[News Terms] Japan's Top Buzzword of the Year: 'Futehodo'

Abbreviations of Popular Japanese TBS Drama Titles
Winner of Grand Prize Among Top 10 Buzzwords This Year
Nominees Include '50-50', 'White Angeon', and More

'Futehodo (ふてほど)' has been crowned Japan's top buzzword of the year. This term is an abbreviation of the title of the popular TBS Friday drama aired from January 26 to March 29 this year, "Futekisetsu ni mo hodo ga aru! (不適切にもほどがある!)" which translates to "There is a limit to being inappropriate!"

On the 2nd, the Japanese publisher Jiyu Kokuminsha announced that 'Futehodo' ranked first in this year's buzzword preference survey. This company, which publishes the current affairs glossary "Gendai Yogo no Kiso Chishiki," investigates notable incidents, remarks, and buzzwords each year. Based on this, they hold the annual New Words and Buzzwords Awards ceremony every December. There were 30 nominees this year. Among them, the top 10 were selected, and Futehodo took the grand prize.

'There Is a Limit to What Is Inappropriate' Drama Poster
[Photo by TBS]

"There is a limit to being inappropriate!" is a 10-episode comedy drama centered on time travel. It depicts the chaos experienced by Ogawa Ichiro, a junior high school physical education teacher from 1986, who suddenly travels to 2024 while riding a bus and moves back and forth between different eras.

Ogawa is a "Kondae" (old-fashioned, out-of-touch middle-aged man) by 2024 standards. Unable to adapt to changing times, Ogawa often receives reprimands for inappropriate Kondae behaviors and speech, such as smoking on the bus. Episode titles like "Can't I say 'Cheer up'?" "Can't I leave messages unread?" and "Can't I tell old stories?" reveal that the drama deals with differences in generational values. Japanese media have focused on the power of the work as the reason the drama's title was selected as the buzzword grand prize winner. They analyzed that the generational cultures and events addressed in each episode provided viewers with opportunities to reflect on intergenerational differences.

Sports-related buzzwords stood out in the top 10 rankings. "50-50 (50 home runs and 50 stolen bases)" achieved by Shohei Ohtani of the MLB's LA Dodgers was selected as one of the top 10 buzzwords.

Otani Achieves the Remarkable Record of 50 Home Runs and 50 Stolen Bases
Photo by AP Yonhap News

Paris Olympics javelin gold medalist Kitaguchi Haru's phrase "I couldn't leave a memorable saying (名言を?せなかった)" was also selected. Kitaguchi expressed regret in an interview immediately after winning the gold medal that she couldn't express her honest feelings, saying "I couldn't leave a memorable saying," which ironically became a hot topic. "Shoro Japan (初老ジャパン, Shorou Japan)" is the nickname for the team that won the bronze medal in the Paris Olympics comprehensive magic team event for the first time in 92 years. The average age of the four team members was 41.5 years, hence the "Shoro" (early old age) label.

The recently emerging social issue of criminal part-time jobs called "Yamibaito" has an opposite term "White Anken (ホワイト案件, Howaito Anken)" which was also selected. White Anken refers to jobs that are not criminal. It is a term used to indicate through social networking services (SNS) that part-time job information being recruited is unrelated to crime. "Uragane Mondai (裏金問題)" refers to the scandal involving slush funds within a major faction of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party that surfaced last year.

Other top 10 words include "Kaiwai (界?)," referring to groups with shared hobbies or interests; "Shinshihei (新紙幣)," the new banknotes issued with a new design for the first time in 20 years; the hit song "Bling-Bang-Bang-Born" by Japanese hip-hop duo Creepy Nuts; and the phrase "Mou ee deshou (もうええでしょう)" from the drama "Jimenshitachi (地面師たち)" about a large-scale fraud case.