net café refugee

noun

A homeless person in Japan who do not own or rent a residence (thus having no permanent address) and sleeps in 24-hour Internet cafés or manga cafés.

OriginJapanese ネットカフェ難民 →
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Meanings

nounnet café refugee (plural net café refugees)

plural net café refugees · alternative net cafe refugee

  1. slangA homeless person in Japan who do not own or rent a residence (thus having no permanent address) and sleeps in 24-hour Internet cafés or manga cafés.

    YOKOHAMA (AFP) - Thousands of homeless "net cafe refugees" in Japan risk being turfed out onto the streets as the coronavirus pandemic forces the sudden closure of their uniquely Japanese 24/7 comic book havens.

    2020 April 15, “Japan's homeless 'net cafe refugees' seek shelter amid coronavirus woe”, in The Straits Times, Singapore: Singapore Press Holdings, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 30 Nov 2022

Origin

  1. Japaneseネットカフェ難民
  2. Englishnet café refugee

Calque of Japanese ネットカフェ難民 (netto kafe nanmin).

More words from Japanese

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

net café refugee. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/net%20caf%C3%A9%20refugee

MLA

“net café refugee.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/net%20caf%C3%A9%20refugee. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “net café refugee,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/net%20caf%C3%A9%20refugee.

Source: net café refugee on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.