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N4How you sound · Sep 28, 2026

Business Trip in Japanese: 出張しゅっちょう (shutchou) vs 旅行りょこう vs 遠征えんせい

Business trip in Japanese is 出張しゅっちょう (shutchou): a work trip your company sends you on — you don't choose the destination, and the company usually pays. 旅行りょこう (ryokou) is travel you choose to take, for fun. 遠征えんせい (ensei), literally "expedition," is the word anime and idol fans actually use for a trip to a pilgrimage site, a concert, or a convention — a third category English doesn't really have a separate word for.

Mixing up 出張しゅっちょう and 旅行りょこう makes a sentence sound backwards — calling a holiday you planned yourself 出張しゅっちょう tells people it is work.

The basics

What does 出張しゅっちょう mean?

出張しゅっちょう (しゅっちょう, shutchou) is travel for work, decided by your employer, not by you.

来週らいしゅう、大阪おおさかに出張しゅっちょうします。 — I'm going on a business trip to Osaka next week. (neutral, an obligation, not a choice) 出張しゅっちょうが多おおい仕事しごとです。 — It's a job with a lot of business trips. (describing a job's nature)

出張しゅっちょう carries a built-in flatness — the company decided the trip, not you. You can still be glad about the destination (沖縄おきなわ出張しゅっちょう、楽たのしみ!), but the word itself keeps the "this is work" framing intact. For the everyday vocabulary around the job itself, see talking about your job in Japanese.

What does 旅行りょこう mean?

旅行りょこう (りょこう, ryokou) is travel you're doing by choice, for enjoyment, on your own time.

来週らいしゅう、家族かぞくと沖縄おきなわに旅行りょこうします。 — I'm going on a trip to Okinawa with my family next week. (a choice, for fun) 一人旅ひとりたびが好すきです。 — I like solo travel. (a trip you take alone, by choice)

旅行りょこう is the default, neutral word for "trip" in nearly every travel context — booking sites, guidebooks, casual conversation. It's what you'd use for literally any vacation, sightseeing trip, or personal journey.

Same destination, opposite feeling

The exact same city can be a 出張しゅっちょう or a 旅行りょこう destination — the word tells you which kind of trip it is, independent of where you're going:

出張しゅっちょうで大阪おおさかに行いくのは3回目かいめだけど、旅行りょこうで行いったことは一度いちどもない。 — This is my third time going to Osaka for work, but I've never been there for fun. (same city, entirely different relationship to it)

This is a genuinely common real-life situation — people who travel constantly for work often haven't seen their own destinations as tourists at all.

Beyond the basics

遠征えんせい: the word anime and idol fans actually use

遠征えんせい (えんせい, ensei) literally means "expedition" or "military campaign," and it's borrowed by fan culture for a trip taken specifically to see something — a concert, an anime pilgrimage site, a convention, a sports match.

来月らいげつ、聖地せいち巡礼じゅんれいで京都きょうとに遠征えんせいする。 — I'm going on an expedition to Kyoto next month for an anime pilgrimage. (fan-culture register, enthusiastic) 推おしのライブのために大阪おおさかまで遠征えんせいした。 — I went all the way to Osaka to see my favorite idol's live show. (fan-culture, describes commitment/distance)

遠征えんせい carries a flavor neither 出張しゅっちょう nor 旅行りょこう has: dedication to a specific target. You would rarely say 遠征えんせい for a relaxing beach trip — the word implies you traveled for something specific, often a considerable distance, and the trip itself is secondary to the target. When that target is an anime location, planning matters: anime pilgrimage starts with one series and one area, then turns the location list into a realistic route with travel time and a backup activity.

帰省きせい: going home, a fourth category

帰省きせい (きせい, kisei) is specifically returning to your hometown, usually to see family — most commonly at New Year's or during Obon. It's neither 出張しゅっちょう (not work) nor 旅行りょこう (it doesn't feel like a vacation) nor 遠征えんせい (there's no specific event you're traveling to).

お正月しょうがつに実家じっかに帰省きせいする。 — I'm going back to my hometown for New Year's. (a specific, recognized category of trip)

If you want more on this specific word and its family, see 実家じっか/地元じもと/帰省きせい.

旅たび vs 旅行りょこう: the poetic version

旅たび (たび, tabi) is the same root as 旅行りょこう but shorter, and it carries a more reflective, literary weight — closer to "journey" than "trip." It shows up in song lyrics, book titles, and anime openings far more than in a normal itinerary conversation.

人生じんせいは旅たびだ。 — Life is a journey. (poetic, metaphorical — not a literal travel plan) 一人旅ひとりたび — solo journey (the standard word; 一人旅ひとりたび行ぎょう is rare)

You'll rarely book a 旅たび the way you book a 旅行りょこう — 旅たび is what the trip feels like in retrospect or in art, not the word you'd use to arrange the actual itinerary.

Combining these in one sentence

Real speech mixes these constantly, because a life can contain all of them in the same month:

今月こんげつは出張しゅっちょうが2回かい、週末しゅうまつに旅行りょこうが1回かい、あとは推おしのイベントで大阪おおさかまで遠征えんせいする予定よてい。 — This month I have two business trips, one vacation on a weekend, and I'm also planning an expedition to Osaka for my favorite idol's event. (a realistic month, three trip types, three words)

Common mistakes

  • Using 出張しゅっちょう for a trip you chose to take. 出張しゅっちょうで沖縄おきなわに行いきます, said about a holiday you booked yourself, tells the listener it is work. (Looking forward to a real 出張しゅっちょう is fine: 沖縄おきなわ出張しゅっちょう、楽たのしみ! is natural when a work trip happens to go somewhere nice.)
  • Using 旅行りょこう for a work-mandated trip. 旅行りょこうで大阪おおさかに行いきます, said about a trip your boss assigned you, misses the obligation entirely — that's 出張しゅっちょう.
  • Using 遠征えんせい for an ordinary vacation. 遠征えんせい implies you're traveling for a specific event or target — a concert, a pilgrimage site, a tournament. A relaxing trip with no specific target is 旅行りょこう, not 遠征えんせい.
  • Treating 旅たび and 旅行りょこう as fully interchangeable. They mostly overlap, but 旅たび leans poetic/reflective and 旅行りょこう is the neutral, practical word you'd use to actually plan something.

Which word should you use?

Word Reading Type of trip Who decides
出張しゅっちょう しゅっちょう Work trip Your employer
旅行りょこう りょこう Vacation, personal travel You, for fun
遠征えんせい えんせい Trip to a specific event/target You, fan-driven
帰省きせい きせい Trip home to family Tradition, family
旅たび たび Journey (poetic/reflective) —

FAQ

Can a trip be both 出張しゅっちょう and 旅行りょこう at the same time? People sometimes extend a 出張しゅっちょう into personal time — 出張しゅっちょうついでに少すこし旅行りょこうした ("I did a bit of sightseeing while on my business trip") — but the two words still describe two separate parts of the trip, not one blended concept.

Is 遠征えんせい only for idols and anime pilgrimages? It started in sports and military usage (an away game, a military campaign) and fan culture borrowed it. It's now common for any dedicated fan trip — concerts, conventions, pilgrimage sites — but would sound odd for an ordinary vacation.

What do you call a business trip abroad specifically? 海外出張かいがいしゅっちょう (かいがいしゅっちょう) — just 出張しゅっちょう with 海外かいがい ("overseas") attached. The core word doesn't change.

Does 旅行りょこう imply multiple days, or can a day trip count? 旅行りょこう covers both — a multi-day trip and a 日帰ひがえり旅行りょこう (ひがえりりょこう, "day trip") are both 旅行りょこう. The word is about the purpose (leisure travel), not the length.

Is there a casual, everyday way to say "trip" that isn't any of these? 旅行りょこう itself is already the everyday, default word — you don't need a more casual substitute for ordinary conversation. 出張しゅっちょう and 遠征えんせい are for their specific situations, not swapped in casually for "trip" in general.

How would a coworker ask "how was your business trip"? 出張しゅっちょう、どうでしたか? — using 出張しゅっちょう signals you're asking about the work trip specifically, distinct from asking about a vacation (旅行りょこう、どうでしたか?).

Practice

Answers are hidden — try your own sentence first, then open. Questions 3 and 4 use the same city with opposite trip types to show the contrast.

1. "I'm going on a business trip to Osaka next week." (an obligation)

Show answer

来週らいしゅう、大阪おおさかに出張しゅっちょうします。 — 出張しゅっちょう for a company-decided work trip.

2. "I'm going on a trip to Okinawa with my family next week." (a choice, for fun)

Show answer

来週らいしゅう、家族かぞくと沖縄おきなわに旅行りょこうします。 — 旅行りょこう for personal, chosen travel.

3. "This is my third time going to Osaka for work." (work trip, same city)

Show answer

出張しゅっちょうで大阪おおさかに行いくのは3回目かいめです。 — 出張しゅっちょう keeps the obligation framing regardless of destination.

4. "But I've never been there for fun." (leisure, same city, contrast)

Show answer

旅行りょこうで行いったことは一度いちどもない。 — 旅行りょこう marks the leisure version of the exact same destination.

5. "I went all the way to Osaka to see my favorite idol's live show." (fan-driven, dedicated trip)

Show answer

推おしのライブのために大阪おおさかまで遠征えんせいした。 — 遠征えんせい implies traveling for a specific target, often a distance.

6. "I'm going back to my hometown for New Year's." (family trip home)

Show answer

お正月しょうがつに実家じっかに帰省きせいする。 — 帰省きせい is its own category, neither work nor vacation nor fan trip.

7. Fix this: 上司じょうしに言いわれて、来週らいしゅう旅行りょこうで大阪おおさかに行いきます。 (the company decided this trip)

Show answer

上司じょうしに言いわれて、来週らいしゅう出張しゅっちょうで大阪おおさかに行いきます。 — a trip the company decides is 出張しゅっちょう; 旅行りょこう hides the obligation.

8. "Life is a journey." (poetic, not a literal travel plan)

Show answer

人生じんせいは旅たびだ。 — 旅たび, not 旅行りょこう, for the reflective/poetic sense of "journey."

If you travel for events, 遠征えんせい is the word fans actually use, so describe your next trip in a trial lesson and choose between 出張しゅっちょう, 旅行りょこう and 遠征えんせい out loud.

Vocabulary from this article

Tap the block to select all of it, then copy. In Anki: File → Import, note type Basic, separator Tab — the first column becomes the front, the second the back.

出張	しゅっちょう — business trip (employer-decided)
旅行	りょこう — trip, travel (for leisure)
遠征	えんせい — expedition (a fan/dedicated trip to an event)
帰省	きせい — trip home to family
旅	たび — journey (poetic, reflective)
海外出張	かいがいしゅっちょう — overseas business trip
日帰り旅行	ひがえりりょこう — day trip
一人旅	ひとりたび — solo journey/trip
聖地巡礼	せいちじゅんれい — anime pilgrimage
推し	おし — one's favorite (idol/character)

I'm Yuuki, a Japanese teacher based in Tokyo. I've taught on italki as a Top 1% teacher and watched over 1,500 anime, and 遠征えんせい is one of my favorite words to teach fans specifically — it's the one word on this list that admits, right in its meaning, that you'd travel a long way for the right event.

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Sources: the author's own lessons and standard reference grammars.

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