When the lodge phone rings in Niseko, you might be the one picking it up. A few words — moshi moshi, please hold — decide the lodge's first impression.
Phone Japanese has its own script. Memorize the frame and you'll survive any lodge call.
Opening (receiving):
- でございます is the super-polite form of です — reserved for customer-facing.
Asking the caller's name:
Buying time to transfer:
Closing:
Important rule: on the phone, you cannot see nods or gestures. Use はい generously — every 1–2 sentences — to signal you're following. Silence makes the caller nervous.
hello (on the phone only)
phone / phone call
a moment / a little (polite)
person in charge
reservation
to switch places / to hand over
One moment please — standard customer-service hold phrase.
May I have your name — opening the identification exchange.
A reservation call to Minshuku Sakura
Translate: 'Hello, this is Hotel Niseko.'
You need 30 seconds to find the manager. Which is correct?
Make a sentence: 代わります / 担当 / に / 者 / の / 。
失礼ですが、どちら様でしょうか。
Someone calls the lodge and asks for the manager. Write your 4-line response: greet, ask name, say wait, transfer.
Tomorrow: lending and returning gear — ワックス, keys, radios in the staff room.
