Social media influences teen trends worldwide, and Japan is no exception. Today, Japanese teens’ top personalities are TikTokers. If an artist wants to be number one, their songs need to be a hit on TikTok.
A recent survey by the marketing company Mynavi revealed top-ranking trends, products and words among teenage Japanese girls in the first half of 2021 come from YouTube and TikTok. Twitter and Instagram are quickly becoming less popular. We older folks might struggle with the latest fads, but it’s nothing Google can’t help us with.
Mynavi’s 2021 teen survey
2021年10代トレンド調査（マイナビ）「はにゃ？」「推しグラス」*「勝たんしか」「地球グミ、ほぼ知らん。正解率50%超えの30代以降いたら👏おはようでやんす。
“I more or less don’t know about 2021 Teenage Trend Survey (Mynavi)’s “Hanya?”, “fan glass,” “only win” and “planet gummies.” If you are in your 30s or older and made an accurate [guess] rate from 50% 👏 ‘good morning’ to you.
Know your slang
To be up to date with modern Japanese, you’ll probably need to understand Japanese teenager’s slang.
Fan glass
“Fan glass (推しグラス / oshi gurasu)” is a clever and simple way for teenagers to show support for their favorite artists. You write the name of a musician in large letters on your drinking glass and upload a picture or video of it on social media.
Planet gummy
“Planet gummy (地球グミ / chikyu gumi)” is not slang, but actually a brand. German candy manufacturer Trolli hit the jackpot with teens in Asia when the brand got picked up by social media. The colorful gummies became popular among Korean YouTubers and are now trending on YouTube and TikTok in Japan. The packaging and product aesthetics have conquered teens’ hearts.
Hanya?
The slag “hanya? (はにゃ)” comes from YouTuber Rei Maruyama. She impersonates Chiaki Inoue, a high school character on her YouTube channel. Rei Maruyama often uses はにゃ？instead of the older generation’s “nani?” when asking questions (or playing dumb).
Katan shika
The expressions“katan shika (勝たんしか)” is a newer take on the slang “[name] shika katan (しか勝たん),” which itself replaced the older phrase “saiko ([name] 最高). All three expressions translate to “(name) is the best.”
It’s a mash-up of katsu (勝つ), “to win,” and しか, “only.”
Ohayodeyansu
The greeting “ohayodeyansu (おはようでやんす)” was coined by Toa from the popular YouTube group “Our Three Sisters” in their TikTok videos. Now, it’s a popular hashtag on social media and the latest “hiya” among teens.
Vocabulary
10代 juudai Teenagers トレンド調査 torendo chousa Trend survey ほぼ hobo For the most part, more or less, about 正解率 seikairitsu Accuracy rate 超え koe Exceed 以降 ikou From ちなみに chinamini Incidentally, by the way 流行った ryuukoutta Became popular 経由 keiyu Via
