Japanese Business Card Etiquette: A Practical Guide

Updated 2026-09-03 · meishiscan team

In Japan, a business card is not contact information — it is the person, handed to you. The exchange (meishi kōkan, 名刺交換) opens almost every first business meeting, and doing it gracefully signals more about you than anything on your own card. The good news: the rules are few, consistent, and easy to practise.

The exchange itself

Stand up. Always, even if the meeting has already sat down.
Offer with both hands, card turned so the receiver can read it, while stating your company and name: "Yamada Shōji no Tanaka desu." Junior offers first; if you're the visitor, you're first.
Receive with both hands and a small bow. If you're exchanging simultaneously — common — give with your right hand and receive with your left, then support the received card with both.
Read it. Genuinely look at it for a few seconds. Confirming the name aloud ("Tanaka-sama desu ne") is polite and saves you later.
Never write on it, fold it, or pocket it in front of the giver. Trouser pockets are the cardinal sin.

During the meeting

Place the received cards on the table, in front of you, arranged to mirror the seating — the most senior person's card on top of (or beside) your card case. Leave them there for the whole meeting; they go into your case respectfully as the meeting closes. If you're juggling six cards from a big meeting, mirroring the seating plan quietly doubles as a name-memory aid, which is the real function of the whole ritual.

Your own cards

Carry more than you think you need — big introductions can consume 15 in an hour.
A bilingual card (Japanese one side, English the other) is expected of foreign professionals working with Japanese companies. Print the Japanese side properly proofread.
Keep them pristine, in a case. A bent card says what a bent card says.

After the meeting: the part everyone gets wrong

The etiquette above is well documented. What kills relationships is what happens next: the cards go into a drawer, the reading of 藤堂 is forgotten by Thursday, and the follow-up email six months later starts with a misspelt name.

Digitise the same day, while you still remember who was who:

Scan front and back — the kanji side and the English side are one person.
Keep the reading. If the card printed furigana, preserve it; it is how you will address them for the next decade.
Note the meeting context (event, date, topic) while it is fresh.
File by event or company so your team can find them, not just you.

Scanning a stack right now? meishiscan reads Japanese and English cards into clean bilingual contacts in seconds — kanji, furigana and romaji side by side. The free plan (20 scans/month, no card required) is enough to clear most piles.