Most Japanese business email follows a small set of fixed phrases. Learn them and you cover 90% of situations — internal, external, first-contact, apology, refusal. This post is a copy-paste cheat sheet for non-native writers and for sanity-checking AI-generated Japanese before you hit send.
Subject line patterns
Subjects in Japanese business email use a bracketed tag + a short topic. Skip verbs.
- 【ご相談】About the ◯◯ project
- 【依頼】Request for quote
- 【ご確認】Contract final version
- 【お知らせ】Meeting reschedule
- 【至急】System incident response
Opening lines
External (existing relationship): いつもお世話になっております。BizHonyakuの田中です。
Internal (peer or team): お疲れさまです。営業部の田中です。
First contact: 初めてご連絡させていただきます、BizHonyakuの田中と申します。
Making a request
Direct "do this" is too blunt. Pair a cushion phrase with kenjogo:
- ご確認のほど、よろしくお願い申し上げます。 (Please confirm.)
- お手数をおかけいたしますが、ご返信いただけますと幸いです。 (Apologies for the trouble — appreciate your reply.)
- ご多忙のところ恐縮ですが、◯月◯日までにご返答いただけますでしょうか。 (Sorry to bother you when you're busy — could you reply by [date]?)
Thanks, apologies, refusals
Thanks: ご対応いただき、誠にありがとうございます。
Apology: ご迷惑をおかけし、誠に申し訳ございません。
Refusal: 大変恐縮ですが、今回は見送らせていただきます。 (Sorry, we'll have to pass this time.)
Common AI translation pitfalls
Generic translators (Google, DeepL) often produce double-honorifics that read as overcompensation:
- ご確認頂戴いたします — kenjogo stacked on kenjogo
- いただかせていただきます — same humble verb twice
- お送りさせていただきました — humble + polite + awkward
BizHonyaku flags and auto-corrects these. The rule of thumb: one kenjogo per verb. If your translator gives you two, cut one.