There are a plethora of ways to tell if a girl likes you. Knowing this is very relative, each person thinks differently, especially the Japanese.
But there is a unique way in Japan to know if a girl likes you, through your name. The more intimate you are with a girl, she will call you by name in different ways.
Girls in Japan are not usually direct and like to maintain a friendship before getting into a relationship, so the fearsome Friend Zone is a bit more favorable in Japan.
If you don't live in Japan this guide is not very useful, but it is quite interesting to note the cultural differences in coexistence and dialogue between people. We notice this a lot when watching anime and reading manga. and now we can go deeper and understand much more.
Table of Content
The way that calls your name
In the following example, let's take a very common name "Hiroshi Suzuki". And remember, since the pronoun "you" is rarely used in Japan, the names below are used instead of the word "you" in normal conversation.
If a girl calls you like this it could mean:
6. Suzuki-san
A distant person, who doesn't have much friendship, or doesn't know personally.
5. Hiroshi-san
This person has already called you by your first name, but since they used the honorific -san, they are still a bit distant from your reach.
4. Hiroshi-kun
It's still a little distant, maybe a friend, or classmate.
3. Hiroshi
She's just using her first name, you guys have a certain kind of intimacy, but it can mean nothing.
2. Hiroshi-chan
Are you close or she thinks you're a child. Be careful not to confuse love with friendship.
1. Hiro-chan, Hi-chan, Shi-chan
She called you by nicknames, abbreviated names and even added -chan. You now have a chance, it might just be a longtime friendship, but I would try something.
a real tip
So far, this may seem pretty normal. But it makes perfect sense to use name endings and politeness to show distance or closeness. But there is another factor that shows that she might be interested in you.
If the girl stops using pronouns like わたし (watashi) or あたし (atashi) and starts referring to herself in the third person, she may have a romantic interest in you.
Remembering that all the items above can really mean nothing, maybe it's just an attempt to be friendly with you. But who knows, you might get lucky.
What other verbal cues have you seen where a Japanese girl shows that she likes a guy?
- The photo in the article was taken from the manga: 僕だけがいない街 (Boku dake ga inai machi)
- The idea for the article came from the japaneselevelup website