Top 60 Japanese Buzzwords of 2007

They aren't all directly gadget related, but I found Pink Tentacle's collection of the "Top 60 Japanese Buzzwords of 2007" to be a fun peek into a culture that's about as obsseive and trend-swept as our own.

34. One-yen products (one-yen pachinko, one-yen cellphone) [1-en mono - １円もの]: Products that cost one yen are becoming popular. This year, some pachinko parlors reduced the price of balls to one yen each (down from four yen each), and some cellphone providers cut the price of featured handsets to one yen.

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40. Dark website [yami site - 闇サイト]: Yami sites (”dark websites”) are online networking sites where people can take out hit contracts on others, make illegal transactions (drugs, fake bank accounts, hacked cellphones, prostitution, etc.), and meet suicide partners. Japan has seen a recent rise in the number of murders arranged through these web-based hotbeds of criminal activity.

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46. China shock/China-free [チャイナショック／チャイナフリー]: “China shock” refers to the impact felt in world markets after the Shanghai Composite Index took a steep plunge in February. “China-free,” a phrase that grew in popularity after a string of Chinese products (toothpaste, toys, etc.) were found to contain hazardous materials, refers to products not made in China.

Top 60 Japanese buzzwords of 2007 [Pink Tentacle]