i have a friend who lives in Japan and sometimes she has explained a bit about how social hierarchy works there ; i agree, i can't think of any way to easily translate that (but i'm far from qualified). once she explained that she was studying "respectful japanese" (that's not the real name, i can't remember what it was), because when addressing someone of much higher social status japanese use such an elaborate code of polite formulas and honorific word-forms as to constitude almost another language. we (in french) have polite ways of adressing strangers, elders and bosses in french as well, like "vous" instead of "tu" (
english used to have this disctinction) but nothing near as complex, and social interaction is not nearly so codified here, groups are much more fluid and i would say that someone *not* being your equal within your group would be the exception, rather than the opposite...
but i like the idea of affectionate or honorific endings (i like to call people chéri(e) in daily life too, in a vaguely ironic (because the beauty of "chéri" is that it's simultaneously sweet and just a bit ringard...) but still affectionate way...), so i'm going to try to remember these. don't be surprised if i start calling people "nekokami-chan" and "taylor-chan" (i know, i know : not usually for boys... i don't care.)