Hello,
I am writing an email to an older friend of mine to let him know that I will be going to Japan next month. I use keigo whenever I can when writing or speaking to him, so I have a few questions about the wording. I also can use casual sometimes too, by the way.
Here is my message:
"こんにちは、〜です。
お元気でいらっしゃいますか?
もうすぐお正月ですね。〜仕事はどうですか?
12月の下旬に日本に行く予定ですが、
(Friend's name)のご都合が合えば、お会いしたく思います。
(Dates)の間は空いていますか。
またお会いして、お話できたら嬉しいです。
(I want to say here, it would be nice to meet and catch up again. Or, I'll be happy to meet up with you again and catch up.)
お返事、お待ちしています!"
My questions are:
-
Is there a polite way to ask, 仕事はどうですかThere seemed to be something else, but I can't recall.
-
For "ご都合が合えば", I have also seen, ご都合がよければ/よろしければ, etc. Is there a better one to use in this case? And is "お会いしたく
思います。" fine after "ご都合〜"? -
And for またお会いできたら〜, should I use できれば or 頂ければ? Or is できたら、okay as it is? As for the overall phrase, does it come across as putting pressure on my friend to get together? Is it forceful in any way?
As a side note, about a year ago, my friend had the flu, and I had used "お大事に." But, we haven't talked since. Should I say something like "具合/体調/調子はどうですか。" Before or after "仕事はどうですか。" It may sound annoying with two "どう?" questions one after the other. Should I just leave it as is without asking about his condition?
If there are any mistakes please let me know!
Thank you for the help.
by katineko