羽田空港で友だちが来ないトラブルの真相

What does “きたきたきた” mean in Japanese?

きたきたきた (kita kita kita) is 来た, the plain past tense of 来る (“to come”), repeated three times as a spoken interjection. On its own, 来た just means “it came” or “it’s here” — but tripling it turns a flat statement into a burst of real-time excitement or relief, the way English speakers might chant “here it comes, here it comes!” as a build-up finally pays off.

In the clip, someone recounts a friend going missing after a “see you later” at the airport, building tension before finally spotting them — and the narration erupts into “きたきたきた” right as the friend appears. The same repetition trick works with other verbs for comic or dramatic effect (やばいやばいやばい for mounting panic, まじまじまじ for disbelief), and it’s common in reaction videos and live commentary where the speaker narrates their own anticipation in real time.