Translation guide
The act of shifting responsibility or blame to someone else, often to avoid accountability.
To avoid taking responsibility by making someone else deal with a problem or task.
A formal and direct way to say 'shift responsibility onto someone else'. Commonly used in business or serious contexts.
彼は自分のミスの責任を部下に転嫁した。
He shifted the responsibility for his own mistake onto his subordinate.
To make another person take the blame for a failure or problem.
To redirect a request, complaint, or issue to another person or department instead of handling it.
Literally 'to toss the conversation'. Used when someone redirects a topic or question to another person, often to avoid answering themselves.
難しい質問をされて、隣の人に話を振った。
When asked a difficult question, I passed it to the person next to me.
There is no single Japanese idiom that perfectly matches 'pass the buck'. The expressions above capture different nuances. Avoid literal translations like バックを渡す, which is meaningless.
バックを渡す
pass the buck (literal, incorrect)
転嫁する is neutral and often used in formal analysis (e.g., cost shifting). 押し付ける is more emotional and implies unfairness. Use 転嫁する for objective descriptions, 押し付ける when complaining.
コストを消費者に転嫁する。
Pass the cost on to consumers.
Literally 'to press responsibility onto someone'. More forceful and colloquial than 転嫁する. Implies unfairly making someone take the blame.
上司がいつも私に責任を押し付ける。
My boss always pushes the responsibility onto me.
Literally 'to pass around like a tub'. Describes the act of bouncing someone between departments or people without anyone taking responsibility. Often used for bureaucratic runarounds.
役所でたらい回しにされて、結局誰も対応してくれなかった。
I got passed around at the government office, and in the end no one helped me.
Means 'to evade responsibility'. Focuses on the act of avoiding rather than shifting. Can be used when someone dodges blame without necessarily assigning it to another.
彼はいつも責任逃ればかりしている。
He's always trying to dodge responsibility.
Literally 'to pin a crime on someone'. Strong expression for falsely blaming someone or making them take the fall.
彼は無実の同僚に罪を着せた。
He pinned the blame on an innocent colleague.
Idiomatic expression meaning 'to falsely accuse' or 'to frame someone'. The image is of putting a wet garment on someone, implying an undeserved stain on their reputation.
彼女は濡れ衣を着せられて会社を辞めさせられた。
She was framed and forced to quit the company.
Colloquial and slightly rough. Means 'to shove responsibility onto someone'. Conveys a sense of unfairly dumping blame.
彼は自分の失敗を私になすりつけようとした。
He tried to dump his failure on me.
Means 'to outsource entirely' or 'to dump a task on someone'. Often used in work contexts when someone hands off a project without proper briefing.
上司が企画を丸投げしてきた。
My boss dumped the whole project on me.
Japanese often uses passive voice or vague subjects to avoid directly assigning blame. This can be a subtle way of 'passing the buck' by not taking ownership.
その件については、担当者に聞いてもらえますか。
Regarding that matter, could you ask the person in charge?
He always pushes the odd jobs onto me.
He always pushes the odd jobs onto me.