Money & Shopping

Japanese slang for money, spending, bargains, and consumer culture

Introduction

From ガチャ (gacha = loot box mechanic) to コスパ (cost performance = value for money), Japanese slang reflects a culture that thinks carefully about spending — and has fun doing it.

This chapter covers slang related to money, shopping, and consumer culture in Japan.

Themes

All Japanese Slang in This Chapter (80)

• 課金 Spending real money on in-app purchases, especially in mobile games and gacha...
• ぼったくり A rip-off; being outrageously overcharged for goods or services.
• 爆買い A massive buying spree; shopping in enormous quantities, originally describin...
• 衝動買い Impulse buying; making an unplanned purchase driven by sudden desire rather t...
• 散財 Splurging; blowing money recklessly on non-essentials, often with a tone of g...
• 浪費 Wasteful spending; squandering money on things of little value.
• 節約 Saving money; being frugal and cutting expenses in daily life.
• 貯金 Savings; the act of putting money away in a bank account or saving up for a g...
• 投資 Investment; putting money into stocks, funds, or other financial instruments ...
• NISA Japan's tax-free investment account system, similar to a British ISA or Ameri...
• iDeCo Japan's individual defined contribution pension plan, offering tax deductions...
• 積み立て Regular automatic investment contributions; dollar-cost averaging through sys...
• ポイ活 The hobby of maximizing loyalty points through strategic use of credit cards,...
• ペイ活 Optimizing mobile payment usage to maximize cashback rewards and promotional ...
• キャッシュレス Cashless payment methods including credit cards, mobile payments, and e-money...
• QR決済 QR code-based mobile payment, the dominant cashless method in Japan led by ap...
• PayPay Japan's dominant mobile payment app, owned by SoftBank/Z Holdings, used for Q...
• メルカリ Japan's largest flea market app for buying and selling secondhand items betwe...
• 転売ヤー A reseller or scalper who buys popular items to flip them at inflated prices ...
• せどり Retail arbitrage; the practice of buying underpriced goods at stores and rese...
• 限定品 A limited-edition item; a product available only in restricted quantities or ...
• コラボ商品 Collaboration merchandise; a product created through a partnership between tw...
• 廃課金 Spending insane, ruinous amounts of money on gacha game microtransactions — w...
• 微課金 Light spending on in-app purchases; paying small amounts occasionally in mobi...
• 無課金 Free-to-play; spending absolutely zero real money on a mobile game and playin...
• 天井 The pity system ceiling in gacha games; the maximum number of pulls guarantee...
• リセマラ Rerolling a gacha game by repeatedly creating new accounts to get the best po...
• 石 Premium currency 'gems' or 'crystals' in gacha games, used to pull for charac...
• サブスク貧乏 Being financially strained from subscribing to too many subscription services.
• 値上げ A price increase; raising the price of goods or services, especially when it ...
• インフレ Inflation; the rising cost of living that erodes purchasing power over time.
• 実質値上げ Shrinkflation; keeping the same price but reducing quantity or quality — a st...
• 貧困 Poverty; serious financial hardship and inability to meet basic living needs.
• 格差 Disparity or gap, especially the wealth gap and economic inequality between s...
• ワーキングプア Working poor; people who are employed full-time but still cannot escape pover...
• 闇バイト An illegal or shady part-time job, often recruited through social media, invo...
• お金の教育 Financial literacy education; teaching people about money management, investi...
• マネーリテラシー Money literacy; the knowledge and skills needed to make informed financial de...
• 老後2000万 The controversial claim that Japanese retirees need 20 million yen in savings...
• 年金 The public pension system; retirement income from government and employer pen...
• クーポン A coupon or discount code used for shopping, dining, or online purchases.
• タイムセール A flash sale or limited-time discount, often lasting just a few hours.
• 福袋 Lucky bag or mystery grab bag sold at New Year's, containing random assorted ...
• 初売り The first sale of the New Year, held by retail stores on January 1st to 3rd w...
• ブラックフライデー Black Friday; the American-originated shopping event now widely adopted in Ja...
• Amazonセール Amazon sales events in Japan including Prime Day, time sales, and seasonal di...
• 楽天経済圏 The Rakuten ecosystem; a strategy of using multiple Rakuten services to maxim...
• ふるさと納税 Hometown tax donation program allowing taxpayers to donate to any municipalit...
• 確定申告 Annual tax filing; the process of declaring income and expenses to the tax of...
• 推し活費 Money spent on supporting and promoting your favorite idol, character, or cel...
• グッズ代 Money spent on merchandise and fan goods — the cost of buying official or fan...
• 遠征費 Travel costs incurred to attend concerts, events, or sports matches in distan...
• ワリカン Splitting the bill equally among everyone in the group, regardless of what ea...
• おごり Treating someone to a meal, drink, or purchase — paying for someone else as a...
• お車代 Transportation money given as a courtesy, typically to guests who travel a lo...
• ご祝儀 A monetary gift given in a decorative envelope to celebrate weddings, births,...
• ご祝儀貧乏 Being broke from giving too many wedding gifts — the financial strain of atte...
• シェアハウス Shared housing where residents rent individual rooms but share common spaces ...
• 家賃 Monthly rent for housing — one of the biggest fixed expenses in Japanese life...
• 固定費 Fixed monthly expenses that stay the same regardless of usage — rent, insuran...
• 変動費 Variable expenses that fluctuate month to month — food, entertainment, clothi...
• 家計簿 A household budget tracker or spending journal used to record and categorize ...
• お金が飛ぶ Money flies away — an expression meaning your money disappears rapidly and se...
• カツカツ Barely scraping by financially; living paycheck to paycheck with almost no fi...
• 金欠 Being broke or short on cash — a temporary state of having no spending money.
• 借金 Debt; money that is borrowed and owed — carries a heavy social stigma in Japan.
• リボ払い Revolving credit card payments where you pay a fixed monthly amount regardles...
• 詐欺 Scam or fraud — also used hyperbolically to mean something is so good or so d...
• 情弱ビジネス Business that preys on people who are digitally uninformed or information-ill...
• マルチ商法 Multi-level marketing (MLM) or pyramid scheme — a business model widely regar...
• お得 A good deal; getting great value for your money — the satisfying feeling of s...
• プライスレス Priceless; something whose value transcends money — an experience or feeling ...
• 100均 100-yen shop; a store where most items cost around 100 yen, like Daiso, Seria...
• 即ポチ Impulse one-click buying online; instantly hitting the purchase button withou...
• 値段設定バグ When the price is so unbelievably cheap it seems like a software glitch — use...
• 沼課金 Spending money endlessly on a hobby, game, or obsession you're addicted to — ...
• サイレント値上げ A stealth price hike where a product's quantity or size shrinks while the lis...
• 新NISA Japan's revamped tax-free investment account system launched in 2024, generat...
• コスパ最強 The ultimate cost performance; the absolute best value for money — the highes...
• ラテマネー Latte money; small daily expenses like coffee that seem trivial individually ...