{"id":11574,"date":"2016-06-10T09:22:17","date_gmt":"2016-06-10T08:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.insidejapantours.com\/?p=11574"},"modified":"2016-06-10T09:22:17","modified_gmt":"2016-06-10T08:22:17","slug":"otaku-japans-counterculture-heroes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/10\/otaku-japans-counterculture-heroes\/","title":{"rendered":"An introduction to otaku: Japan&#8217;s counterculture heroes"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4>Like this post? Help us by sharing it!<\/h4><ul class=\"wpfai-list\"><li class=\"wpfai-list-item facebook\">\r\n      <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.insidejapantours.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F11574&amp;t=\" title=\"Facebook\" class=\"wpfai-facebook wpfai-link wpfainw\">\r\n        <span class=\"fa-stack fa-lg\">\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-square fa-stack-2x\"><\/i>\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-facebook fa-stack-1x fa-inverse\"><\/i>\r\n        <\/span>\r\n      <\/a>\r\n    <\/li><li class=\"wpfai-list-item twitter\">\r\n      <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share?text=&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.insidejapantours.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F11574\" title=\"Twitter\" class=\"wpfai-twitter wpfai-link wpfainw\">\r\n        <span class=\"fa-stack fa-lg\">\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-square fa-stack-2x\"><\/i>\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-twitter fa-stack-1x fa-inverse\"><\/i>\r\n        <\/span>\r\n      <\/a>\r\n    <\/li><li class=\"wpfai-list-item pinterest\">\r\n      <a href=\"http:\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/button\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.insidejapantours.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F11574&amp;description=&amp;media=\" title=\"Pinterest\" class=\"wpfai-pinterest wpfai-link wpfainw\">\r\n        <span class=\"fa-stack fa-lg\">\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-square fa-stack-2x\"><\/i>\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-pinterest fa-stack-1x fa-inverse\"><\/i>\r\n        <\/span>\r\n      <\/a>\r\n    <\/li><li class=\"wpfai-list-item linkedin\">\r\n      <a href=\"http:\/\/linkedin.com\/shareArticle?mini=true&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.insidejapantours.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F11574&amp;title=\" title=\"Linked In\" class=\"wpfai-linkedin wpfai-link wpfainw\">\r\n        <span class=\"fa-stack fa-lg\">\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-square fa-stack-2x\"><\/i>\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-linkedin fa-stack-1x fa-inverse\"><\/i>\r\n        <\/span>\r\n      <\/a>\r\n    <\/li><li class=\"wpfai-list-item envelope\">\r\n      <a href=\"mailto:?subject=&amp;body=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.insidejapantours.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F11574%20-%20\" title=\"E-Mail\" class=\"wpfai-envelope wpfai-link wpfainw\">\r\n        <span class=\"fa-stack fa-lg\">\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-square fa-stack-2x\"><\/i>\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-envelope fa-stack-1x fa-inverse\"><\/i>\r\n        <\/span>\r\n      <\/a>\r\n    <\/li><li class=\"wpfai-list-item stumbleupon\">\r\n      <a href=\"http:\/\/www.stumbleupon.com\/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.insidejapantours.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F11574\" title=\"Stumble Upon\" class=\"wpfai-stumbleupon wpfai-link wpfainw\">\r\n        <span class=\"fa-stack fa-lg\">\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-square fa-stack-2x\"><\/i>\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-stumbleupon fa-stack-1x fa-inverse\"><\/i>\r\n        <\/span>\r\n      <\/a>\r\n    <\/li><li class=\"wpfai-list-item reddit\">\r\n      <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reddit.com\/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.insidejapantours.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F11574\" title=\"Reddit\" class=\"wpfai-reddit wpfai-link wpfainw\">\r\n        <span class=\"fa-stack fa-lg\">\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-square fa-stack-2x\"><\/i>\r\n          <i class=\"fa fa-reddit fa-stack-1x fa-inverse\"><\/i>\r\n        <\/span>\r\n      <\/a>\r\n    <\/li><\/ul><p>When reading Matt\u2019s blog post on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/2016\/05\/20\/itasha-car-culture-akihabara\/\"><em>itasha\u00a0<\/em> car culture<\/a>, I was struck by an awful thought \u2013 we have never explained to you what an <em>otaku <\/em>is. We\u2019re constantly referring to them, referencing their culture and generally bandying about the term \u2013 yet we\u2019ve never once written a post explaining this important part of modern Japanese culture to you, our loyal readers. I can only apologise, and attempt to redress this deficiency now.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h1>What is an <em>otaku<\/em>?<\/h1>\n<p><em>Otaku <\/em>is usually translated in English as \u201cnerd\u201d or \u201cgeek\u201d. <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Otaku\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wikipedia<\/a>, that font of all knowledge, defines <em>otaku <\/em>as those \u201cwith obsessive interests, commonly the anime and manga fandom.\u201d This is indeed the case, but the idea goes much further than this cursory definition suggests.<\/p>\n<p>To understand the world of <em>otaku<\/em>, you have to understand the world of manga and anime \u2013 a world that\u2019s much deeper and more complex than most Western adults appreciate. In the West, cartoons and comics have traditionally been the preserve of young children and stereotypically nerdy adult males; in Japan they are consumed and enjoyed by everyone from teenage girls to besuited businessmen. There is no shame in being seen reading a manga comic book on your daily commute to work, and every convenience store has a large collection of comics on display \u2013 never without a few readers loitering beside them, their noses buried in the pages of the latest serialisation. The upshot is that in Japan, manga (and anime to a lesser degree) is taken seriously in a way that it just isn&#8217;t in the West.<\/p>\n<p><em>Otaku <\/em>are most commonly associated with manga, but there are <em>otaku <\/em>in various other fields too. In fact, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nri.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nomura Research Institute<\/a> (which has made two major studies into the subject) has identified 12 essential types of <em>otaku<\/em>: manga, pop idol, travel, PC, video game, automobile, anime, mobile IT equipment, audio-visual equipment, camera, fashion, and railway <em>otaku<\/em>. Phew. To delve into all the available permutations and subdivisions would be a mammoth undertaking and well beyond the scope of this post \u2013 so it must suffice, for now, to know that there are many kinds of <em>otaku<\/em>. A great many indeed.<\/p>\n<p>All of these <em>otaku <\/em>share a set of defining characteristics \u2013 but as we\u2019ll come to see, what these characteristics consist of is largely a matter of perception. What defines an <em>otaku <\/em>is up for debate.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_11575\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11575\" style=\"width: 720px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-half-width wp-image-11575\" src=\"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/81Rm4pibEnL-720x720.jpg\" alt=\"One of the interviewees in Patrick Galbraith's Otaku Spaces\" width=\"720\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/81Rm4pibEnL-720x720.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/81Rm4pibEnL-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/81Rm4pibEnL-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/81Rm4pibEnL-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/81Rm4pibEnL-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/81Rm4pibEnL-564x564.jpg 564w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/81Rm4pibEnL-1200x1200.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/81Rm4pibEnL-900x900.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/81Rm4pibEnL-1440x1440.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/81Rm4pibEnL-390x390.jpg 390w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/81Rm4pibEnL-780x780.jpg 780w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/81Rm4pibEnL-510x510.jpg 510w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/81Rm4pibEnL.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-11575\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of the <em>otaku<\/em> interviewees in Patrick Galbraith&#8217;s book <em>Otaku Spaces<br \/><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h1>The origins of <em>otaku<\/em><\/h1>\n<p>The term <em>otaku <\/em>first appeared in a 1983 essay by columnist and editor <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Akio_Nakamori\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Akio Nakamori<\/a> (real name Ansaku Shibahara) in the manga magazine <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Manga_Burikko\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Manga Burikko<\/em><\/a>. I won\u2019t go into it in too much detail (and trust me, you wouldn\u2019t want me to) but the magazine existed between 1982 and 1985, and published various kinds of manga \u2013 much of it pornographic.<\/p>\n<p>Nakamori\u2019s short, vituperative essay, entitled \u201cThis City is Full of Otaku\u201d(\u8857\u306b\u306f\u300e\u304a\u305f\u304f\u300f\u304c\u3044\u3063\u3071\u3044), paints a thoroughly negative portrait of the <em>otaku <\/em>subculture based on his observations at Comiket, a Tokyo convention for selling self-published material (of which more later):<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u201cHow can I put this? They\u2019re like those kids \u2014 every class has one \u2014 who never got enough exercise, who spent recess holed up in the classroom, lurking in the shadows obsessing over a shogi [Japanese chess] board or whatever. That\u2019s them. Rumpled long hair parted on one side, or a classic kiddie bowl-cut look. Smartly clad in shirts and slacks their mothers bought off the \u2018all \u00a5980\/1980\u2019 rack at Ito Yokado or Seiyu [discount retailers], their feet shod in knock-offs of the \u2018R\u2019-branded Regal sneakers that were popular several seasons ago, their shoulder bags bulging and sagging \u2014 you know them.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>He goes on to expand his definition from manga nerds to include various other social outcasts &#8211; trainspotters, sci-fi fanatics, those who idolise pop stars &#8211; and rounds off his essay with the pronouncement:<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u201cThese people are normally called \u2018maniacs\u2019 or \u2018fanatics,\u2019 or at best \u2018nekura-zoku\u2019 (\u2018the gloomy tribe\u2019), but none of these terms really hit the mark. For whatever reason, it seems like a single umbrella term that covers these people, or the general phenomenon, hasn\u2019t been formally established. So we\u2019ve decided to designate them as the \u2018<\/em>otaku<em>\u2019, and that\u2019s what we\u2019ll be calling them from now on.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>(The translations here are Matt Alt\u2019s, and you can read the full essay <a href=\"http:\/\/neojaponisme.com\/2008\/04\/02\/what-kind-of-otaku-are-you\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>. The original Japanese is available <a href=\"http:\/\/www.burikko.net\/people\/otaku01.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>You don&#8217;t need to get his cultural references to recognise these playground stereotypes: Nakamori&#8217;s definition of\u00a0<em>otaku<\/em> plays on the universal childish desire for acceptance; the need to blend in. <em>Otaku <\/em>are those who don&#8217;t and can&#8217;t conform: they&#8217;re uncool, they\u2019re unpopular, they\u2019re weird, ugly and outcast. In short, <em>o<\/em><em>taku <\/em>are everything the &#8220;normal&#8221; person ought to revile.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_11579\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11579\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11579\" src=\"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/otakumode.com-Comiket.jpg\" alt=\"Manga otaku gather at Comiket (photo: otakumode.com)\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/otakumode.com-Comiket.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/otakumode.com-Comiket-300x188.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/otakumode.com-Comiket-564x353.jpg 564w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/otakumode.com-Comiket-390x244.jpg 390w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/otakumode.com-Comiket-510x319.jpg 510w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-11579\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Manga <em>otaku<\/em> gather at Comiket (photo: otakumode.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h1>The <em>real<\/em> origins of <em>otaku<\/em><\/h1>\n<p>Nakamori may have been the first to define <em>otaku<\/em>, but he was most certainly not the originator of the term.<\/p>\n<p>In Japanese, the term <em>otaku <\/em>is an honorific second-person pronoun \u2013 basically an extra-polite, formal version of \u201cyou\u201d. When Nakamori chose the term it was already commonly used by manga and anime fans to refer to one another \u2013 an atypical usage thought to have been inspired by the animators <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sh%C5%8Dji_Kawamori\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Shoji Kawamori<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Haruhiko_Mikimoto\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Haruhiko Mikimoto<\/a>, who used it to refer to one another while at university. <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Toshio_Okada\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Toshio Okada<\/a>, the anime producer, foremost <em>otaku <\/em>expert and reigning &#8220;OtaKing&#8221;, has explained that members from different fan clubs originally began using the term <em>otaku <\/em>to refer to one another as a mark of mutual respect (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cjas.org\/~leng\/otaku-origin.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">read more here<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Nakamori thus took the term chosen by <em>otaku <\/em>to describe themselves and co-opted it for his own purposes, turning it from a mark of respect into a mark of derision.<\/p>\n<h1>The Otaku Murderer<\/h1>\n<p>The negative connotations of <em>otaku <\/em>were cemented in 1989 when the serial killer <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tsutomu_Miyazaki\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tsutomu Miyazaki<\/a> was apprehended for the murder of several young girls.<\/p>\n<p>Miyazaki was a social outcast (he was born with deformed hands, which led to his being ostracised by his peers), and had a large collection of anime, pornography, slasher and horror films. These were later seized on by the prosecution as an explanation of his divergent behaviour.<\/p>\n<p>(On a side note, later critics of Miyazaki\u2019s trial &#8211; including <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Eiji_%C5%8Ctsuka\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Eiji Otsuka<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Scenario-filled-Miyazaki-incident-410412804X\/dp\/410412804X?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1465544097&amp;ref_=la_B001I7S8T4_1_7&amp;s=books&amp;sr=1-7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fumiya Ichihashi<\/a> \u2013 have claimed that the <em>otaku <\/em>connection was played up to take advantage of existing negative stereotypes against the subculture, and have even suggested that Miyazaki\u2019s pornography collection may have been added to by a photographer in order to emphasize his perversity. Such accusations are certainly not beyond the realms of possibility.)<\/p>\n<p>In any case, foul play or no, the media swiftly began calling Miyazaki \u201cThe Otaku Murderer\u201d, and society at large duly flew into a panic about the perceived dangers of this reclusive, antisocial subsection of society. As <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2012\/5\/9\/3004622\/otaku-spaces-patrick-galbraith-manga-anime-review\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Verge<\/a> has written, \u201cthe image of his room \u2014 unoccupied and windowless, with videotapes stacked to the ceiling around a small, rumpled bed \u2014 became the dominant impression of an entire subculture\u201d. In other words, it was the final nail in the coffin for <em>otaku <\/em>PR.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, by 1990, <em>otaku <\/em>was firmly established as a pejorative term \u2013 a byword for weirdness, social ineptitude, perversion, and detachment from reality.<\/p>\n<h1>How <em>otaku <\/em>became cool<\/h1>\n<p>Fast forward to 2016 and the picture looks rather different. Beginning in the 80s and picking up speed in the 90s, Japanese pop culture exploded into the worldwide mainstream &#8211; and this explosion was driven by manga, anime, and gaming. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sanrio.co.jp\/english\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nintendo<\/a> won a place in our hearts with vastly successful franchises such as Super Mario and the Legend of Zelda; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sanrio.co.jp\/english\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sanrio<\/a> tapped the global market for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/22\/kawaii-history\/\"><em>kawaii <\/em><\/a>with Hello Kitty;\u00a0crazes for Power Rangers, Transformers and <em>tamagotchi<\/em> captivated playgrounds, anime cartoons like <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sailor_Moon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Sailor Moon <\/em><\/a>and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dragon_Ball_Z\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>DragonBall Z <\/em><\/a>enraptured young audiences across the world, and the phenomenon of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pok%C3%A9mon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pok\u00e9mon <\/a>swept through the world like a plague of cute, yellow, electrified mice. Then, when the anime masterpiece <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0245429\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Spirited Away <\/em><\/a>by <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hayao_Miyazaki\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hayao Miyazaki<\/a> (<em>definitely <\/em>not to be confused with Tsutomu Miyazaki) won Best Animated Feature at the Oscars in 2003, anime came to the attention of the adult population &#8211; and Studio Ghibli was suddenly a household name. Japanese animation was officially cool.<\/p>\n<p>(The rise and rise of Japanese pop culture is something I&#8217;ll investigate in a future post &#8211; but for now you can read more <a href=\"http:\/\/www.spectator.co.uk\/2015\/01\/how-japan-became-a-pop-culture-superpower\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>).<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_11580\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11580\" style=\"width: 720px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11580 size-half-width\" src=\"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/popista.com-dbz-720x405.jpg\" alt=\"DragonBall Z introduced a generation of Western kids to anime\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/popista.com-dbz-720x405.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/popista.com-dbz-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/popista.com-dbz-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/popista.com-dbz-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/popista.com-dbz-564x317.jpg 564w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/popista.com-dbz-900x506.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/popista.com-dbz-390x219.jpg 390w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/popista.com-dbz-780x439.jpg 780w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/popista.com-dbz-510x287.jpg 510w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/popista.com-dbz.jpg 1191w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-11580\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">DragonBall Z introduced a generation of Western kids to anime (image: popista.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But while Western audiences were blithely unaware of the negative connotations of <em>otaku<\/em>-dom, the stigma clung on more tenaciously in Japan. From Tsutomu Miyazaki\u2019s conviction onwards, the <em>otaku <\/em>community made constant attempts to reclaim their term \u2013 beginning with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.co.jp\/%E3%81%8A%E3%81%9F%E3%81%8F%E3%81%AE%E6%9C%AC-%E5%88%A5%E5%86%8A%E5%AE%9D%E5%B3%B6-104\/dp\/4796691049\/378-4165992-0667254?ie=UTF8&amp;*Version*=1&amp;*entries*=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>The Book of Otaku<\/em><\/a>, a collection of 19 essays by <em>otaku <\/em>insiders printed in the 104<sup>th<\/sup> edition of Bessatsu Takarajima magazine, published in 1989.<\/p>\n<p>Negative attention has reignited over the years (during the trial of child murderer <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kaoru_Kobayashi_%28murderer%29\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kaoru Kobayashi<\/a> in 2004, for instance \u2013 even though Kobayashi wasn\u2019t an <em>otaku<\/em>) but as Hiroki Azuma notes in his 2009 book, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Otaku-Database-Animals-Hiroki-Azuma\/dp\/0816653526\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1464696240&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=hiroki+azuma\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Otaku<\/em><\/a>, this has been tempered more and more by acceptance. Hayao Miyazaki\u2019s Oscar was a watershed moment, as I have mentioned, and Azuma points to various other landmark signs of destigmatisation: the rising popularity of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/murakami-at-the-mori-2\/\">Takashi Murakami<\/a>\u2019s anime-esque artwork, for example, or former prime minister Taro Aso choosing to identify himself as an <em>otaku<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Nowadays there are many books, blogs and other outlets celebrating <em>otaku <\/em>culture, such as Patrick Galbraith\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Otaku-Spaces-Patrick-W-Galbraith\/dp\/0984457658\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Otaku Spaces,<\/em><\/a> a book of intimate photographs and interviews with self-proclaimed <em>otaku.\u00a0<\/em>Today&#8217;s\u00a0<em>otaku\u00a0<\/em>even have their own tribal homeland: the Akihabara area of Tokyo. Little by little, the stereotype is being exploded.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_11576\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11576\" style=\"width: 680px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11576 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/complex.com-takashi.jpg\" alt=\"Takashi Murakami: Inspired by manga &amp; anime\" width=\"680\" height=\"440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/complex.com-takashi.jpg 680w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/complex.com-takashi-300x194.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/complex.com-takashi-564x365.jpg 564w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/complex.com-takashi-390x252.jpg 390w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/complex.com-takashi-510x330.jpg 510w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-11576\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Takashi Murakami: Inspired by manga &amp; anime (image: complex.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h1><em>Otaku<\/em> culture is worth celebrating<\/h1>\n<p><strong>Different = bad.<\/strong> It\u2019s the age-old, narrow-minded logic of the bully.\u00a0Critics of <em>otaku<\/em> attempt to secure their own definition of \u201cnormal\u201d by denigrating the \u201cweird\u201d and their \u201cperverted\u201d interests &#8211; and in a society like Japan, where communality is traditionally prized and individualism censured, it\u2019s no surprise that <em>otaku <\/em>have been hounded out of the proverbial village. (Speaking of which, Tsutomu Miyazaki was a social exile long before becoming a murderer \u2013 rejected by his classmates due to a physical deformity. I\u2019ll wager that had more to do with his later behaviour than his penchant for comic books).<\/p>\n<p>And it&#8217;s not just their paranoid tendency to bolster their own identity by disparaging others that we should take exception to &#8211; critics of <em>otaku <\/em>are also guilty of disregarding a crucial fact: that <em>otaku <\/em>culture itself is an incredibly rich and fertile ground for creativity.<\/p>\n<p>For one thing, <em>o<\/em><em>taku <\/em>are responsible for the growth of manga, a form that has been largely ignored in other cultures but which in Japan is a deep, complex and well-respected genre in its own right. They are also the brains behind <a href=\"http:\/\/www.comiket.co.jp\/index_e.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Comiket<\/a>: the world\u2019s largest fair for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/D%C5%8Djinshi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>dojinshi<\/em><\/a> (self-published material), which commands an attendance in excess of half a million and offers amateur writers and artists an outlet to challenge the forms and ideas of mainstream media. It\u2019s counterculture pure and simple, and if you give two figs about creative innovation you should find it incredibly exciting.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_11578\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11578\" style=\"width: 720px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-half-width wp-image-11578\" src=\"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/mrmondialisation.org-miyazaki-720x404.jpg\" alt=\"The works of Hayao Miyzaki and Studio Ghibli have helped bring anime to a worldwide audience\" width=\"720\" height=\"404\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/mrmondialisation.org-miyazaki-720x404.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/mrmondialisation.org-miyazaki-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/mrmondialisation.org-miyazaki-564x316.jpg 564w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/mrmondialisation.org-miyazaki-390x219.jpg 390w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/mrmondialisation.org-miyazaki-510x286.jpg 510w, https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/mrmondialisation.org-miyazaki.jpg 738w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-11578\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The works of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli have helped bring anime to a worldwide audience (image: mrmondialisation.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Throughout history, the world\u2019s best and brightest have often been social pariahs \u2013 their views and lifestyles rejected by the general populace, forced into the fringes of society along with the mad and the criminal. The list of famous thinkers who were considered losers and crackpots in their lifetime is long.<\/p>\n<p>So hooray for <em>otaku<\/em>, and long may they thrive! May they cease to be identified with the lunatic fridge and be embraced as the trailblazers they are. After all, nothing interesting ever came from following the herd.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Learn more about <em>otaku<\/em> culture on our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/japan-small-group-tour\/i-hyp0002jpop\/hyperjapans-j-pop-and-go-\/\">J-Pop &amp; Go!<\/a> Small Group Tour, or look at our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/self-guided-japan-holidays\/i-mangac\/insidejapans-manga-and-anime\/\">Manga &amp; Anime<\/a> Self-Guided Adventure for inspiration.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h4>Like this post? 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Help us by sharing it! When reading Matt\u2019s blog post on itasha\u00a0 car culture, I was struck by an awful thought \u2013 we have never explained to you what an otaku is. We\u2019re constantly referring to them, referencing their culture and generally bandying about the term \u2013 yet we\u2019ve never once written [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2367],"tags":[1281,1299,1846,1974,1999],"class_list":["post-11574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-japanese-culture-and-history","tag-akihabara","tag-anime","tag-manga","tag-otaku","tag-pop-culture"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11574"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11618,"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11574\/revisions\/11618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insidejapantours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}