It’s Official: The 30 Words That Defined Japan in 2026 (Riku-Ryu and 滅 Made the List)

Every November, Japan plays the same game at the office, in group chats and on TV: someone pulls up the Word of the Year nominees and asks, この中で、いくつ知ってる？ — “How many of these do you know?”

This year’s list dropped on November 5. Thirty words were nominated for the 2026 新語・流行語大賞 (Shingo Ryūkōgo Taishō), and two of them will look familiar if you’ve been reading JAPAN NOW: りくりゅう and 好きすぎて滅！

The top ten and the grand prize will be announced on December 1.

The full list of 30

Here are all 30 nominees, in Japanese alphabetical order, as published:

青切符 ／ あかり、信じてるからな ／ AI暴走 ／ キオクシア ／ ギルティ ／ 警戒レベル5 ／ 言語化 ／ 声の権利 ／ 酷暑日 ／ 消費税1％ ／ 好きすぎて滅！ ／ スクイーズ ／ スマホ農場 ／ setlog（セットログ） ／ だけ弁当 ／ ちいかわ（現象） ／ データセンター ／ ドパガキ ／ ナフサ ／ なんとかなれーッ ／ NISA貧乏 ／ パンチくん ／ ピックルボール ／ フィジカルAI ／ フレネミー ／ ホビ垢 ／ ボンボンドロップシール（ボンドロ） ／ モナキ ／ 夜の踊り子 ／ りくりゅう

Don’t worry if most of these mean nothing to you yet. Many Japanese people say the same thing.

The ones we’ve already covered

りくりゅう (Riku-Ryu)

The nickname of figure skaters Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, who won pairs gold at the Milano Cortina Olympics after a huge comeback. We called it the favorite back in our prediction story, and it’s now officially in the running.

好きすぎて滅！ (Suki Sugite Metsu!)

The M!LK song title that turned the scary kanji 滅 into the cutest way to say “I love it too much.” Read the full breakdown in our 滅 explainer.

モナキ (Monaki)

The four-member group that topped the people category of this year’s teen trend awards. We covered them in our 2026 teen slang roundup, along with their Kansai-dialect hit.

Words that reflect daily life

Several nominees are about money, safety and the weather — the things people worried about this year:

• 消費税1％ (shōhizei ichi-pāsento) — refers to the government’s plan to cut the consumption tax on food to 1%, a major political topic this year.
• 警戒レベル5 (keikai reberu go) — the highest level in Japan’s five-step disaster alert system for heavy rain and evacuation. If you live in Japan, it’s worth knowing. (See our disaster agency guide for more emergency words.)
• 青切符 (ao-kippu) — “blue tickets,” fines for bicycle traffic violations that began in April. We explain them in our bicycle rules guide.
• スマホ農場 (sumaho nōjō) — “smartphone farm,” also called a click farm: rows of phones used to fake views, likes and followers.

Words borrowed from English (sort of)

• フレネミー — “frenemy,” a friend who is secretly a rival. We break it down in our frenemy explainer.
• ピックルボール — pickleball, the paddle sport that has been spreading in Japan.
• フィジカルAI and データセンター — AI that acts in the physical world (like robots), and the data centers that power it.
• スクイーズ — squishy toys, which also topped this year’s teen trend rankings.

The mood of 2026

According to reports on the announcement, the organizers noted that many of this year’s words reflected anxiety — rising prices, abnormal weather and conflict abroad. But the list also includes 癒やし (iyashi), words that comfort: the sticker craze ボンドロ, the cheerful shout なんとかなれーッ (“somehow it’ll work out!”), and the joyful 好きすぎて滅！

2026 in 30 words: a little anxious, a little exhausted — and still finding things to love too much.

Your homework before December 1

Pick three words from the list you don’t know and search them on Japanese social media. Then come back on December 1 to see which one wins. We’ll be explaining more of the nominees in the coming weeks.