Technology & Gadgets

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

Introduction

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.

Themes

All Japanese Slang in This Chapter (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...