahn-wah.

Here are various time-sensitive Japanese greetings ordered by when they are said:

Good Morning

Good Afternoon

Good Evening

Good Night

* gozaimasu (ございます) and nasai (なさい) added for politeness. Minna-san added when talking to a group of people.

Ways of Saying Goodbye in Japanese

Office Greetings in Japanese

Japanese Terms Used when Leaving and Entering the Home

* nasai (なさい) added for politeness.

*List of Japanese greetings last updated: January 15, 2025.

Japanese Greetings in Songs

Ayaka - Okaeri

If you want to hear a Japanese greeting in its natural habitat, then why not listen to the song Okaeri, by Ayaka from the channel aaa color coded lyrics. Okaeri means welcome home and is said in response to 'tadaima', which means I'm home. This video includes the kanji, romaji, and English lyrics so you can easily follow along with the words.

Next Up

Common Japanese Words and Phrases: Learn how to say common words and phrases in Japanese.

Perhaps you want to learn greetings and goodbyes in these other languages?

Afrikaans, Arabic, Dutch, Filipino, Finnish, French, Gaelic, German, Greek, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Malay, Mandarin, Maori, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Somali, Spanish, Swedish, Urdu, and Vietnamese.

The Fine Print