Japanese "Otaku" Attracting Worldwide Attention

Several months ago, the discovery of the so-called "piano man" on the south coast of England made news around the world, while in Japan word about "train man," that began in 2004, is still in the news. In the drama, a young man rescues a young woman from a violent drunkard on a train. He is in fact a man called an "otaku," who has no opportunities to make friends with women. He wants to arrange a date with her and consults with others in a Web-based 'geek' group about how to do so. Otaku are also not popular among women. Gradually, he becomes known as "train man" and receives advice from others who care about his situation. Then he continues to make gradual approaches to her and is the hero of the love story.

This is said to be a true story, but some people say it is fiction. Putting that aside, this story started a lot of gossip and later became a best selling book, cartoon publication, a movie and a TV drama series. Why did the unknown "train man" become so hot in Japan? The fact that the hero is an "otaku" could be a big factor behind this story.

The term otaku was born 20-odd years ago because young men who were not good at conversation spoke to others saying "Otaku wa ..." (literally meaning "Your house is ...," but also expresses a slightly distant way of saying "you."). An otaku is an obsessive hobbyist and generally, the image of these people is one of socially dysfunctional individuals, gloomy, unkempt and possibly with a Lolita complex. They are also called "Akiba-kei" (Akiba species). Akiba is an abbreviation of Tokyo's 'electric town’ of Akihabara and Akiba-kei refers to young men who frequently visit Akihabara.

Are Otaku potential sex criminals?
Akihabara is well-known to Japanese and foreigners alike as a town where they can buy almost any electrical product, and many overseas tourists visit to pick up the latest gadgets. In the early 90s when personal computer sales took off, adult videos and animation software featuring female characters were also being sold. Around that time, sales of plastic figurines of teenage girls (often in suggestive poses) took off and Akihabara began to change into an otaku town.

The appearance and behavior of otaku can sometimes give the impression to people that they are potential sex criminals. This fear became reality when an abduction-murder of a 7-year-old girl in Nara occurred in November 2004.

Many media guessed that the criminal would be a person who had a certain hobby such as animation, collecting figurines, or computer games, and printed statements such as "The criminal could be someone like an otaku" and "Potential criminals are created because of animation." After the criminal was arrested, no proof of any excessive relationship with hobbies was found, however the perception that hobbies are related to this sort of crimes was created. Whenever cases like this occur, many accusing fingers begin to point at the Akiba-kei.

Enterprises are turning their eyes towards this huge market
Now otaku are beginning to influence the Japanese economy. One of the positive aspects of this group is that they are viewed as talented staff. In a society where they are apt to be regarded as eccentrics, otaku can demonstrate outstanding levels of concentration. They often possess extraordinary knowledge about specific fields and demonstrate excellent abilities when given suitable work. Many otaku work as back room specialists in positions such as researchers and developers.

On the other hand, otaku consumers are becoming attractive to businesses. In 2004, Nomura Research Institute announced that the otaku market was no longer a niche. According to their report, the otaku population focusing on the five major fields: "animation," "idol," "game," "comic" and "constructing PCs" is 2,850,000. The size of the domestic market is estimated at 290,000,000,000 yen and is much bigger than the domestic digital camera market.

The otaku market uses the internet more than any other group, and shares great amounts of information. Another characteristic is that they are forming groups in closely related fields. Otaku prefer to spend their money and time based on their hobbies or areas of interest. They have high purchasing power and an excellent ability to adopt new products. However, if enterprises consider the otaku market is an easy target, they may well fall into a trap. Although high quality goods created by otaku themselves are accepted, easily made products that were created based on assumptions about what this group will buy are rejected.

Has a new lifestyle been created?
Thus, the world of "otaku" is now expanding as a new culture and a new lifestyle. A few months ago, an "otaku tour" from the USA visited Japan and Akihabara to observe otaku culture. In other news, the first "national otaku test" was run by Biblos Co., Ltd. (the test was included otaku culture information magazine "magazine elfics") last August. Questions tested applicants' knowledge about, among other things, Akiba-kei, including animation and games, and certificates were awarded to successful applicants.

Last year the "Venezia-Biennale" expo was held in Italy. The exhibition theme of the Japanese pavilion was "Otaku: persona = space = city," and a model of the "otaku town" of Akihabara was on display. Otaku rooms in particular drew attention. Their typical rooms were made in miniature and the replicas of "rental boxes" found in Akihabara figure shops also surprised visitors. Otaku often rent transparent showcases from shop owners and display what they want to sell. Figures, cards, posters and so on are sold there.

The exposition staff praised the exhibition highly saying, "This is an intelligent exhibition that is rarely seen." Otaku culture seems to be spreading into the world together with Japanese pop culture. This could well give birth to a new lifestyle, like gay culture, that is common throughout the world.

Cooperation: The Japan Faundation, Biblos Co., Ltd.

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