[Nagoyankee]

Originally Posted by chryuop

This is an example of forml letter given by my textbook.

田中太郎様
拝啓
少しづつ春らしくなりましたがまだ寒い日が続いていま す。
皆様お変わりなくお過ごしでいらっしゃいますか。
私達は元気にしております。
先日イタリアでの仕事を終え戻ってまいりました。
色々お話したいことがありますのでお目にかかりたいと 思います。
ご都合のよいひをお知らせください。
お返事をまっています。

Is it even close to the style a formal letter should have? I mean, apart from the use of おります and the お目にかかりたい which I think it is a little bit above the ですます, all the rest seems pretty much on the line of the ですます form. So is my textbook wrong with this example?

I'm afraid that is not even close to being in the style expected in business letters. Words like 「元気」 and「います」 have no place in business letters. This writer uses 「います」 in every other line.

To me, who has written and read hundreds of business letters in Japanese, this looks more like a regular email message between two adult friends.