How should I say...
 

Hello! My boyfriend is currently living and working in Yamagata, Japan, and graduated college with a degree in Japanese Language...Thursday will be one year since we started dating and I was hoping someone could explain to me how to say "happy one year anniversary" in both rōmaji and kanji, or if there is a different phrase that applies to a situation like that.

Thanks all, I really appreciate it!
:vsign:

I think 1周年の記念日おめでとう is OK, but I'd wait for a native.

You might be able to get away with １年おめでとう.
You could also say １年記念日おめでとう.

I think Kyle's is more specific, though.

I'm with Kyle on waiting for the natives though! I'm curious to know what kinds of variations there are on this phrase.

I`m not a native, but I wouldn`t stick the 記念日 in there.
I`d just say 1周年おめでとう. Adding 記念日 seems really redundant.

Dunno... It must be my old school kinda thinking but I'd feel reluctant to say おめでとう when I myself represent 50% of the party involved.

So, here's mine:

:rheart: 祝！　ふたりの一周年！:rheart:

Yea I've never heard anyone say 記念日 in that phrase before... it had a few hits on google so I figured I'd try it.

After a year I remember my wife saying １年おめでとう... she's Japanese (but sometimes I'm not so sure about her grammar...:confused: ).

"Dunno... It must be my old school kinda thinking but I'd feel reluctant to say おめでとう when I myself represent 50% of the party involved. "

That's interesting. I thought that for a second but I wasn't so sure... I feel like people would say either one although I totally understand where you're coming from.

Yamagata sounds like a cool place though. I've always wanted to go there. I used to have a penpal from there and she taught me a little bit of 山形弁, which was very interesting to say the least. I wonder how the folks in Yamagata would say this.

Seriously, thank you for all your thoughtful responses! He is contracted there for three years and I will visit him in December and hopefully be moved over there by next summer...very nervous/exciting...although it's true I hear the dialect is considered very different from the majority of other regions.

I, being in the beginning stages of learning this amazing language on my own, have quickly discovered how specific certain meanings can become, and how slightly different the uses are for a diverse range of phrases...I'm constantly fascinated by it all

I kinda feel that 記念日 may often times be left out because of the formal/informal structure...even perhaps because it might be more "oldschool" :p (sashimister!) Like I said, I'm very new at this...trying to absorb as much of the living language as I can! I do various types of art as a hobby and wanted to incorporate the phrase in a piece I'm making to send over to him :rheart:

I'll keep all suggestions in mind, as I'm sure there are multiple ways to express this phrase...again, thank you so much!!
:vsign:

A famous Japanese writer from 明治 (Meiji) era called 夏目漱石(Natsume Souseki) once translated "I love you" as 「月が奇麗ですね。(The moon is beautiful)」. Things can be radically different in Japan. I like Sashimister's 祝！　ふたりの一周年！ if it's in writing. I don't know how you say it verbally though. Like him, I don't usually use 「おめでとう」for something that involves myself. It's a word I use to congratulate somebody. I feel going 夏目 style, like「一年たったね！(It's been a year!)」, sounds more natural, colloquially. Maybe saying something in 山形弁 is really cool, too bad I have no idea what it's like.

That does make a lot of sense - I agree that 祝！ふたりの一周年！would be the best way to actually write it out, and you can't go wrong with 夏目漱石 to speak from the heart.

Going back through stuff from when my husband and I first started out...

今日で1年~

Was the extent of the "congratulations" we did. I don`t remember exactly what we said, but that is what is written on the photo we took together.