69697
My company (a Japanese startup) issued me a set of business cards. The
information on the card is almost entirely in English. Except for the company
address, the only other bit in Japanese is「ムルさん」in small font beneath my
English name.

When I was asked for what to mention on the card, I'd only specified my
preferred English name (I assumed they'd pick the Katakana version from my
contract and related forms). However, I do generally ask people to call me ムル.

I have never seen 「ーさん」 in a business card before, and find it surprising. It
feels like like saying "I'm ムルさん." Is that the case?
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-07-25T02:58:03.977
69695
2019-07-25T03:29:54.933
18189
question
honorifics business-japanese
If my business card says 〇〇さん, does that mean I'm referring to myself with an honourific?
Adding -さん is definitely not conventional as a formal Japanese name card. But
English-only name cards are not conventional in the first place, and hardly
sticking to the traditional style may not be always good for a startup.
Getting to know how to call each other is one of the difficult tasks in
foreign communications. If I received a name card with ムルさん on it, I might be
a little surprised, too, but I would take it as a practical and friendly
comment, "please call me ムル-san (instead of Mr. Smith, Professor, etc)".
Unlike 様, さん is not a super respectful suffix, so no one would think you are
being arrogant.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-07-25T03:24:17.403
69697
2019-07-25T03:29:54.933
2019-07-25T03:29:54.933
5010
5010
69695
answer