寝活 (neru katsu)

neru= sleeping, katsu= short version of activity (katsudou)

Many office workers don't have enough time for health care or beauty care.

They don't even have enough sleeping time.

So people take care of own body overnight while sleeping.

e.g. special stocking for swelling legs, hair treatment, supplements for intestines...

炎上 (enjyou)

enjyou= usually "go up in flames"

Recently people use 炎上 for blogs or Twitter and so on.

In this case, too many people criticize theose blogs so the person who owns the blog can't manage.

Many people tend to become emotional trolls in the internet community because they can be anonymous.

だてマスク症候群 (dahte masuku syoukougun)

date (dahte)= for show, masuku= mask, syoukougun= a syndrome

Many Japanese wear a mask for preventing spreading a cold or for pollen allergy.

But recently people who don't have any symptoms wear a mask too.

Because if they use a mask, they can hide their face and expressions.

So some people want to hide their face without using make up, others want to hide their ugly (they think) nose and mouth.

Many young people wear a "date masuku" in school too.

アラシック (arashikku)

ARASHI= Japanese famous idol group, +sick

People are almost sick because they love the J-pop band ARASHI so much.

ARASHI is part of Johnny & Associates Productions.

That company uses only male talent who can sing and dance as a unit. 

Many Japanese young girls or women like these members.

ツイドル (tsui doru)

tsui= short version of Twitter, doru= short version of idol

A person or a character who has many followers and is very populer on Twitter.

Japanese famous ツイドル (tsui doru) is ガチャピン (gacyapin).

He can do anything and has about 800,000 followers.

風評被害 (fuuhyou higai)

fuuhyou= a rumor, higai= damage

After the Earthquake, Fukushima Prefecture had some damage from the nuclear power plants.

And while other Japanese people should help these victims, some people are prejudiced against Fukushima people.

Because they think Fukushima people are radioactive and will infect other people.

Many Fukushima students have to move to other schools but they are avoided by the students at their new school.

Even adults, some taxi drivers refuse to drive people from Fukushima.

Also many people refuse vegetables from Fukushima or Ibaraki.

It's like what happened to Arab Americans post 9-11.

TNP (tee enu pee)

After the Earthquake, most companies didn't have time or resources for their commercials on TV, and the ones who could just played the same ones over and over.

So the Japanese AC (Advertising Council) advertised its own CM.

 

One of them has a song like "Tanoshii Nakama ga Popopopo-n" (funny friends are Popopopo-n).

It means if you greet each other, you can make many nice friends.

Now people use TNP (Tanoshii Nakamaga Popopopo-n) on the net.

But some people use TNP for "TeiNenPi" which means good gas mileage.

マジ勘弁 (maji kanben)

maji= seriously, kanben= unbearable

If you seriously don't want to do something, you can use it like "This is maji-kanben".

Of course, this term can also be used jokingly.

If you like Rock music, you can say "Country music wa maji-kanben".
This jokingly means "I don't want to listen country music."

節電ビズ (setsuden biz)

setsuden= save electricity, biz= short version of business

From 2005, Japanese use the term "cool biz" for the summer fashion of office workers.

Japanese office workers wear long sleeve shirts and jacket even in the summer time.

The idea is that people should wear light clothes to save electricity.

This summer needs more strict saving of electricity in Japan.

So "setsuden biz" will be "Let's wear lighter clothes. (casual clothes)"

ガガる (gagaru)

gaga= Lady Gaga, ru= short version of "suru" (do)

wearing an eccentric or novel costume like Lady Gaga.

But I think no one can copy her in Japan.

Japanese culture doesmjnnnnnnnnnnnn't allow such fashion.

五月病 (gogatsu byou)

gogatsu= May, byou= shick

In Japan, all schools and companies start from April.

Around May, many students and workers loose their motivation.

Some of them can't go school or office because of those feelings.

Also they have symptoms like a headache or a stomachache and so on.

ツイ飲み (tsui nomi)

tsui= short version of "Twitter" - twi, nomi= drinking

This is the drinking party with Twitter in each place.

Japanese office workers often have drinking parties with their bosses and co-workers.
But most people don't like such parties because the boss is always so overbearing.

So recently young people have parties using Twitter from their own place.
They can wear and drink anything they want.

If you want to find drinking companion on Twitter, you can use #twinomi.

キモカワ (kimo kawa)

kimo= short version of "kimochi warui" , means disgusting
kawa= short version of "kawaii", means cute

So disgusting but cute... Those are usually incompatible.
But some TV talents or merchandise is popular because it is"kimokawa".
e.g. E.T. (movie character)

You can use "kimoi" (same as kimo) for disgusting things but don't use for people.
It's not nice.
Many Japanese kids use this term to other kids and hurt them.

山ガール (yama gaaru)

yama= mountain, gaaru= girl
The meaning is "girls who likes mountains (hiking)".

But recently this term is used for only fashion.
So Yama Girls don't always like mountains, they just like outdoor fashion.

Most popular outfit for Yama Girls is a Yama Suka (skirt for hiking), leggings and a jacket for cold or rainy weather.
And they wear those in town.

DQN (dokyun)

This is a net-slang so usually people use it on the internet only.

In the TV show "Mokugeki Dokyun", people who got interviewed seem to lack common sense.

And they look like a person with little education.

So someone who has no common sense on the internet called DQN.

And also people call DQN校 (DQN school) for schools with low standardized scores.

外こもり (soto komori)

soto= outside or abroad, komori= shut oneself up

The meaning is "shut-ins abroad".

In Japan, some people shut themselves up inside their house and never leave.

But recently some Japanese backpackers don't go anywhere in a foreign country- they just stay in the guest house.

This term was created for those people.

It sounds strange that they don't go sightseeing in other countries because if they don't, why travel?.

But they can live without much money in South East Asian countries compared to Japan.

So there is some truth in what they say.

トモダチ作戦 (Tomodachi Sakusen)

This is the "Operation Tomodachi" from United States Armed Forces for Japanese Earthquake rescue.

Tomodachi= friends, Sakusen= operations

Of course this operation costs a fortune, and we are glad for the help. 

Most Japanese thought that it was a gift from the people of the US to Japan in need... 

But usually friends don't ask for part of the money back when they help. 

I think maybe it should be "Operation 'Friend' " if you know what I mean. 

Like when you buy some T-shirts at a discount in a street market in Thailand, and the vendor says- "Hey, you are my tomodachi now." 

～なう (-nau)

The meaning is almost the same and sounds the same as "now".

This term is used on Twitter and so on so not so many people use it when speaking.

You have to use this term after words and with Hiragana, not Katakana (ナウ).

e.g. TV wo miru nau 「TVを見るなう」= I'm watching TV.

By the way, this term was in the top 10 newly-coined words of 2010.

枝る (edaru)

eda= short version of "Edano Chief Cabinet Secretary". ru= short version of "-suru" (do).

The meaning is "doing like Edano", namely, "working without sleeping for a few days".

He was giving interviews about nuclear power plants many times in a day after the Earthquake instead of the prime minister.

So Japanese people love him so much for doing such hard work and feel pity that he can't sleep.

And now many Japanese people use a Twitter hash tag  #edano_nero (means "Sleep Edano!").

That is so funny.

プータロー (puutarou)

People who want to work but don't have a fixed job.

"Tarou" is a popular boy's name in Japan.

"Puu" sounds like "winnie the pooh".

Yeah, certainly pooh bear doesn't a fixed job. So he is "puutarou" too.

うp (upu)

The meaning is to "upload" to the server.

If people type "up" on a Japanese keyboard, it will show as "うp".

A person who uploads a file is called うp主 (upu shu).

shu= a master, an owner, a host and so on.

I think people think "upu" sounds cute.

拡散希望 (kakusan kibou)

kakusan=spread, kibou=request

On the social media sites like Twitter, people who want to get their posts retweeted use this term.

It means "Please retweet this!"

After the Earthquake, many people used this term.

拡散希望：Japanese Slang!

かかあ天下 (kakaa denka)

kakaa=mother or wife, denka (tenka)= Royal Highness

During the Edo period in Japan, women were subservient.

But from the Meiji period on, women have gradually been getting more and more rights and power. 

Now in the home, the woman has more power than the husband. 

A famous Japanese group, Funky Monkey Babys included it in the lyrics to one of their songs- "Hero." 

「かかあ天下のお茶の間　第3のビールで乾杯しよう」

"Kakaa Denka no ocha no ma, Dai-san no biiru de kanpai shiyo..." 

(Drinking cheap beer alone, because her Royal Highness is in the living room...)

The song is praising the Japanese office worker husband who works hard for his family from early morning to midnight.

But he only buys cheap beer because he is afraid of angering the Queen of the household.

つーか (tsuuka)

(...)tsuuka... 

means "but" or "to be honest" and so on.

For example:

A: このキャラクターかわいいよね。"Kono kyarakutaa kawaii yo ne. (This character is cute.)

B: うん。つーか、キャラクター興味ないし。"Un. Tsuuka kyarakutaa kyomi naishi." (Yes, but to be honest, I don't like characters though.)

You can also use this at the top of a sentence too- like 「つーか　これうまい」"tsuuka kore umai" (tsuuka this is yummy!).

In that case, you can jump in the conversation whether the sentence suits the atmosphere or not.