「つかぬ事を伺いますが」は“ささいな事”ではない。本来の意味を選べたのは45.6％、30代以下では「ささいな事」と答えた人の方が多い

Japanese people often say "tsukanu koto o ukagaimasu ga" before a question. It means "I am going to ask about something different from what we were talking about."

But many people think "tsukanu koto" means "a small, unimportant thing." In a national survey, 45.6 percent chose the dictionary meaning, and 41.6 percent chose "a small thing." In English, people often say "by the way" in the same situation.

"Tsukanu koto o ukagaimasu ga" is a polite way to start a question in Japanese. According to dictionaries, "tsukanu koto" means something that has nothing to do with the conversation so far. In a survey carried out in early 2025, Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs found that 45.6 percent of people chose this meaning.

However, 41.6 percent thought it meant "a small, unimportant matter," and 9.8 percent said it had both meanings. The results differed by age. Among people in their thirties or younger, "a small matter" was the more popular answer. Among people aged 60 or older, the dictionary meaning was chosen more often.

Many Japanese speakers open a sudden question with "tsukanu koto o ukagaimasu ga." Dictionaries define "tsukanu koto" as something unrelated to what has been said so far, or something that comes out of nowhere. In a 2025 government survey, however, only 45.6 percent of respondents picked that meaning, while 41.6 percent believed it referred to a trivial matter.

People aged 60 or older tended to choose the dictionary sense, whereas people in their thirties or younger more often chose "trivial." One large Japanese dictionary explains that "tsukanu" is a shortened form of "omoi mo tsukanu," which means "never thought of."

So the phrase is closer to "Sorry, this is out of the blue, but..." than to "This is a small thing, but..." English speakers do something similar with "by the way," which a learner's dictionary describes as a way to introduce a comment that is not directly related to the topic. Why does the mix-up go unnoticed? One possible reason is that the question that follows is often both sudden and minor, so either meaning seems to fit.