Sakanaction’s ‘Yoru no Odoriko’ has been nominated for Japan’s 2026 New Words and Buzzwords Awards, 14 years after the song was first released. M!LK’s ‘Suki Sugite Metsu!’ and vocal group MONAKI also made the 30-word shortlist, with the top ten and this year’s grand prize to be announced on December 1st. All three are up against a field heavy on AI and money worries, with Chiikawa and Olympic champion figure skaters RikuRyu also in the running.
Released on August 29th 2012, ‘Yoru no Odoriko’ returned this spring after short videos pairing it with footage of a boy dancing at the bow of a boat during Indonesia’s traditional Pacu Jalur races became a meme in South Korea. It soon reached TikTok and YouTube users worldwide, with artists in Japan and overseas, including Sakanaction frontman Ichiro Yamaguchi, posting their own takes on the dance.
Overseas streams of the song grew more than sixfold between early March and mid-April, with South Korea making up around 80% of its plays outside Japan at the time. Back home, it topped Billboard Japan’s Streaming Songs chart from May 20th and passed 100 million streams in June, becoming the band’s sixth song to reach that milestone.
Videos using the track had passed 1.1 billion views on TikTok by May, and it won the Impact Song award at TikTok Japan’s Mid-Year Trend Awards 2026 on June 30th. “I never imagined that a song we released 14 years ago would put us in a position to receive an award like this”, Yamaguchi said in a video message.
Victor Entertainment boygroup M!LK are on the shortlist for the second year running, after ‘Biju ii jan’, a lyric from their 2025 hit ‘Ii Jan’, was nominated last year. This time the five-piece are recognised for ‘Suki Sugite Metsu!’, a love song about adoring someone so much you might vanish altogether, released on October 27th 2025 to close their tenth anniversary year.
Its title soon spread as a phrase of its own, with people online swapping in their own words to say they like something so much they could “metsu”, while the song’s two-handed metsu pose caught on alongside it. The track spent nine straight weeks at number one on TikTok’s music chart in Japan and became M!LK’s first song to pass 300 million streams in September.
When M!LK won the Music award at the same ceremony, with videos using the song past 3.6 billion views, the group explained where the word came from. “‘Metsu’ was also our suggestion for something to say instead of the slang young people use about loving something so much they’ll ‘die'”, they said in a statement. “So more than anything, we’re happy that everyone danced to this song and started using ‘suki sugite metsu'”.
Their paths also crossed with Sakanaction around MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN 2026 in June, when M!LK shared a TikTok recreating the ‘Yoru no Odoriko’ meme with Yamaguchi. He took the dancer’s spot at the front of the boat while the five members played the rowers, before finishing on the metsu pose.
J-Pop/kayokyoku vocal quartet MONAKI complete the music nominees, and are the only act nominated by name instead of a song title. Produced by Kazuyoshi Sakai, leader of kayō chorus group Junretsu, the four-piece of Jin, Oyone, Kenken, and Sakai Jr. came together from unusual backgrounds, including two former sentai heroes and a qualified architect.
MONAKI made their major-label debut on April 8th with ‘Honma ya de☆Nande ya nen☆Shiran kedo’, a song packed with Kansai dialect catchphrases and simple choreography. TikTok videos using its chorus, previewed ahead of release, had passed 700 million views before MONAKI even debuted, and the song spread well beyond the middle-aged and older Junretsu fans it was first aimed at.
That cross-generational appeal won MONAKI the grand prize at TikTok’s Mid-Year Trend Awards. “What makes us happiest is that so many people joined in freely, across generations and genres, and new ways of communicating came out of it”, the group said.
AI accounts for several of this year’s entries, including ‘AI bōsō’ (rogue AI), ‘fijikaru AI’ (physical AI), ‘dēta sentā’ (data centres), and ‘koe no kenri’ (voice rights), nominated after a landmark case brought by voice actor Kenjiro Tsuda led a Tokyo court to rule in September that a person’s voice, like their likeness, can be protected under publicity rights.
‘NISA binbō’ describes people investing so much through Japan’s tax-free NISA scheme that they struggle with everyday costs, while ‘nafusa’ (naphtha) went viral when a shortage of naphtha-based ink pushed snack maker Calbee to switch products including its potato chips to black-and-white packaging.
Nagano’s hit manga Chiikawa has two entries, with the Chiikawa phenomenon nominated following its July film, alongside character Hachiware’s catchphrase ‘nantoka narē!’ (‘just work out somehow!’). Punch-kun, a baby macaque at Ichikawa City Zoo, also made it after photos of him hugging a plush orangutan went viral worldwide.
Held since 1984, the New Words and Buzzwords Awards base their nominations on terms in the latest edition of Gendai Yōgo no Kiso Chishiki (Basic Knowledge of Contemporary Terms), an annual yearbook from publisher Jiyu Kokuminsha. The top ten and 2026 grand prize will be revealed at 2pm JST on December 1st.
About Sakanaction
Sakanaction are a Japanese alternative rock band formed in Sapporo, Hokkaido, in 2005 by vocalist and songwriter Ichiro Yamaguchi and guitarist Motoharu Iwadera. The five-member line-up, completed before their major-label debut in 2007, also includes bassist Ami Kusakari, keyboardist Emi Okazaki, and drummer Keiichi Ejima. The band's name combines the Japanese word 'sakana' (fish) with 'action', expressing Yamaguchi's desire to keep changing musical direction. Originally performing together in clubs, Yamaguchi and Iwadera wanted to bring the atmosphere of dance music into a live rock band. That approach became central to Sakanaction's sound, combining indie rock, new wave, synthesised rhythms, and folk-influenced melodies with Yamaguchi's often introspective, literary lyrics. Sakanaction made their major-label debut through Victor Entertainment with 'GO TO THE FUTURE' in May 2007, followed by 'NIGHT FISHING' (2008), 'Shin-shiro' (2009), and 'kikUUiki' (2010). These albums documented the band's development from relatively understated guitar music towards more electronic arrangements, with songs such as 'Native Dancer', 'Aruku Around', and 'Identity' bringing them wider recognition. Their fifth album, 'DocumentaLy' (2011), further developed their interest in dance music, while the self-titled 'sakanaction' (2013) became their first album to reach No. 1 on Oricon. Featuring 'Yoru no Odoriko', 'Music', and 'Boku to Hana', the record established them as a major mainstream act without abandoning the electronic influences of their earlier releases. In 2015, Sakanaction composed the soundtrack for the live-action film Bakuman, including its theme song 'Shin Takarajima', which became one of their best-known tracks. Their score won Best Music at the 39th Japan Academy Film Prize, making them the first rock band to receive the award. That same year, they launched NF Records within Victor Entertainment and established NF, a series of club events bringing together DJs, musicians, designers, and other creative professionals. Their interest in visual art and technology has also shaped their concerts, presented under the SAKANAQUARIUM name. Working with directors including Yusuke Tanaka, the band have incorporated elaborate video installations, lighting, and specially developed sound systems into performances designed to give audiences an experience beyond a conventional rock concert. Following a six-year gap between original studio albums, Sakanaction released '834.194' in June 2019, a two-disc record featuring 'Wasurerarenaino', 'Mosu', and the earlier single 'Shin Takarajima'. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they experimented with online concerts and alternative ways of presenting music, including the 2022 concept album 'Adapt'. However, their activities were interrupted later that year when Yamaguchi took an extended break due to illness, forcing the cancellation of their planned national tour. The remaining four members continued working on music and live projects while he recovered. The full band returned to the stage in April 2024 with SAKANAQUARIUM 2024 'turn', a nationwide arena tour comprising 15 performances across eight venues, their first full-scale tour in approximately two years. Sakanaction released 'Kaiju' in February 2025, their first new song in almost three years and their first anime theme, written for Orb: On the Movements of the Earth. The track became a major commercial success, accompanied by a nationwide tour that sold out all 34 originally scheduled performances and added two dates at K Arena Yokohama. At MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN 2026, Sakanaction received eight awards, the most of any artist that year. 'Kaiju' won Song of the Year, Best Rock Song, and Best Anime Song, alongside awards for its music video and artwork, while the band's live sound and lighting teams were also recognised. The success marked a significant return for Yamaguchi, who spoke publicly about his struggle with depression and the difficulties of resuming his career. Meanwhile, their 2012 single 'Yoru no Odoriko' experienced an unexpected revival through social media in 2026, reaching No. 1 on Oricon's weekly streaming chart for the first time. In February 2026, Sakanaction released 'Iranai', their first new recording since 'Kaiju', as the theme for a Japanese television drama. Both songs appeared on a double A-side CD single in September, alongside remixes by Cornelius and Takkyu Ishino. The band also embarked on SAKANAQUARIUM 2026-2027 'Toumei', an extensive arena tour beginning with ten concerts in September and October 2026 and continuing into their twentieth major-debut anniversary year. The production introduced speaker+C, an expanded version of their custom concert sound system designed to improve clarity and sound distribution throughout large venues.
