Ohayo!

Here is something interesting. Have you heard people saying 「おはよう」[Ohayo], Good morning for an afternoon greeting? Apparently the trend among youth in Japan is to use Ohayo among friends according to a Kansai University professor’s study. Student’s would greet their professor with 「こんにちは」[Kon’nichiwa], the expression used from noon, while amongst peers they would say “Ohayo”. Where does this custom come from? There are certain dictionaries that give the new meaning of the word Ohayo as, in the realm of the artistic and broadcast media without consideration of morning or evening an expression used when you first meet someone in the day. The word seems to come out of the food and sales industry such that rather than having a general meaning it is used as “the start of the day”. The expression may have made its way from part-time student jobs to university campus life.

Tags: changes, Japanese language