Japanese Business Self-Introduction: 8 Templates for Chorei, Client Visits, and Interviews

Table of contents

Who this guide is for

• New hires and recent transfers at Japanese companies with a chorei tomorrow morning, unsure what to say in 30 seconds in front of the team.
• Expats with a first client visit coming up who don’t know what to say while exchanging a meishi or how to respond to the other side’s introduction.
• Job-interview candidates who froze the last time they were asked jikoshoukai wo o-negai shimasu — and ended up reading their resume out loud.

Textbooks teach you hajimemashite, Tanaka desu. They don’t teach you what to say after that — when the room is silent and 20 people are looking at you. This guide does.

The A/B/C politeness framework for self-intros

At Real-World Japanese, we teach workplace Japanese as three rephrasings of the same intent. The full framework lives in our keigo guide; applied to self-introductions, the levels look like this:

In a business setting you’ll almost always pick B or C. A is reserved for new-hire welcome lunches and casual peer chats. The B-vs-C call is settled by the next section.

Internal vs. client-facing — the axis other guides skip

Most jikoshoukai guides treat “business intro” as a single category and default to client visits. But the first business intro a new hire delivers is internal: morning chorei, team intro, 1-on-1 with their manager. The wording, length, and tone diverge meaningfully from a client-facing intro.

Rule of thumb: Decide internal vs. external first. If the audience is your own colleagues → B. If clients, interviewers, or the public → C. The only common exception is a long-running external partner who’s drifted into B over time.

Open a chorei with the C-level Kabushiki gaisha ○○, eigyō-bu no Yamada to mōshimasu. Nanitozo yoroshiku onegai mōshiagemasu and the room hears “stiff and standoffish.” The mismatch is the company name (everyone in the room shares the same employer) plus the mōshiagemasu-level closing — naming your department is fine even at large multi-department firms, so eigyō-bu no Yamada to mōshimasu on its own reads as natural. Stand in front of a client and say Yamada desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu and the first impression is “this person doesn’t know the etiquette” — and that label is hard to peel off later.

Anatomy of a Japanese business self-introduction

A Japanese business self-introduction has four blocks in fixed order. Optional blocks (origin, career, hobby) slot in between affiliation and close depending on time budget.

Origin, career, and hobbies are optional. Drop them in a 30-second chorei; include them in a 90-second interview.

Greeting: hajimemashite vs. otsukaresama desu

The opener changes based on whether you’ve met the audience before.

• Hajimemashite (はじめまして — “first meeting”): Use with anyone you’re meeting for the first time. Works for client visits, interviews, and even internal meetings if the entire room is new to you.
• Otsukaresama desu (お疲れさまです — “thanks for your hard work”): Use with people already inside your workplace — chorei, internal meetings, hallway encounters.

For a new hire’s first chorei where the whole room is unfamiliar, hajimemashite is appropriate. If you’ve already met a few people, default to otsukaresama desu and close with kore kara dōzo yoroshiku onegai itashimasu (これからどうぞよろしくお願いいたします — “looking forward to working with you all going forward”).

Tip: Konnichiwa (こんにちは) is too casual for a business self-introduction. It works for travelers and classroom contexts, not boardrooms.

Name: to mōshimasu vs. desu

Two register tiers, picked by audience:

Mōshimasu is the kenjōgo (humble) form of “to say” — it lowers the speaker. Use it whenever you’re meeting clients or sitting an interview. Family-name-only is fine internally; full name (family + given) is the safer default for external settings.

Tip: In Japan, family name comes first. Saying Tarō Yamada desu will momentarily confuse the listener — they may parse “Tarō” as your surname. Lead with Yamada Tarō desu. If your name is hard for Japanese listeners, write the romanized form on the meishi or whiteboard, or add a brief saisho no ○○ ga myōji desu (最初の○○が苗字です — “the first ○○ is my family name”). The “industry-specific intros” section below has more on name handling.

Affiliation: company, department, role

Internal vs. external dictates how much affiliation detail you include.

• Internal (B): Eigyō-bu no Yamada to mōshimasu (営業部の山田と申します) / ○○ chīmu kara kita Yamada desu (○○チームから来た山田です)
• External (C): Kabushiki gaisha △△, eigyō-bu no Yamada to mōshimasu (株式会社△△、営業部の山田と申します) / △△ kabushiki gaisha de ○○ wo tantō shite orimasu, Yamada to mōshimasu (△△株式会社で○○を担当しております、山田と申します)

For client-facing intros the company name comes first, followed by department, then role (if any), then name. By convention, a person with a senior title doesn’t say Buchō no Yamada desu (“I’m Manager Yamada”) — that reads as self-promotion. If you need to convey rank, phrase it as Eigyō-bu de buchō wo tsutomete orimasu, Yamada to mōshimasu (営業部で部長を務めております、山田と申します — “I serve as manager in the sales department, my name is Yamada”).

Origin and career: when to include, when to cut

○○ shusshin desu (○○出身です — “I’m from ○○”) and zenshoku wa ○○ deshita (前職は○○でした — “I previously worked at ○○”) are optional.

• Include: in interviews where you have 60+ seconds, at networking events, at first-day chorei if the new-hire cohort is large.
• Cut: in chorei under 30 seconds, in client meetings before the agenda starts, when several people are introducing themselves in sequence.

For non-Japanese speakers, your country of origin is often a conversation hook that warms the room. In an interview, it’s a hook only if it ties to your motivation for working in Japan; otherwise prioritize career content.

Closing: yoroshiku onegai shimasu / itashimasu / mōshiagemasu

Three tiers of closing line:

Tip: Yoroshiku onegai shimasu alone reads as light. Externally, itashimasu is the floor; high-stakes situations use mōshiagemasu.

Bowing: once at the start, once at the end — never while talking

The bow protocol is simple and rigid.

• At the start: bow once as or right after you say hajimemashite.
• At the end: bow once after delivering yoroshiku onegai mōshiagemasu — complete the line first, then bow.

Depth is set by context: ~15° eshaku (会釈) for internal chorei, ~30° keirei (敬礼) for clients and interviews. Bowing while speaking muffles your voice and signals nervousness — let each line land before you move.

Time-budgeted scripts: 15 / 30 / 60 / 90 seconds

The mistake non-native speakers make is reusing a single script everywhere. Different settings have different time budgets, and over- or undershooting leaves a clear impression. Pick by scenario:

15-second script (elevator)

営業部の山田と申します。
よろしくお願いいたします。

That’s it: affiliation + name + close. Use this when someone catches you in the hallway and says Aa, anata ga atarashii kata desu ne (“oh, you must be the new hire”).

30-second script (chorei default)

おはようございます。
本日からお世話になります、営業部の山田太郎と申します。

前職は○○業界で営業を担当しておりました。
1日も早く戦力になれるよう努めてまいります。

どうぞよろしくお願いいたします。

The all-purpose template for “the new person from sales would like to say a few words.” Lands inside 30 seconds when delivered at a normal pace.

60-second script (client first visit)

はじめまして。
株式会社△△、営業部の山田太郎と申します。

このたび、貴社の○○プロジェクトを担当させていただくことになりました。

前職では○○業界で同様の○○を担当しておりまして、
御社のお役に立てるよう全力を尽くす所存でございます。

不慣れな点もあるかと存じますが、
何卒よろしくお願い申し上げます。

Adds the scope of your engagement (“the ○○ project at your company”) and the commitment line. The reason this works is that the client now knows what you’ll be doing for them, not only who you are.

90-second script (job interview)

本日はお時間を頂戴し、誠にありがとうございます。
山田太郎と申します。

○○大学を卒業後、株式会社○○に新卒で入社し、
営業部にて法人営業を5年間担当してまいりました。

現職では、新規顧客の開拓と既存顧客のアップセルを担当し、
直近の3年間は年間目標を120%以上達成しております。

貴社の○○事業に強く共感しており、
これまでの営業経験を活かして、
○○の拡大に貢献したいと考えております。

本日はどうぞよろしくお願い申し上げます。

Interview self-intros follow education → career → metric → motivation. To fit 90 seconds, include exactly one number (here, 120% of target) and keep everything else as summary. Reading your resume aloud is the most common interview self-intro mistake.

8 copy-paste self-introduction templates

The actual templates. Replace the ○○, △△, industry, and number placeholders, and the script is ready. Each is tagged with its register (A/B/C) and use case.

1. First-day chorei (B → C)

おはようございます。
本日からお世話になります、
営業部の山田太郎と申します。

前職では○○業界で○○を担当しておりました。
できるだけ早く皆様のお役に立てるよう、
精一杯がんばってまいります。

ご指導のほど、
何卒よろしくお願い申し上げます。

Tip: A chorei defaults to B, but on your first day you’re addressing every colleague you’ll work with for years — so we lift the closing to C with gosh​idō no hodo (ご指導のほど — “your guidance”). It signals respect to the seniors in the room without sounding stiff to peers.

2. 1-on-1 with your direct manager (B)

本日からお世話になります、山田太郎です。

前職では○○業界で○○を5年ほど担当しておりました。

これからは○○チームで○○を担当させていただくと伺っております。
1日も早く独り立ちできるよう、努めてまいります。

ご指導のほど、よろしくお願いいたします。

Tip: A 1-on-1 has conversational room that a chorei doesn’t. Keep your opening intro under 30 seconds and let questions fill the rest. Over-talking on the first 1-on-1 reads as “doesn’t listen.”

3. Intro to your internal team (B)

お疲れさまです。
新しく営業部に配属になりました、山田太郎と申します。

前職では○○を担当しておりました。
新しい環境で勉強させていただきたいと思っております。

不慣れなところもあるかと思いますが、
よろしくお願いいたします。

Tip: Team intros default to humility + willingness to learn as the tone. Don’t lead with achievements on day one — proving capability through actual work is dramatically more natural than claiming it in an intro.

4. First client visit (C)

お世話になっております。
株式会社△△、営業部の山田太郎と申します。

このたび、御社の○○プロジェクトを担当させていただくことになりました。

前任の○○に代わりまして、
今後私が窓口となりますので、
何かございましたらお気軽にご連絡ください。

至らない点もあるかと存じますが、
何卒よろしくお願い申し上げます。

Tip: For client intros, always lead with the company name + department + your name triplet. If you’re replacing a predecessor, name them explicitly with ○○ ni kawarimashite (○○に代わりまして — “in place of ○○”); it removes the client’s anxiety about the transition.

5. Job interview (strict C, 60–90s)

本日はお時間を頂戴し、誠にありがとうございます。
山田太郎と申します。

○○大学○○学部を卒業後、株式会社○○に入社し、
営業部にて法人営業を5年間担当してまいりました。

現職では新規顧客の開拓を担当し、
直近の3年間は年間目標を120%以上達成しております。

貴社の○○事業に強く共感しており、
これまでの営業経験を活かして、
○○の拡大に貢献したいと考えております。

本日はどうぞよろしくお願い申し上げます。

Tip: Interview self-intros must land between 30 and 90 seconds. Too long = “can’t summarize”; too short = “underprepared.” Include exactly one metric and exactly one motivation. Don’t recite your resume — they already have it.

6. Zoom / Teams self-intro (B / C)

（カメラオン・名前を画面に表示）

お世話になっております。
株式会社△△、営業部の山田太郎と申します。

本日は○○の件で、お時間を頂戴しました。

オンラインで失礼いたしますが、
何卒よろしくお願い申し上げます。

Tip: Online intros don’t require standing. Face the camera, set your display name to your real name (with romaji if your kanji is uncommon), and add onrain de shitsurei itashimasu ga (オンラインで失礼いたしますが — “apologies for being online”) to acknowledge that the format is a substitute for in-person.

7. Same-cohort / peer intro (A)

初めまして、山田です。
○○出身で、前は○○で働いてました。

これからどうぞよろしくお願いします。

Tip: At new-hire-cohort lunches and informal peer settings, A is correct — going to B creates artificial distance. Lead with hometown or background as a conversation hook, not credentials.

8. Networking event (A / B)

はじめまして、山田と申します。
株式会社△△で○○を担当しております。

最近は○○に興味がありまして、
本日もそういったお話ができればと思って参加しました。

よろしくお願いいたします。

Tip: Networking intros work best when you signal one specific interest area. It gives the other person something to follow up on. Lead with the company, mention the role, and put the why-I’m-here line last — not the other way around.

Meishi exchange: the verbal lines beyond the bow

Most guides cover the physical protocol — both hands, bow, read the card. Almost none cover the lines you say while doing it. Three moments, three short scripts.

Handing your card

株式会社△△、営業部の山田と申します。
（slight bow as you extend the card）
よろしくお願いいたします。

Hold the card with both hands, oriented so the text faces the recipient. Extend at chest height, deliver to mōshimasu while making eye contact, then bow slightly as you finish yoroshiku onegai itashimasu.

Receiving theirs

頂戴いたします。
（receive with both hands）
（read the card silently for ~3 seconds）
○○部長でいらっしゃいますね。

Receive with both hands, drop your gaze to the card for about 3 seconds to read the name and title, then look up and acknowledge them by title: ○○-buchō de irasshaimasu ne (“you are Director ○○, I see”). This signals you read it rather than skimmed it.

Placing it on the table — and what not to do

During the meeting, place the received card on top of your meishi case at your seat (or on the table directly). When meeting multiple people, arrange the cards in seating order — it makes addressing them by name later effortless.

Tip: Do not place a drink on the received card, write notes on it, or tuck it directly into your wallet during the meeting. Treat it as the person, not paper. After the meeting ends, place it carefully in your meishi case and put the case in your bag — don’t pocket it loose.

How to reply to someone else’s jikoshoukai (the 5-second script)

Right after you finish your own jikoshoukai, theirs starts — and you need a response. No top-10 SERP article ships a script for this. Three steps, all short.

Step 1: brief acknowledgment (2 seconds)

（after they finish）
山田様ですね、よろしくお願いいたします。

Repeating their name back signals “I heard you” and locks the name into your own memory. ○○-sama desu ne is the default form; if they gave a title, you can echo that instead (○○-buchō de irasshaimasu ne).

Step 2: name re-check (if needed)

If you didn’t catch it cleanly:

恐れ入りますが、お名前をもう一度伺ってもよろしいでしょうか。

Asking on the spot is better than asking someone else later. This is a normal Japanese conversational move — natives do it too.

Step 3: light follow-up question (optional)

If there’s time, gesture at their role:

○○のご担当でいらっしゃるのですね。
これから一緒にお仕事させていただけますこと、
楽しみにしております。

Tip: Stop at one follow-up question. Two or more turns it into an interview and creates pressure.

Industry-specific self-intros

Different industries weight different details. The skeleton is the same; the one-line addition changes.

Engineer / IT

本日からお世話になります、エンジニアの山田太郎と申します。

前職では○○のバックエンド開発を5年ほど担当しておりました。
言語は主にPythonとGoを使っておりました。

これからは○○チームで○○を担当させていただきます。
何卒よろしくお願いいたします。

For engineers, name languages, scope, and years in one line. The room wants to know “frontend or backend, infra or app” before they want to know your hobbies.

Sales

本日からお世話になります、営業部の山田太郎と申します。

前職では○○業界で5年間、法人営業を担当しておりました。
新規開拓と既存深耕の両方を経験しております。

これからは○○エリアの営業を担当させていただきます。
何卒よろしくお願い申し上げます。

Sales intros lead with industry, sales style, territory. Save metrics for follow-up conversations or interviews.

Accounting / Corporate

本日からお世話になります、経理部の山田太郎と申します。

前職では○○業界で連結決算を3年ほど担当しておりました。
日商簿記1級を取得しております。

これからは○○部で月次決算を担当させていただきます。
よろしくお願いいたします。

For accounting and corporate functions, a relevant certification signals readiness fast — Nisshō Boki (Japan’s bookkeeping standard), TOEIC, or domain certifications.

Consultant / specialist

本日はお時間を頂戴し、誠にありがとうございます。
山田太郎と申します。

これまで○○業界の戦略立案を10年ほど担当してまいりました。
直近では○○業界の○社のクライアントを担当しております.

本日は、貴社の○○について
ぜひお話を伺いたく参りました。

何卒よろしくお願い申し上げます。

Consultants name specialty, years, and client volume — kept anonymized. Specific company names stay private; ranges and industry tags carry the message.

4 non-native pitfalls

Pitfall 1: stacked humility phrases

Layering itaranai ten bakari desu ga + funaretai tame + go-meiwaku wo o-kake suru ka to omoimasu ga in one intro is overkill. Textbooks frame humility as a virtue, but one humble line is enough. Three reads as nervous, not respectful. Keep it to funarena ten mo aru ka to zonjimasu ga, nanitozo yoroshiku onegai mōshiagemasu — that’s the line.

Pitfall 2: family-name vs. given-name order

In Japan, family name comes first. Tarō Yamada desu sounds momentarily wrong because the listener parses “Tarō” as a surname. Say Yamada Tarō desu. If your name is hard to parse for Japanese listeners, write it on a meishi or screen, or add saisho no ○○ ga myōji desu (“the first ○○ is my family name”) once.

Pitfall 3: forcing romanized pronunciation

Some non-native speakers open with “my name is pronounced ○○○○, please say it that way.” Done in a first meeting, this reads as demanding rather than introducing. Say your name once at natural speed, accept whatever the Japanese reader says back, and let the correct pronunciation set in over weeks. Insisting on day one delays relationship-building.

Pitfall 4: hobby-section bloat

“My hobby is ○○, and on weekends I also do ○○ and ○○, and recently I’m getting into ○○…” — a 30-second hobby tangent eats the rest of your intro. One hobby, one line: Saikin wa ○○ ni kyōmi ga arimasu (“recently I’ve been interested in ○○”). If they’re curious, they’ll ask. Hobby bloat dilutes the professional content of the intro.

Recovery: what to say in the 10 seconds after a botched intro

Everyone fumbles a self-intro at some point. Here’s what to do mid-flight or right after.

Case A: you ran too long

The moment you notice, jump to the close rather than padding more:

……失礼いたしました、本日はお時間を頂戴し、
何卒よろしくお願い申し上げます。

Cutting to the close — even abruptly — reads as better self-management than apologizing for length. The audience hears “they noticed and adjusted.”

Case B: you fumbled a word

If you stumbled briefly, keep going as if nothing happened — Japanese speakers do the same thing all the time. Only correct if you misstated your name or company:

失礼いたしました、正しくは○○でございます。
（continue）

Tip: One shitsurei itashimashita is enough — don’t apologize three times. Doubling down on the apology stretches the awkwardness.

Case C: you didn’t catch the other person’s name

Ask immediately:

恐れ入りますが、もう一度お名前を伺ってもよろしいでしょうか。

Asking on the spot is dramatically less embarrassing than getting it wrong later. Native speakers do this too — ○○-sama de irasshaimasu ka? is a normal conversational move.

Case D: you used the wrong register (B when it should have been C)

You don’t need to apologize. Quietly recalibrate to C in your next sentence and move on. A frantic Saki hodo wa shitsurei na hyōgen ga gozaimashita mid-conversation amplifies the awkwardness more than the original miss did. If you do feel a follow-up is needed, save it for the post-meeting email — opening with a properly C-level itsumo o-sewa ni natte orimasu signals the reset without spelling it out.

Frequently asked questions

How long should a Japanese business self-introduction be?

15 to 90 seconds, depending on context. 15 seconds for elevator and hallway encounters; 30 for chorei and internal team intros; 60 for client visits and day-one 1-on-1s; 60–90 for interviews. Reusing one script across all of them leads to over- or undershooting and uneven first impressions. The “Time-budgeted scripts” section above maps each scenario to a target length and template.

When do I use hajimemashite vs. otsukaresama desu?

Use hajimemashite with anyone you’re meeting for the first time — client visits, interviews, and even internal chorei if the whole room is unfamiliar. Use otsukaresama desu with people already inside your workplace — internal meetings, hallway encounters. Konnichiwa is too casual for business introductions.

Do I say my family name or given name first?

Family name first. Yamada Tarō desu is correct; Tarō Yamada desu will momentarily confuse the listener. If your name is unusual for Japanese ears, write the romanized form on your meishi or screen, or add a one-line saisho no ○○ ga myōji desu clarification.

What do I say during a meishi exchange?

When handing your card: Kabushiki gaisha △△, eigyō-bu no Yamada to mōshimasu. Yoroshiku onegai itashimasu. When receiving theirs: Chōdai itashimasu with both hands, then ~3 seconds reading silently, then ○○-sama de irasshaimasu ne. The verbal lines run in parallel with the bow — don’t skip them.

How do I respond when someone introduces themselves to me?

Repeat their name. ○○-sama desu ne, yoroshiku onegai itashimasu is the 2-second default. If you missed it, ask immediately: Osore irimasu ga, o-namae wo mō ichido ukagatte mo yoroshii deshō ka. Asking on the spot is far less awkward than getting it wrong later.

How is a Zoom or Teams self-intro different from in-person?

You don’t need to stand. Face the camera, set your display name to your real name (with romaji if your kanji is uncommon), and add Onrain de shitsurei itashimasu ga once to acknowledge the format. Without a meishi, your spoken company name and department do all the work — pronounce them clearly.

What’s the difference between to mōshimasu and desu?

To mōshimasu (と申します) is the kenjōgo — humble — form of “to say.” It explicitly lowers the speaker, which is the right register for clients, interviews, and any first formal meeting (C-level). Desu is neutral-polite (B-level) — appropriate for internal-only contexts and short chorei. When in doubt, default to to mōshimasu; it never reads as too formal except in genuinely casual peer settings.

Want more workplace phrases?

We’ve published Polite Japanese for Work: The Essential 30 — a PDF with 30 daily office phrases at three A/B/C levels with romaji and situational notes. Many of the phrases in this guide build directly on the pack: the o-sewa ni natte orimasu opener, the yoroshiku onegai mōshiagemasu closing, and the cushion phrases that open client introductions are all expanded with usage notes and audio.

→ Get The Essential 30 on Gumroad

More articles in this cluster:

• The full politeness framework → keigo guide — A/B/C and the uchi-soto axis (pillar)
• Verb-by-verb lookup → keigo cheat sheet
• Follow-up email after the intro → Japanese business email template
• Saveable scenario phrases → Japanese business phrases PDF page — 30 copy-paste rows for the days that follow your intro
• 10 spoken phrases for the rest of week 1 → polite Japanese phrases for the office — the chronological day-after-day-one guide
• Mistakes to avoid in introductions → keigo mistakes guide — 8 errors ranked by severity, including the ones that surface in first meetings
• Writing the follow-up email after the intro → How to write a Japanese business email — 8 steps from subject line to signature

For HR managers and team leads: The single biggest first-90-day upgrade for a non-native hire isn’t grammar — it’s eight scripted self-introductions, one for each setting. Forward this guide before they start, or drop the 8 templates above into your onboarding doc. The first chorei, the first 1-on-1, and the first client visit are the moments where confidence either lands or doesn’t.