In a very formal context, how to answer properly when an unknown person who is
_hugely_ higher than you in the hierarchy (a recruiter, an N+3, an official,
etc.) invites you to some unexpected event/lunch/interview/ceremony and
suggests a date and time which turn out to be OK? I always struggle with this.
Actually, I think it is even easier to say politely that the suggested time is
_not_ OK.

I refrain from using 大丈夫です or いいです because it seems overly familiar to me. So,
most of the time, I end up with such a circumlocution as

> どうもありがとうございます。金曜日なら結構です。

just to say _’you proposed Friday, and this is OK’_. I don’t know if 都合がよいです
or is other sentences with 都合 are OK in this context. I don’t want to end up
saying to a minister _’yeah, so you wanna meet me next Monday? I’m quite busy
man, but I checked my schedule and it looks rather feasible’_.

NB: this is a question about formal and especially formal written
Japanese—before anyone says _’you can just send 大丈夫 with the poop emoji and he
will understand’_ , of course he will understand, I agree with this ;-)
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-26T08:20:48.970
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2017-06-26T13:39:14.737
question
keigo formality written-language
How to say that a proposed date/time is OK without sounding condescending?
You'll want to be careful with 結構です -- it's more often used to politely say
"no thank you" than "that's fine", and using it in the latter sense requires
some shoring up of the sentence to eliminate any ambiguity.

I don't think you need to mention the time/schedule explicitly. Depending on
the relationship and the nature of the invitation, any of the following might
do:

  * かしこまりました。(Probably most useful when the "invitation" can't really be refused, such as when a recruiter tells you your interview is at 10:00 on Monday.)

  * この度はご招待いただき、ありがとうございました。喜んで参加させていただきます。If the difference in status is extreme, you might go with 身に余る光栄でございます。謹んで参加させていただきます, but that would probably be excessive unless the circumstances were very special.

  * ◯◯へのご招待、ありがとうございます。是非行かせていただきたいと思います。

Explicitly mentioning that you'll be attending because you're free on the day
could imply that you're only going because you've got nothing better to do, so
I think you're better off with an appropriately polite version of "Thank you
for inviting me. It will be a pleasure to attend." If, for some reason, you
must mention the time, I'd suggest phrasing it as a confirmation of the time:

  * 金曜日の◯◯時ですね。わかりました。宜しくお願い致します。

Just a few ideas, but you'll need to adapt them, and their level of
politeness, to the actual situation (and whether you're speaking or replying
in writing).
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2017-06-26T13:39:14.737
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answer