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ぼったくり bottakuri
Daylight robbery, with a receipt.
What does bottakuri mean?
A price so inflated it feels personal. Travellers use it for airport beer; locals use it for that one bar with the mystery cover charge.
Example
この観光地のかき氷、ぼったくりだよ。
The shaved ice at this tourist spot is a total rip-off.
Vibe
Who you can say this to, and how it lands.
Safe to use Fine in ordinary conversation.
Culture note
Nightlife districts post watch-out-for-ぼったくり signs because a handful of bars still spring surprise charges at the end. Ordinary shops are famously straight with you, which is exactly why the word stings.
The story behind bottakuri
It grows from the verb ぼる, to overcharge, which is commonly explained as a clipping of 暴利, excessive profit. The intensified ぼったくり keeps that accusation of deliberate greed: this is not an expensive shop, this is someone deciding what they can get away with while you sit there.
In practice the word lives in nightlife districts, where surprise cover charges have been enough of a problem that some areas post warnings and local rules exist to curb them. That is the real reason it stings so much. Everyday Japanese retail is famously straightforward about prices, so the rare ambush feels less like a bad deal than a broken promise.
Get bottakuri in your pocket
ぼったくり is one of 308 words in YABAI, a Japanese culture snack for Android. Every word comes with its meaning, an example sentence, a vibe check and a story like the one above — in 13 languages, read aloud by your device. Paid app: no ads, no sign-up, no subscription.
