Do Japanese say love?
Sarah Duran
Updated on February 25, 2026
This is a very common question. The Japanese certainly have ways to say "I love you", namely "Aishite iru" and the more common "Daisuki". Having said that, though, I would agree that married couples in particular are far less likely to say this to each other than perhaps people in the west.
Why do Japanese people not say love?
Linguistic differences aside, there is a larger cultural difference that causes a mistranslation to occur. Japanese people simply do not regularly say “I love you.” Someone might say “Aishiteru” in a sappy romantic movie, but overall the lingering impression after one professes their love in Japanese is a profound ...Do Japanese people use the word love?
The direct equivalent of "love" is 愛 (ai) in Japanese, and this is a very big word — perhaps even bigger than English "love". English people often say "I love pizza", "I love New York" and so on, but Japanese people very rarely use 愛 with inanimate things.Does Suki mean like or love?
First of all, suki (好き). The latter can be used more lightly than the other three. It expresses affection rather than literal love and is usually translated into “like” in English. For this reason, it can be used between friends as well as between partners.What do Japanese call lovers?
Cute Japanese Nicknames
- 旦那 (danna) – “Hubby”
- 旦那さん (dannasan) – “Hubby”, but the -san, in this case, adds cuteness.
- 嫁 (yome) – “wifey” or “bride”
- 夫 (otto) – “Husband”
- 妻 or 奥さん (tsuma or okusan) – “Wife”
- ダーリン (darin) – “darling”
- ハニー (hanii) – “honey”