Ways to greet someone irrespective of time and situation?


Are there some Japanese greetings like the English "hello"? Most greetings
seems to be tied up temporally or by another specific situation ([もしもし] for
phones, [こんにちは] during day time). If I left a note behind for someone else I
would have no idea how to greet them in the note. In English at least it's
easy as "hello" always works. "Hello X, by the time you read this..." or
"Hello, if you found this then..." are two examples. I don't see any of these
being replace with other greetings such as "good day", "welcome", "nice to
meet you", etc.

So what are some of the more generic ways Japanese people greet each other? If
you were to leave a note without any idea of when or perhaps who might read
it, how would you greet them?




  * Are there some Japanese greetings like the English "hello"? 

No. Most Japanese greetings are very specific to a certain situation. There is
no generic greeting like "hello" in Japanese. The most generic greeting would
be こんにちは, but there are many situations where こんにちは should not be used. For
example if you are meeting your friends in the morning you should say
お早うございます, not こんにちは。

  * If you were to leave a note without any idea of when or perhaps who might read it, how would you greet them?

It depends on the note. For example if you want to warn people about
something, there is no need for greetings. You could title your note with お願い
or 注意.

