Member-only story
Japan’s Hot New Buzzwords of 2023: Sportsmanship, Nude Jokes, And Sugar Babies
2023’s trendy Japan words include a new type of girl group, a guy who’s definitely wearing pants, and Japan’s most popular baseball player.
By Himari Semans
When stores turn off Bobby Pickett’s Monster Mash and have Mariah Carey tune in, it dawns on you — –the year is soon over.
The Japanese get the reminder from Christmas jingles and a 39-year tradition by the educational publisher U-CAN (ユーキャン) that releases its anticipated list of the top 30 Japanese hot and new buzzwords, or ryukougo (流行語).
Tracking newly coined words and popular expressions on social media and mainstream news, the U-CAN has annually compiled popular expressions and newly coined words since 1984.
Awards go out to individuals and groups involved in starting each lingual trend after the grand prize and the top 10 come out on December 1st.
As we’ve done for many years now (2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, and 2018) Unseen Japan is here to unpack the Japan-specific terms in this year’s roundup.
