Common Japanese Slang Sayings & Phrases

Published January 8th, 2016

Here at Nihongo Master, we’re all about learning Japanese. Whether or not you want to become fluent or just learn a few useful Japanese phrases, we’re here to help! While we will also be making a guide to proper Japanese phrases, this guide is all about slang. Whether you’re living in Japan or just watching a lot of anime, you’re bound to hear Japanese slang sayings and phrases dropped in here and there. The way people talk on the street (especially young people) is never quite as formal as what they’ll teach you in a book. So here is a guide to help you understand and speak like a native!

The first audio clip is the formal, and the ones beneath are the Japanese slang sayings.

For our first example, let’s look at how some slang ends up getting formed:

Young people say “チーッス” (Chissu) in place of こんにちは (kon’nichiwa = Good afternoon)

It looks that チーッス was made like this:
こんにちは(kon’nichiwa)→ こんちわ(konchiwa)→ こんちわっす(konchiwassu)→ ちわっす(chiwassu)→ チーッス(chissu)

Like in every language, we end up using shortened versions of words or blending them together to make our lives easier and to save time and energy when talking. Let’s look at some more examples:

How to say thank you in japanese ありがとうございます arigatougozaimasu

how to say thank you in japanesehow to say thank you in japanese ありござ(arigoza)


how to say sorry for being late in japanese おくれてごめん

how to say sorry for being late in japanese slang おくごめ(okugome)


how to say thank you and good night in japanese おやすみ & ありがとう oyasumi arigatou

thank you and goodnight in japanese slang おやあり(oyaari)


Here are some good greetings for the end of the year and the New Year:

how to say happy new year in japanese 明けましておめでとうございます。akemashite omedetougozaimasu

(あけましておめでとうございます)

how to say happy new year in japanese slang


japanese new year greetings

(さくねんはありがとうございました)

japanese new year greetings slang casual さくあり(sakuari)


different new years greetings in japan 今年もよろしくお願いします。kotoshi mo yoroshiku onegai shimasu(ことしもよろしくおねがいします)

new years greetings in japanese slang ことよろ(kotoyoro)

We will keep updating this guide with new slang phrases all the time, so come back and check. Have one you think we should add? Let us know!