Writing Chat Messages at Work in Japanese (Slack, Teams and More)
Much of the day-to-day communication in Japanese workplaces now happens in chat tools such as Slack, Microsoft Teams or LINE WORKS, especially for remote and international teams. Chat Japanese sits somewhere between a formal email and casual conversation, and getting the tone right is tricky for learners. Here are the phrases and habits that make your messages read naturally.
How chat differs from email
Business emails in Japanese follow a fixed structure with formal openings and closings, which we cover in our guide to business emails. Chat is lighter. You skip most of the formal framing, but you still use polite です／ます forms with colleagues, and more careful keigo with managers and people outside your team. A good rule: write the way you would speak to that person at their desk.
Every team has its own culture, so read through old messages in your channels before you post. Notice how people open messages, how formal they are with managers and whether they use emoji or reactions.
Opening a message
The most common opener is お疲れ様です (otsukaresama desu), a greeting among colleagues that roughly means “thanks for your hard work”. It isn’t needed in every reply in a fast conversation, but it is a natural way to start a new topic or message someone for the first time that day.
- お疲れ様です。スミスです。 (Useful in larger channels where people may not know you yet.)
- 〇〇さん、お疲れ様です。 (When addressing one person in a channel, often with an @mention.)
With people outside the company, use お世話になっております instead, as in email.
Key phrases
| Japanese | Say it | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| 確認お願いします | kakunin onegai shimasu | Could you check this, please? |
| ご確認いただけますでしょうか | gokakunin itadakemasu deshō ka | A more polite version, for managers or other teams |
| 承知しました | shōchi shimashita | Understood. Safe with anyone, including managers and clients. |
| 了解です | ryōkai desu | Got it. Common between colleagues, but some people find it too casual for superiors. |
| 少々お待ちください | shōshō omachi kudasai | One moment, please (when you need time to check) |
| 共有します | kyōyū shimasu | Sharing this (before a link or file) |
| お手すきの際に | otesuki no sai ni | When you have a moment (signals that it isn’t urgent) |
| 取り急ぎ、ご報告まで | toriisogi, gohōkoku made | Just a quick update for now |
| ありがとうございます！ | arigatō gozaimasu! | Thank you! An exclamation mark is fine in chat. |
Asking for something
A clear request in chat has three parts: a short cushion, what you need, and when. Cushion phrases soften the request and are expected in Japanese:
- お忙しいところすみません。 (“Sorry to bother you when you’re busy.”)
- 恐れ入りますが、 (“I’m sorry to ask, but…”, more formal)
For example: お忙しいところすみません。来週の資料を作成しましたので、明日までにご確認いただけますでしょうか。 (“Sorry to bother you. I’ve made the slides for next week. Could you check them by tomorrow?”)
Being specific about the deadline is helpful, not rude. Vague requests are harder to act on in any language.
Replying and reacting
- Acknowledge quickly. Even if you can’t act on a message yet, a short 確認します (“I’ll check”) or a reaction shows you’ve seen it.
- Use reactions as your team does. Many teams use an emoji reaction to mean “seen” or “done”. Some managers prefer a written reply, so follow the local habit.
- Reply in the thread if your team uses threads, so the main channel stays readable.
- Close the loop. When you finish a task, say so: 対応しました (“Done”) or 修正しました (“I’ve fixed it”).
Tone traps
- Too blunt. A bare 確認して (“check this”) reads as an order. Add ください or a cushion phrase.
- Too casual with managers. Plain forms and 了解 without です can come across as rude to someone senior.
- Too formal with your team. Writing every message like a formal letter can feel distant. Match the tone of the channel.
- Machine translation. It often produces the wrong level of politeness. If you use it, check the result, especially the verb endings.
Timing and remote work
If you work across time zones with a team in Japan, schedule messages for their working hours where your tool allows it, or start late-night messages with 夜分に失礼します (“sorry to message so late”) and 返信は明日で大丈夫です (“no need to reply until tomorrow”). It is a small courtesy that colleagues notice. For broader context on working with Japanese teams, see Japanese workplace culture.
Writing good chat messages is mostly practice. Draft a few real messages you need to send and ask a tutor to check the tone: it is one of the fastest ways to sound natural at work.