We’ve already had mori gaaru (”forest girl”) and yama gaaru (”mountain girl”). Now apparently the latest female trend word may be ie gaaru (”house/home girl”) (家ガール).
Less fashion-related than its predecessors, this kind of girl likes staying at home and getting the most out of their domesticity. This, it seems, results in a kind of cute laziness (it’s not a condition like hikikomori): you stay indoors shopping online (e.g. for pajamas), watch movies and sleep in.
A new site dedicated to these kinds of females even includes a test so you can see just how true an ie gaaru you really are. One of the qualifications must be a liking for Twitter since almost every little piece of content has functions allowing you to tweet it to the world.
It also includes profiles of professionals who call themselves ie gaaru and a helpful glossary to understand the niche language. Favorite items of ie gaaru include a sofa, futon, computer and manga (comics).
It is probably fair to say the an ie gaaru is almost the opposite of the yama gaaru, who of course like the hiking, stylishly (naturally). The popularity of the yama gaaru (or at least its exposure in the media) led to an increase in sales for outdoors apparel retailers in 2010. Will ie gaaru mean IKEA and Muji can expect their furniture sales to explode?
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