What is the Japanese translation for "the customer is king"?

Question

Literal translation: the customer is God.

Answer 1

As above 2 persons said, the customer is God "....Okyaku-sama wa kamisama desu" (お客様は神様です) is common expression.
http://search.yahoo.co.jp/search?p=%A4%AA%B5%D2%CD%CD%A4%CF%B2%A6%CD%CD%A4%C7%A4%B9&fr=top_v2&tid=top_v2&search.x=1&x=22&y=15
but as this search result shows,
Japanese also say, The customer is king. Okyaku-sama wa Oh-sama desu (お客様は王様です) sometimes.

well...I think "the customer is God" became a famous expression in Japan since the it was frequently said by Haruo Minami, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minami_Haruo who was a famous singer of Japan. But he already died several years ago, and Japanese common expression changes as time goes.

Answer 2

Acually the words do not mean the same as the source languge when you want to translate them to target language becuase they "the customer is king" is an idiomatic expression, so we should find an equivallant for it in Japanese, so it can not be translated . You'd better see the Oxford English to Japanese dictionary.

Answer 3

I say chblan7's answer is 1000% correct.
I used to live there for more than 10 years. Heard a lot.

Answer 4

This is what I got from Alta Vista's Babel Fish:

顧客は王である

I have no idea how to pronounce it, though!

Answer 5

"The customer is king" --- "okyakusamawa ousamadesu."
お客様は王様です。

"The customer is God" --- "okyakusamawa kamisamadesu."
お客様は神様です。

We the Japanese say "the customer is God" and never say "the customer is king."

Answer 6

thanks for the American Dollar