Best Way To Write "Wonderful Cousin" — Subarashī Itoko?


I am making a jewelry box for a cousin who enjoys Japanese language and
culture and would like to write "wonderful cousin" on the lid.

  1. Is Subarashī Itoko — すばらしい いとこ — be the best translation?

  2. Would hiragana the best way to write this, or should I be using some kanji? I would prefer to use hiragana as I don't believe she is as familiar with Kanji but can read hiragana reasonably well.




I think this would work, but there are several issues here.

「すばらしい」 is literally "wonderful", but it feels a bit too
distant/impersonal/flaky to me. There are other words that would semantically
satisfy, but I'm not sure how acceptable/correct they are to use when
conveying your feelings directly to someone.

  * [素敵]{す・てき}な～
  * [愛]{まな}～
  * [愛]{め}でたし～
  * [愛]{いと}(お)しい～
  * [親愛]{しん・あい}な(る)～

Also,「 いとこ」 has several kanji depending on the age and sex of the cousin.
Since you mentioned your cousin is female, you could use:

  * 従姉妹 (general female cousin)
  * 従姉 (older female cousin)
  * 従妹 (younger female cousin)

Lastly, while it's acceptable in (American) English to address someone close
to you by their actual relation ("Hey there, cousin/brother/sister/friend!",
etc.), I don't know if this is done in Japan. My gut says that that they do
not, and would instead just use their name, or nothing at all.

So I guess this is more of an objective answer, but this question itself may
be too opinion-based as it is.

