Formal, feminine first-person pronoun


よろしくお願いします。 I am writing a scene (in English, with occasional Japanese for
flavor and difficult-to-translate terms) where a rather androgynous woman is
in a Tokyo department store, speaking with a store clerk. She is dressed in a
fairly masculine fashion, and binding her breasts; her voice is more feminine
than masculine, but not unambiguously so.

This character will be speaking with the appropriate level of formality,
customer to store employee, and wishes to make it clear, in these
circumstances, that she is a woman. I am wondering if she can choose a pronoun
toward that end.

Looking at [Wikipedia’s
list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_pronouns), I don’t see a formal
first-person pronoun used only by women. わたし is only feminine in informal
speech; あたし is always informal. Is there no good way for her to convey her
gender with the pronoun? If there’s no really good choice, is there a least-
bad choice?




We do not have an exact pronoun that you are looking for.

「わたくし」 is the most formal, but it is **completely** gender-free.

「 **あ** たくし」 is **mostly** feminine, if not completely, and it is a tiny bit
less formal than 「わたくし」 for using the 「あ」. Perhaps it is a good candidate, all
things considered. At least, I could not think of a better pronoun for your
purpose.

In Japanese fiction, 「 **あ** たくし」 (more often written 「 **ア** タクシ」) is often
used as part of "role language" for a sophisticated dame. Fake or real
sophistication, it does not matter.

(I said "mostly feminine" above because despite the wide-spread rumor among
Japanese-learners, quite a few older gentlemen [especially around Tokyo] do
use 「 **あ** たし」 and 「 **あ** たくし」. They used to use 「 **あ** っし」 as well.)




We do not have an exact pronoun that you are looking for.

「わたくし」 is the most formal, but it is **completely** gender-free.

「 **あ** たくし」 is **mostly** feminine, if not completely, and it is a tiny bit
less formal than 「わたくし」 for using the 「あ」. Perhaps it is a good candidate, all
things considered. At least, I could not think of a better pronoun for your
purpose.

In Japanese fiction, 「 **あ** たくし」 (more often written 「 **ア** タクシ」) is often
used as part of "role language" for a sophisticated dame. Fake or real
sophistication, it does not matter.

(I said "mostly feminine" above because despite the wide-spread rumor among
Japanese-learners, quite a few older gentlemen [especially around Tokyo] do
use 「 **あ** たし」 and 「 **あ** たくし」. They used to use 「 **あ** っし」 as well.)

