Forum - View topicNEWS: Washington Post on Akihabara Otaku Culture
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2 Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Shiki MSHTS
 Posts: 738 Location: NoVA |
|
|||||
While it seems that there is some truth to what you say, Otaku do indeed tend to avoid social contact with most other people. Gah. [Edit: Note I'm not an expert in such things as psychology. If I end up being completely wrong in my use of terminology, well, then I am. I only spent like... 1 min looking it up.] |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Godaistudios
Posts: 2075 Location: Albuquerque, NM (the land of entrapment) |
|
|||||
The habits of the shut-ins, etc. though seems to be growing - and it's true that it's starting to become less of a niche, and permeating it's way into the mainstream. Articles like this have been coming out with more frequency. Granted, it did seem to carry a bit of a slanted view, but there is still some truth to the fact that these things are going on. This social behavior seems to be spreading, and it makes sense for society to be concerned about it. |
||||||
|
||||||
icepick314
 Posts: 486 Location: Back in the Good Ol' US of A |
|
|||||
|
i know i'm an anime otaku but not as bad as actual Japanese described in the article...thank god i had LASIK and i don't have to wear glasses.....
it's like any other hobbies out there...i'm sure Japanese laughed at the Americans who dressed up like characters from Star Wars waited in the line for the last movie....about 3 weeks BEFORE the movie started.... and is it bad that i KNOW exactly where that store is located pictured in the article? |
||||||
|
||||||
darkhunter
 Posts: 2992 Location: Los Angelas |
|
|||||
If you call yourself an anime otaku, then you're probably not an otaku at all, just a wannabe. I guess it's time to check out Genshiken for a lesson on Otaku-ness. I'm guessing most "otaku" reading this article felt offended and need to defend it for some reason. |
||||||
|
||||||
Dejiko
 Posts: 276 Location: Holland (between Great Britain and Germany) |
|
|||||
Welcome comrade, we were expecting you 
Seriously, I've been to Akiba on several occasions and while it's not the wholesome anime toybox some seem to think it is, the place is fascinating on many levels. Too bad Toranoana seems gung-ho about taking over the place and kicking out the smaller chains 
Indeed, the very point about otaku is that they don't care 
The Genshiken cast is actually quite sociable. To get to the pits, find 'Welcome to the N.H.K.' for some truly astonishing manga about shut-ins and otaku. |
||||||
|
||||||
DriftRoot
 Posts: 222 Location: NH |
|
|||||
|
I have a feeling that article was not written by someone who is experienced with being a "geek" themselves. I say hurray for Akihabara - it's getting the otaku out-of-doors, after all.
Anyone else find the author's comparisons of Akihabara to Chinatown off the mark? Maybe as a geographical description it was all right, but otherwise it was not. I think Provincetown on Cape Cod might be more accurate in terms of being a flagrant, no-holds-barred place that capitalizes on a small, marginalized portion of society seeking a place to call their own. Also - if all of these otaku are out-of-work shut-ins, they why are there so many stores selling the outrageously priced goods they turn out in droves to buy? I'll bet if one looked at the money made from capitalizing on otakuness one would conclude that it was NOT people with extremely limited financial resources that are the target market. |
||||||
|
||||||
Mohawk52
 Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
|
|||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
Carl Horn
Posts: 90 |
|
|||||
I think Tsurara's comments are right on target. Of course, "otaku" is a term that belongs not only to a certain district of Tokyo in 2005. I was already an otaku (even if I didn't yet know the word) when I first went to Akihabara in 1987. But I didn't go there for otaku reasons; back then, the district was still best known as Tokyo's "Electric Town," the great market district for electronic goods, appliances, and electrical parts. I just wanted to gawk at the consumer future; again, this was the 80s and Japan was still considered the future of the world's reality, not only of its dreams. Ultimately, to say someone is an "otaku" tells you something, but only so much. It's like saying someone is gay or straight, or Christian or Muslim. In other words, that they're definitely devoted to something, but past that point-- If you get down to it, official Japanese perceptions of otaku are somewhat complicated by the fact that the Japanese government has, in recent years, more or less endorsed the idea of anime as a cultural export industry Japan should be proud of. It's not unusual to see consular and MITI personnel at major anime events now. Anime has a "respectable" face through Ghibli (although the sexual overtones of SPIRITED AWAY vis-a-vis today's Japan were discussed even by its producer in the Japanese version of PREMIERE magazine), but it is obvious that despite the success of Ghibli abroad as well as in Japan, it is not really Ghibli anime that has created the great export scene, but things closer to...well, what otaku are into. The issue is of course further complicated by the fact that there is by no means an iron wall between the creators at Ghibli and the rest of the anime industry; Miyazaki has in the past expressed great admiration for Gainax and remains good friends with Hideaki Anno. It was otaku (organized through ANIMAGE magazine), not the general public, who were Miyazaki's early supporters--his films were not always universally well-loved. THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO was not as successful as the first Lupin film; NAUSICAA made US$8 million, but then LAPUTA dipped to $6 million. The bit in OTAKU NO VIDEO where the otaku are mocked for waiting overnight to see NAUSICAA alludes to the old days. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Ganryu
Posts: 106 |
|
|||||
Then something has to be DONE about it and that includes reducing the bullying problems in school. I would guess that most of the current "social" problems are caused in one way or another by bullying. I mean i can't see how someone in "normal" (ie non-bullying) circumstances can become an hikkomori. |
||||||
|
||||||
Aokage
 Posts: 160 Location: The Chaparral of California |
|
|||||
|
Nerds and Otaku's aren't the same thing by any definition. Otaku is an offensive term in the Japanese language. Otaku are literally the lifeless. They are obsessed with their hobby to an extreme degree. Otaku literally translates to "Inside the House"...which refers to doing activities mainly geared toward sitting around or being in the house. It extends beyond just watching anime and reading comics. Otaku could be a person who obsessively plays video games or even surfs the web.
Opposite to that is a nerd. A nerd is one of two things 1)socially inept and unnattractive person 2)A person with a deep academic knowledge (usually in regards to science and technology) and lack of social skills http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=nerd Being inept at socializing and taking part in activities that hinder your ability to be social are two different things. It's like sucking at sports versus not playing sports at all. Anyways, this article is somewhat skewed. Though it clearly references Akihabra, in some segments of the article, it tries to use Akihabra as the example for all of Japan. While child porn may be an issue in that region, it probably isn't the looming issue for all of Japan, that the article makes it seem. I'm not going to say that it isn't an issue at all. Obviously Japan is land to tenticle rape cartoons and quite a bit of goth lolita fantasy cartoons, but that is somewhat of a minor demographic when you look at the whole picture. I'll probably be burned at the stake for posting this opinion...but oh well... |
||||||
|
||||||
sailorspazz
 Posts: 195 Location: Portland, OR |
|
|||||
|
Even if the term originally came from the word 'house', I'm not sure that it really means all people who are described as otaku are practically shut-ins because of their hobbies. I've seen the term thrown rather casually in some anime and manga where one character is, say, really obsessed with a certain singer and has all their albums and bunches of posters and autographs and stuff but still clearly has a life of their own, yet other characters will tease them and say they're an otaku. There may be extreme cases where people become shut-ins, but I don't think the majority of people who call themselves otaku are obsessive to that level (they have to go out to Akihabara, after all
 )
It really does seem similar to English words like nerd and geek because it can be used as an insult by people who aren't and a badge of honor by those who are (at least, the guys in the article didn't seem embarassed about being called otaku). |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Carl Horn
Posts: 90 |
|
|||||
|
In his 1969 book JAPANESE IN ACTION (often considered to be the first English-language book dedicated to "real-life," as opposed to classroom Japanese), Jack Seward advised the use of "otaku" instead of "anata" to sound more masculine! The idea that "your house" implied something inherently negative, or someone who never left the house seems to be a theory that developed later. Rather, it was a way of being polite by taking one step away from direct address of the person; something like third-person English expressions like "the man of the house." Arabic, and other languages, have these sort of usages as well. "Otaku" doesn't seem to have acquired its current connotations in Japan until the 1980s.
And, of course, just as the Japanese make uses of foreign loan words that are sometimes quite different from their original meaning ("mansion" and "feminist" are two good examples), there is no reason for anyone to expect that an "otaku" in Argentina, or Denmark, or Canada, or the U.S. will or should be exactly the same as an otaku in Akihabara--and of course, Akiba otaku aren't necessarily identical to otaku elsewhere in Japan, or even elsewhere in Tokyo--it wasn't Akiba that created Comike, for example, but largely the other way around. Osaka, which gave birth to Daicon Film, General Products, and Gainax, is as much the home of otaku consciousness as Tokyo. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
tsurara
Posts: 4 Location: Albany, NY |
|
|||||
They're not "out of work" so to speak... but they are, for the most part, lacking in traditional full-time careers and/or are still relying on their parents to pay for food/bills/and housing without any wife or children to support. In Japan, especially in the city where housing is so expensive, it's common to live with your parents until you're married and have enough money to buy a house of your own. More and more Japanese youth are delaying, or forgoing marraige altogether to live a life largely without responsibilty in their 20s-30s. There are exceptions of course, but the biggest "Spenders" on luxury items in Japan are the part-time "parasite singles" who sap off their parents to pay off the essentials while they work short hours to and devote their entire paychecks to their hobbies (be they Louis Vitton bags or hentai dvds). To put it a bit more into perspective: imagine you are 25, have a $9-12 an hour paying job on Mon-Friday with Sat, Sun and evenings off every week, no bills to pay, no rent, no groceries, and no girlfriend... you could buy a lot more hugging pillows and retro gaming systems then, couldn't you? 
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
CFizzLe
Posts: 10 |
|
|||||
|
Even in Japan: People who are obsessed with comic books and cartoons are looked upon as nerds.
|
||||||
|
||||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group