3.1 Core Business Vocabulary: 役職, 部署, 会社生活
Key Takeaways
- 役職 follow a strict vertical order from 代表取締役社長 down to 新入社員, and addressing a 社長 as さん in a formal email is a register error that BJT listening items test.
- 部署 names end in 部 (department); 部 is subdivided into 課, 係, and チーム, and 課長 is the lowest rank routinely addressed as 役職 in keigo.
- 勤怠 terms such as 始業, 終業, 残業, 時差出勤, and 有給消化 appear throughout BJT scripts describing office routines and HR conversations.
- Meeting vocabulary distinguishes 朝礼/夕礼 (short stand-ups) from 打ち合わせ (working meeting) and 会議 (formal meeting with 議事録 and 議長).
- Address suffixes split by direction: 殿 for formal internal/written, 様 for external customers, さん for everyday spoken reference.
3.1 Core Business Vocabulary: 役職, 部署, 会社生活
Quick Answer: The BJT assumes you can instantly recognize the vertical hierarchy of a Japanese company — who outranks whom, which department handles what, and the daily-life verbs (出社, 退社, 残業) that fill scripts. Get the ranks wrong and your keigo, addresses, and listening comprehension all break.
役職 — Job Titles and Rank
Japanese companies are vertically organized. Ranks stack from the board down to new hires, and keigo adjusts to each step. The table below is the canonical BJT list — learn it cold.
| Rank order | 役職 | English gloss | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top | 代表取締役 (daihyō-torishimariyaku) | Representative Director | Often combined: 代表取締役社長 |
| Board | 取締役 (torishimariyaku) | Director | Below 代表取締役 |
| Board | 監査役 (kansayaku) | Corporate Auditor | Independent line, not in command chain |
| C-suite | 社長 (shachō) | President | Usually paired with 代表取締役 |
| C-suite | 副社長 (fukushachō) | Executive VP | Optional |
| C-suite | 専務 (senmu) | Senior Managing Director | 専務取締役 formally |
| C-suite | 常務 (jōmu) | Managing Director | Below 専務 |
| Senior mgr | 本部長 (honbuchō) | General Manager of a HQ | Oversees several 部長 |
| Manager | 部長 (buchō) | Department Head | Lowest rank with a 役員-class seat |
| Manager | 次長 (jichō) | Deputy Department Head | Between 部長 and 課長 |
| Manager | 課長 (kachō) | Section Manager | Most commonly tested 役職 |
| Team lead | 係長 (kakarichō) | Team Leader | Below 課長 |
| Senior | 主任 (shunin) | Senior Staff | Not strictly a 役職 everywhere |
| Rank and file | 平社員 / 一般社員 (hirashain / ippan shain) | Regular Employee | No title |
| New | 新入社員 (shinnyū shain) | New Hire | First year, often addressed by name+くん/さん |
A common BJT trap: a 社長 introduced in a listening script is later referred to by name only — the answer choice that uses さん is wrong; the correct one uses 社長 or 様. The rule of thumb is that once a 役職 is established, keigo continues to use the 役職 or 様 — never さん — when the speaker is talking to or about that person in formal context.
部署 — Departments
| 部署 | English | Typical function |
|---|---|---|
| 営業部 (eigyōbu) | Sales Department | Revenue, accounts, 外回り |
| 経理部 (kairibu) | Accounting | Invoicing, 請求書, 経費精算 |
| 財務部 (zaimubu) | Finance | Treasury, IR, capital |
| 人事部 (jinjibu) | HR | Hiring, evaluation, 勤怠 |
| 総務部 (sōmubu) | General Affairs | Facilities, supplies, internal events |
| 企画部 (kikakubu) | Corporate Planning | Strategy, 企画書 |
| 法務部 (hōmubu) | Legal | Contracts, compliance |
| 開発部 (kaihatsubu) | R&D | Product development |
| 製造部 (seizōbu) | Manufacturing | Factory floor |
| 広報部 (kōhōbu) | PR | Press, 広報資料 |
| カスタマーサポート部 | Customer Support | Inquiries, クレーム |
| 海外事業部 | Overseas Operations | Exports, subsidiaries |
| 情報システム部 | IT / IS | Internal systems, security |
A 部 subdivides into 課 (ka, section) and 係 (kakari, team); 課長 reports to 部長, 係長 reports to 課長. A 課 may also contain チーム under a 主任 or 係長.
会社生活 — Daily Office Life
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 出社 | shussha | Arrive at office |
| 退社 | taisha | Leave office (end of day) |
| 始業 | shigyō | Start of work (time) |
| 終業 | shūgyō | End of work (time) |
| 勤務 | kinmu | Work / duty |
| 出張 | shutchō | Business trip |
| 休暇 | kyūka | Leave / vacation |
| 勤怠 | kintai | Attendance |
| 残業 | zangyō | Overtime |
| 時差出勤 | jisa shukkin | Staggered hours |
| テレワーク | terewāku | Telework |
| リモートワーク | rimōto wāku | Remote work |
| フレックスタイム | furekkusu taimu | Flextime |
| 有給休暇 / 年次休暇 | yūkyū kyūka / nenji kyūka | Paid leave |
| 慶弔休暇 | keichō kyūka | Congratulatory / condolence leave |
| 出張手当 | shutchō teate | Business-trip allowance |
| 休日出勤 | kyūjitsu shukkin | Holiday work |
| 有休消化 | yūkyū shōka | Using accrued paid leave |
Note the pairing 残業 vs 休日出勤 (extra hours on a workday vs working on a day off) and 時差出勤 vs フレックスタイム (a fixed staggered start vs a flexible band with core time).
会議・打ち合わせ — Meeting Vocabulary
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 会議 | Formal meeting |
| 朝礼 / 夕礼 | Morning / evening roll-call |
| 打ち合わせ | Working meeting, briefing |
| プレゼン | Presentation |
| 議事録 (gijiroku) | Minutes |
| 議題 (gidai) | Agenda item |
| 議長 (gichō) | Chairperson |
| 決議 (ketsugi) | Resolution |
| 懸案 (ken'an) | Pending issue |
| 保留 (horyū) | Hold / tabled |
| 決 (ketsu) | Decision |
| 案 (an) | Proposal |
| 配布資料 | Handout |
| レジュメ | Résumé / summary handout |
Document Vocabulary
提出物 (teishutsu-butsu, submission), 報告書 (hōkokusho, report), 企画書 (kikakusho, proposal), 申請書 (shinseisho, application), 届 (todoke, notice form), 称 (shō, citation/title), 議事録, メモ, 伝言メモ (dengon memo, message slip), 議事進行 (giji shinkō, proceeding).
Address Suffixes — 殿 / 様 / さん
- 殿 (dono) — formal, written, internal or to a subordinate; outdated if used to customers. Often seen on 添付書類.
- 様 (sama) — standard polite address for customers and external individuals; can also follow a 役職: 営業部長 〇〇 様.
- さん (san) — everyday spoken, never appropriate in formal email or written address.
A BJT-tested mismatch: addressing a customer's 社長 as 「〇〇社長 さん」 is wrong — drop the さん. The correct form is 「〇〇社長」 (spoken) or 「〇〇社長 様」 (written).
Mini-Dialogue (collocations by rank)
- To your 課長 in the office: 「課長、3時からの打ち合わせの件ですが…」
- To a customer's 部長 by phone: 「〇〇部の田中部長でいらっしゃいますか。」
- About your 社長 to a customer: 「社長の〇〇より申します。」「社長はただ今外出しております。」
- In an email to a customer's 部長: 「〇〇株式会社 営業部 部長 〇〇 様」
These pairings — 役職 alone to a senior inside the company, 役職+様 to a senior outside — are exactly what BJT listening and email questions drill.
In a formal email to a customer's department head, which address is most appropriate?
Which pair is correctly ordered from higher rank to lower rank?
Fill in the blank with the most natural word: 「先週は大阪へ（ ）しており、連絡が遅くなり申し訳ございません。」
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