How to politely address an older relative's birthday card


I am a 69 year old English speaking Canadian woman. I am about to send a
birthday card to a second cousin in Japan. We have never met. This woman is
going to turn 100yrs old. How should I address her in the card? Should I use
her family name Mrs.____-san? or her given name ____-san? or Dear cousin?




In Japanese, san is equivalent to Mr/Miss/Mrs/Ms, so it’s unnecessary to say
Mrs xxx-san. Just use Mrs xxx(family name) or xxx-san (family name) instead.
It’s also OK by just saying Dear xxx (first name) if you are familiar with
each other.

