Email to an external Japanese business contact follows different rules than internal email. Get the register wrong and the conversation just… stops. This post covers first-contact, ongoing-relationship, and apology email patterns — with the exact phrases that are safe to use and the ones to avoid.
Three things that differ from internal email
- Refer to your own company as 弊社 or 私ども, never 当社
- Refer to their company as 貴社 or 御社
- Open with a cushion phrase; never start with the request
First-contact email
Open by stating where you got their contact info — drops the cold-email feel immediately:
- 貴社ホームページのお問い合わせフォームより…
- 先日のセミナーにて◯◯様よりご紹介いただき…
Keep the body short. Introduce yourself, then your company, then the ask. Long initial emails read as desperate.
Ongoing relationship
Start with the standard いつもお世話になっております. You don't need to repeat your full company name every time — name alone is fine once you're known.
Apology email
Apology before explanation. Japanese business expects a clean "we are sorry" before any context about what went wrong. Explanation first reads as making excuses.
Phrases to avoid with external contacts
- 了解しました — too casual; use 承知いたしました
- ご苦労さまです — only used to subordinates; never to clients
- すいません — too casual; use 申し訳ございません
- とりあえず — too casual; use まずは or 取り急ぎ
Drafting external email with AI
Tell the AI three things and the output gets ~10× better: recipient type (first-contact, ongoing client, executive), relationship state (negotiating, post-contract, incident), and tone (concise, apology, proposal). BizHonyaku exposes these as dropdowns so the same English email comes out with appropriate cushion phrases and register every time.