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In English, the term is used for a special room where a man sets things up for his own personal use and enjoyment, his private space for entertainment and hobbies. The room is decorated and used by the man. I found the term 男の洞窟 in definitions but it indicates an actual cave. I initially assumed that the term was written in katakana, because it is an English slang term, but was unsuccessful. I was searching for a term to indicate the emphasis on a special room where the man is the primary user.

Jack Bosma
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    There is no evidence of prior research for this term. Please walk us through what your research has included (even sources). – ajsmart Sep 25 '19 at 13:28
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    @ajsmart, I amended my question to include the term that I found. It is actually considered a slang term in English. – Jack Bosma Sep 25 '19 at 13:39
  • When you look in google images, you are right, most of the images show caves, but there are also some (5+) real "man caves" to see. – mic Sep 25 '19 at 13:42
  • I am careful of literal translations. – Jack Bosma Sep 25 '19 at 13:58
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    You appear to have looked for a linear translation, then given up. I don't think that's enough substance. What else have you done to *dig deeper*? Can you find another term that might work? Why don't you think the other terms work? – ajsmart Sep 25 '19 at 14:05
  • it is considered a slang term in English so that is my difficulty. – Jack Bosma Sep 25 '19 at 14:08
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    With all due respect, a single dictionary definition lookup with no additional attempts at translation really comes off as a question without much substance (half-baked, if you will). I think that your questions in general will be better received if you demonstrate more depth to your research and attempts to understand. – ajsmart Sep 25 '19 at 14:20
  • All of my research currently leads me to the literal translation, in this case. – Jack Bosma Sep 25 '19 at 14:23
  • Elaborate then. Walk us through the sources. Explain why you don't think they are correct. – ajsmart Sep 25 '19 at 14:24
  • Let us [continue this discussion in chat](https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/99094/discussion-between-jack-and-ajsmart). – Jack Bosma Sep 25 '19 at 14:26
  • @ajsmart Maybe this is better as a meta discussion but plenty of other people also basically ask questions that very similar and they don't get the same hate. https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/72051/what-is-the-difference-between-%e8%aa%bf%e5%ad%90-%e3%81%a1%e3%82%87%e3%81%86%e3%81%97-choushi-and-%e5%85%b7%e5%90%88-%e3%81%90%e3%81%82%e3%81%84-guai https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/71977/what-is-the-difference-between-%e5%a4%89%e6%9b%b4-and-%e5%a4%89%e5%8c%96 https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/72080/%e9%ba%a6%e9%85%92-%e3%81%b0%e3%81%8f%e3%81%97%e3%82%85-for-beer – Ringil Sep 25 '19 at 14:26
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    @Ringil yes, lots of people ask questions like this once or twice when they are new. JACK is responsible for about half of all of these types of questions by himself. – Leebo Sep 25 '19 at 14:34
  • @Ringil I think there kind of is a meta post about this though... https://japanese.stackexchange.com/help/how-to-ask – ajsmart Sep 25 '19 at 14:45
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    @Ringil There is no hating going on here. The regular members here have been very VERY patient (several years) and have done a lot of hand-holding only to be repaid with more of the same. – By137 Sep 25 '19 at 14:55
  • I have learned more here than anywhere else! – Jack Bosma Sep 25 '19 at 14:57
  • @Leebo Obviously I think more effort should be put into many of JACK's questions, but the one thing is it seems odd that these questions are downvoted because they are made by JACK not necessarily based on their merits or lack thereof. I think if many of the questions were made by an alternate account of JACK's they would just be ignored or perhaps even upvoted. – Ringil Sep 25 '19 at 15:22
  • @Ringil that may be the case. I personally haven't downvoted his questions, but you're right that everyone should approach all questions equally, not base things on the user. Any comments I make are meant to encourage him to do the research that could make the question better. – Leebo Sep 25 '19 at 15:25
  • @Ringil, I feel that way, but I get my questions answered the best way on this site. Many of my questions are immediately downvoted and the comments can be difficult , but everyone can chat with me too. – Jack Bosma Sep 25 '19 at 15:25
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    @Ringil I certainly hope I did not give the 'hate mail' vibe. The chat discussion is more clear on this matter, but my intention was to help improve the quality of the question. I agree that downvoting based on the asker is unfair, but if the quality if the questions does not improve, the issue will unfortunately persist. As such, my responses both here and in chat were aimed at helping improve question quality. Hopefully our discussion will lead to fewer negative responses in the future. – ajsmart Sep 25 '19 at 16:23
  • @Ringil, thank you for your comments. I feel better now. – Jack Bosma Sep 25 '19 at 16:25
  • @Ringil, actually the three examples you posted in your comment here are questions of mine. I do not agree these questions are similar to the one we are discussing here. The three of them aim to figure out the different _nuances_ between **two** similar words, rather than plain asking for the meaning of a single word. – jarmanso7 Sep 25 '19 at 17:46
  • @jarmanso7 I don't think your question was the same as this specific question. Although it's better written, it's similar to many of JACK's questions: https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/72062/which-term-is-preferred-to-invite-someone-to-participate-in-a-chat-%e9%96%a2%e4%b8%8e-or-%e5%8f%82%e5%8a%a0 https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/72055/what-is-the-difference-between-%e5%8b%95%e7%94%bb-and-%e6%98%a0%e7%94%bb https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/72025/what-is-the-difference-between-a-%e3%82%ab%e3%83%bc%e3%83%8b%e3%83%90%e3%83%ab-and-an-%e3%81%8a%e7%a5%ad%e3%82%8a – Ringil Sep 28 '19 at 01:05
  • @Ringil, I agree. – jarmanso7 Sep 28 '19 at 08:26

1 Answers1

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Personally I haven't seen this term being used around in Japanese literature much. The reason why might be because how small most housing is in Japan, the creation of a man cave would be somewhat luxurious. So there might be no real equivalent other than putting your manstuff in the same room as the bedroom or common space. That said:

The easiest is to treat it as a loanword. マンケーブ seems to pop up a few results in a quick google.

Weblio suggests the use of 男用{おとこよう}の部屋{へや}, which transmits the intent of a room aimed for male use. 趣味{しゅみ} instead of 男用 would transmit the hobby part albeit not specifying male use.

Using a pronoun might help to identify exclusive use. 俺{おれ}の隠{かく}れ家{が} for "My man cave/hideout" could work, giving off the meaning of a space of retreat and relaxation. In the same vein, 俺{おれ}の秘密{ひみつ}基地{きち} might be good too, to give the vibe of a secret hideaway.

Eriol
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    「[男用]{だんよう}の部屋」☜「[男用]{おとこよう}の部屋」って読みます – Chocolate Sep 25 '19 at 16:35
  • Seriously? Good to know, assumed it was onyomi and not treated separately. – Eriol Sep 25 '19 at 16:38
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    [女性用]{じょせいよう}、[男性用]{だんせいよう}、だけど [女用]{おんなよう}、[男用]{おとこよう}、 ですね。 – Chocolate Sep 25 '19 at 16:39
  • I see, that makes sense. It is indeed from those words that I assumed so. – Eriol Sep 25 '19 at 16:40