I reply with genki desu routinely, but wanted to use a variety of different responses to answer this question. I want to say I'm fine, ok, well, happy, and other different ways to answer this question. I want to use various positive responses.
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1Related: japanese.stackexchange.com/q/26107/9831 / japanese.stackexchange.com/a/27420/9831 /– chocolate ♦Commented Jul 12, 2018 at 16:04
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@Chocolate, my question focuses on how to answer the question with numerous positive responses, it's slightly different.– Jack BosmaCommented Jul 12, 2018 at 16:29
2 Answers
there are a lot of possible generally positive responses to "ogenki desu ka":
the standard "(hai,) genki desu." meaning "I'm fine/I'm energetic."
"ma ma desu" meaning "I'm so-so."
"kekko ii desu yo." meaning "I'm pretty good."
"ii kibun desu." meaning "I'm feeling good."
"saikou (ni ii kibun desu)" meaning "I'm feeling awesome!"
there are variations on these, and the list is hardly exhaustive, so I'm sure other people will chime in with other examples.
The issue with these other ways of responding is that they are usually said with the intention of getting the other person to ask you what's going on, in other words, to start a conversation about what is happening in your life.
Just like with English speakers, where the set phrase is "How are you?" "I'm fine." is designed as a casual greeting that shows you're neither ignoring or being ignored, "O genki desu ka" "genki desu" is just how a Japanese person greets and gets on with their day, minimal fuss. Any other replies will draw people into a conversation, so if that is NOT your goal, you might want to think about whether you really want to change up the greeting or not.
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1@ericfromabeno お元気ですか is not a phrase to ask for 気分 or feeling but if they had sickness or some troubles while you haven't seen them.– user4092Commented Jul 12, 2018 at 16:00
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you have not heard these sorts of things, even from foreigners interacting with Japanese people?
-- ないですけど・・・仮にあっても、そんなの参考にしたり、お手本としておススメしたりしませんよね・・・– chocolate ♦Commented Jul 12, 2018 at 16:18