Technology & Gadgets

Japanese slang for tech, apps, the internet, and digital life

はじめに

Japan’s tech-savvy culture has produced slang for every digital situation. From ググる (to Google something) to ポチる (to impulse-buy online with one click), tech slang is woven into daily Japanese life.

This chapter covers slang related to technology, apps, and digital culture.

テーマ

この章のJapanese Slang一覧（80）

• ぐぐる To Google something — to look up information on the internet using a search e...
• 鯖落ち Server crash or outage — when a website or online service goes down due to se...
• Wi-Fi乞食 Wi-Fi beggar — someone who is always hunting for free Wi-Fi spots or mooching...
• ギガ Mobile data allowance, measured in gigabytes (GB). Colloquially refers to one...
• ギガ死 Running out of mobile data — the dreaded state of having exhausted one's mont...
• 充電切れ Battery dead — the state of a device having completely run out of charge.
• 充電難民 Battery refugee — someone desperately searching for a place to charge their d...
• スマホ依存 Smartphone addiction — the state of being overly dependent on or unable to pu...
• 歩きスマホ Walking while looking at your smartphone — the widely criticised and dangerou...
• 既読 Read receipt — the indicator showing that a message has been read, especially...
• リムる To remove or unfollow someone on social media.
• 捨て垢 Throwaway account, burner account — a disposable social media account not lin...
• 拡散 To spread or share widely — used for retweeting, reposting, or making content...
• 魚拓 Web archive or screenshot — saving a copy of a webpage before it gets deleted...
• ステータス Status — can refer to online status (active/away/offline) on messaging apps, ...
• 通知爆弾 Notification bomb — an overwhelming flood of push notifications or messages h...
• クラウド Cloud — cloud storage or cloud computing; storing data on remote servers rath...
• ストレージ Storage — device storage capacity or cloud storage space, especially on smart...
• 容量不足 Insufficient storage or capacity — not enough space on a device, drive, or cl...
• 落ちる To crash — when an app, game, system, or website suddenly stops working or sh...
• フリーズ Freeze — when a device, app, or screen becomes completely unresponsive and st...
• カクカク Choppy, stuttering, low framerate — describes jerky movement or poor performa...
• ラグい Laggy — experiencing network delay or latency, especially in online games or ...
• オフライン Offline — not connected to the internet, or set to appear offline on messagin...
• オンライン Online — connected to the internet, or available on a platform. Also used for...
• ウェブ会議 Web meeting, video conference — a meeting conducted online via platforms like...
• 画面共有 Screen sharing — the feature of showing your screen to others during a video ...
• マイクオフ Mic off, muted — having your microphone turned off during a video call, eithe...
• ガジェット Gadget — a small electronic device or tech accessory, especially novel or inn...
• ウェアラブル Wearable device — technology worn on the body such as smartwatches, fitness t...
• AI Artificial intelligence — technology that enables machines to perform tasks r...
• 生成AI Generative AI — AI systems like ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion tha...
• AIイラスト AI-generated illustration — artwork or images created using artificial intell...
• プロンプト Prompt — the text input given to an AI system to generate output, such as que...
• ディープフェイク Deepfake — AI-generated fake media, especially manipulated video or audio tha...
• バグ Bug — a software error, glitch, or unexpected behaviour in an app, game, or s...
• 仕様 Specification or 'it's by design' — used humorously to dismiss a bug or probl...
• ネサフ Net surfing — casually browsing the internet without a specific purpose, just...
• タブ Tab — a browser tab; one of multiple open pages in a web browser.
• ブクマ Bookmark — saving a webpage or post for later. Abbreviated from ブックマーク.
• ポップアップ Pop-up — an ad or notification window that suddenly appears on screen.
• キャッシュ Cache — stored data that can cause apps or websites to behave strangely or sl...
• QRコード QR code — the square barcode used for payments, links, menus, and more.
• 電子決済 Digital payment — paying with a smartphone app or IC card instead of cash.
• 二段階認証 Two-factor authentication (2FA) — the extra verification step when logging in.
• 乗っ取り Account hijacking — having your social media or online account taken over by ...
• フィッシング Phishing — a scam that tricks you into giving up passwords or personal inform...
• 垢BAN Account ban — getting your account permanently suspended or banned from a pla...
• データ飛んだ Data gone — all my data or save files were lost or wiped.
• バックアップ Backup — saving copies of your data so you don't lose it.
• 初期化 Factory reset; wiping everything back to its original state — used for device...
• インプレゾンビ Impression zombie; a spam account that hijacks viral posts with irrelevant re...
• ChatGPT OpenAI's AI chatbot; the tool that introduced millions of Japanese people to ...
• ボイチャ Voice chat; a casual abbreviation of ボイスチャット, essential for online gaming and...
• スマートウォッチ Smartwatch; wearable devices like the Apple Watch widely adopted in Japan for...
• ワイヤレスイヤホン Wireless earbuds; AirPods and similar devices that are now practically univer...
• ノイキャン Noise cancelling; a shortening of ノイズキャンセリング, widely considered a must-have f...
• VPN Virtual private network; used by Japanese internet users to access geo-blocke...
• メタバース Metaverse; virtual worlds for socialising and events, enthusiastically adopte...
• NFT Non-fungible token; digital collectibles that saw a massive boom in Japan bef...
• 暗号資産 Crypto assets — the official Japanese term for cryptocurrency, used in news c...
• TikTok売れ TikTok-driven sales — when a product goes viral on TikTok and sells out every...
• モバイルバッテリー Portable charger — a rechargeable battery pack for charging smartphones on th...
• 通知オフ Notifications off — silencing app alerts as a digital wellness practice, rang...
• スマホ脳 Smartphone brain — cognitive and psychological effects from excessive phone u...
• デジタルネイティブ Digital native — Gen Z and younger who grew up with smartphones and the inter...
• アップデート Update — software or app updates, and figuratively, updating one's knowledge,...
• 文字起こし Transcription — converting spoken audio or video content into written text, n...
• テザリング Tethering — sharing your smartphone's mobile data connection with a laptop or...
• AirDrop Apple's wireless file-sharing feature — used in Japan for quick photo and fil...
• サイバー攻撃 Cyberattack — a hacking incident targeting companies, government systems, or ...
• ダークウェブ Dark web — the hidden part of the internet associated with anonymous activity...
• クラウドファンディング Crowdfunding — raising money for a project from many small contributors onlin...
• ローコード Low-code — a style of app development using visual tools and minimal hand-cod...
• スマートホーム Smart home — a house equipped with IoT-connected devices such as voice-contro...
• ブロックチェーン Blockchain — the distributed ledger technology underpinning cryptocurrency, d...
• OS Operating system — iOS vs Android is treated as a major identity and lifestyl...
• SSD Solid state drive — the storage upgrade consistently recommended for faster P...
• Web3 Web3 — the vision of a decentralised internet built on blockchain; uniquely, ...
• 文字化け Garbled text caused by an encoding mismatch — when Japanese characters displa...