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Well, my question actually came from an anime movie (please forgive me for asking from an anime), Makoto Shinkai's romance big-hit film Weathering With You (天気の子, Hepburn: Tenki no Ko), where at some point Hodaka Morishima started calling Nagi (Hina Amano's little brother) "Senpai". The reason for this, I presumed, is because of Nagi's experience dating with girls, and giving Hodaka advice for his relationship with Hina. However, my question is, is "Senpai" used like this? Is it normal for an older person to call a younger person "Senpai"? Especially a lot younger in this case, almost 6 years smaller. Does "Senpai" only mean that a person is more experienced in something than you, or does it also implicitly infer that that person is older than you? I'm totally not a Japanese speaker, so please forgive me if this is a very dumb question. I'll appreciate any explanation on this. Thanks in advance!

Note: I'm NOT asking why Hodaka calls Nagi "Senpai", or anything about the anime, it's just that I used the movie as an example. If I was asking about the movie, I would've asked on the Anime & Manga site instead. Here, I'm asking about the proper usage of "Senpai", as well as whether or not there's an inferred meaning in that term.

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  • Oh, really? That actually answers my question. Thanks! And is it actually "Sempai" instead of "Senpai"? If I made a mistake in the spelling, I would want to change it before someone angry downvotes me. So it is "Sempai" with the "m" instead of the "n"? Again, please forgive me because I'm not a Japanese speaker.
    – Luke L
    Commented Aug 7 at 5:54
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    @LukeL if you're talking about the use of the word in English, I think either "sempai" or "senpai" is accepted. As a representation of a Japanese word being romanized (written with romaji), it would depend on the romanization scheme being used, but most people use a scheme these days that would render it as "senpai."
    – Leebo
    Commented Aug 7 at 6:00
  • @Leebo OK, thanks for the clarification! So "Senpai" is accepted. Are there many different schemes for Romanizing Japanese?
    – Luke L
    Commented Aug 7 at 6:02
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    @LukeL There are. You can read more here.
    – Leebo
    Commented Aug 7 at 6:03
  • @Leebo Thanks a lot for the link, I'll certainly check it out.
    – Luke L
    Commented Aug 7 at 6:04

2 Answers 2

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Yes, it is okay to call somebody younger than you "senpai" provided that this person is older than you in some way. It doesn't have to be an age. They can be older than you in terms of academic year, number of years worked in some company, ranking in sumo, the color of their belt in karate, etc..

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  • 2
    Thanks, this answers my question perfectly. But is it completely OK and normal to call a person "Senpai" even if that person is a lot much younger than you? I mean, in the Hodaka/Nagi case I used as an example, it's 6 years younger, but is it still OK to call, for example, your boss who have 5 years more experience but 30 years younger than you "Senpai"? Is there an age gap limit as to how/where/when "Senpai" can be used? Or is there no limit?
    – Luke L
    Commented Aug 7 at 6:26
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    Yes, I don't see anything wrong with it.
    – weeab00
    Commented Aug 7 at 6:28
  • OK, thanks, this is exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks a lot!! :)
    – Luke L
    Commented Aug 7 at 6:29
  • In my experience, it has similar connotations and issues as having a boss who is younger than you or a coach on a team who is young or younger than you. It's fine, depending on the situation, everyone more or less understands. You still can call them boss or coach. But it's upends the expected norm and can cause a range of discomfort or friction. (Or be totally fine.)
    – Jesse Casman
    Commented Aug 13 at 18:12
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It is generally rare to call someone 6 years younger than you 先輩 under normal circumstances. There are exceptions:

  • In the context of learning something specific such as math, romance or gaming, you might temporarily use terms like 先輩 or 先生 for anyone more experienced than you, even including your own child. However, this is more of a joke or roleplay rather than part of a formal interpersonal practice.
  • In a workplace, it may not be impossible for a 36-year-old new employee to start calling a 30-year-old veteran 先輩, but it would usually be perceived as funny and awkward. Most likely, the younger employee would say "Please don't call me that".

I haven't watched the movie, but according to online articles, this "Nagi Senpai" is still 10 years old. Generally speaking, children at this age almost never use the term 先輩 like high schoolers or adults do. If he is constantly referred to as 先輩 by others, then it should be a playful nickname to represent his unique character (he seems unusually mature for his age). This may be similar to how a knowledgeable child is sometimes given the nickname ハカセ ("Doc/Professor"), but something like this should not be considered a standard practice.

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  • Thanks for the answer, it is very helpful. However, your answer and @weeab00's answer contradict, so I'm wondering which is actually the case here. I'm not saying that one of you are wrong, but it must be that one is slightly more correct than the other. Is calling a person a lot younger than you "Senpai" normal or casual and as a joke?
    – Luke L
    Commented Aug 8 at 6:54
  • Anyway, you deserve an upvote too.
    – Luke L
    Commented Aug 8 at 6:56
  • @LukeL It's perfectly fine to say "You're younger than me but are a 'senpai' in this field", but whether a high school student can constantly call a 10-year-old Senpai is a different thing. If you're interested in the latter, the answer is "no" (unless it's clearly used as a nickname).
    – naruto
    Commented Aug 8 at 7:26
  • OK, great. Thanks for the explanation! So children shouldn't be called "Senpai" no matter what.
    – Luke L
    Commented Aug 8 at 7:28

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