I’ve remember seeing the honorific a few times in kana rather than kanji so I’m curious which one is more common.
Thanks!
I almost never see honorifics in kanji outside of dictionaries, but I’m not exactly reading collegiate level stuff either…
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I’ve seen it in kanji. Often enough that I don’t really have a gut feeling as to which is more common.
One amusing thing about 君 that I just read: くん is on, and きみ is kun.
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Ok. I just know some words wanikani teaches are sometimes ones that are usually kana. Thanks!
I see 様 quite a bit.
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Yeah, I always see it written in kanji on bills/letters/emails from Japanese companies.
くん I think depends on the manga or novel. I can’t imagine seeing it in a real written form of address unless it’s a note from a teacher to a student or a supervisor to underling. Even then, さん is increasingly common I believe. Anyhow, for manga, I think it’s going to be dependent on the intended audience’s reading level and also on the writer. The writer might write it in katakana to signal that the character is supposed to be more young or cute.
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Yeah, it’s the standard way to address an envelope in Japanese, regardless of your relationship. Even if you were writing a letter to your child, you would put [child’s name]様 on the envelope (though others are possible for specific situations… 殿 for inferiors in some business letters, 先生 for… sensei, 御中 for organizations)
My understanding is 様 is essentially always acceptable, meaning even in those other situations I mentioned, and nothing less honorific gets used on envelopes.
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Interesting!! I wouldn’t have imagined that even for familial situations. Good to know though. I’ll keep that in mind when sending letters to Japanese folk.
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Do… do the post office just not deliver it if it’s insufficiently polite? 
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In all seriousness, it’s not a rule or anything, it’s just that standardized.
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Don’t question it and just write 貴様 on it so it definitely gets delivered
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Yeah, I don’t recall seeing it written as ~さま. I guess most situations formal enough for it to be used are also formal enough to use mainly kanji.
As for OPs question, my gut feeling is that both ~君 and ~くん are common. Neither strikes me as out of place.
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Yeah, was going to say this.
Other than that, it’s worth noting that for the OP that a lot of time the choice of くん or 君 is going to depend on context.
And as people previously mentioned, there are times where くん will always be used, like in “all kana child speech” that is common. Also, クン may get used for emphasis, or for robotic robots (LIKE ALL CAPS SPEECH). Book nerdy characters sometimes favor kanji as well, and this consistently use 君.
But most of the time, in something aimed at older teens and adults, the choice will boil down to “aetsthetic.” Like 君 may be preferred for readability after a kana surname, for example. Or maybe くん makes the text bubble feel more used. Or maybe the author just really loves/hates the character 君. There are many imaginable reasons here, that vary from author to author and scene to scene.
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