Are Japanese People Who Like Anime Otakus
Answerman Why Is It Socially Unacceptable To Be An Otaku In Japan?
by Justin Sevakis, 
James asks:
I take seen a rather large number of anime and manga series in contempo years in which a character (either male of female person) is extremely popular and successful at schoolhouse and with their friends, but hides the fact that they are an otaku (approximately the Japanese equivalent of a nerd in western culture), but I wonder why that is; what is wrong with beingness an otaku? Given that nerd subculture is at present "cool" and mainstream in the west, why is information technology not now "cool" to be an otaku in Japan?
Editor's annotation: this answer has been rewritten. Please check out the revised version here.
Being an otaku is not "absurd" in Nippon, and probable never will exist. "Otaku" itself is a derogatory term and ever has been -- even if a few people consider it a badge of honor. For those who don't know, its original meaning is "your business firm," giving information technology a connotation of "close-in." It can mean any kind of obsessive, not simply one of anime and manga and pop civilization. In that location are train otaku and military weapon otaku and stereo gear otaku and merely well-nigh every other kind of otaku you lot can imagine. There are fifty-fifty otaku for the bento boxes they sell at different train stations in Japan.
In Nihon, people tend to not exist very open up well-nigh their hobbies, especially if in that location's a perception that they'll be frowned upon. Home and work life are kept very split up, and so those who are otaku end upwards living something of a double life. This is part of a yin and yang of overall cultural necessity known equally "honne" (本音), which are your truthful feelings and desires, and "tatemae" (建前), which is the face you lot evidence to the globe. Japanese society mandates that honne and tatemae are kept walled off from each other to a large extent. It'due south all for the sake of living in harmony with others when you're sharing very footling space.
In that location's a long-held stereotype almost Japanese fans beingness hating, and at that place is still some truth to that. Otaku culture has go a lot more social just in the last decade - fandom explosions like Comiket and the enormous wealth of special promotional events and meetups accept brought otaku together similar never before. Otaku civilization appears to exist changing - but information technology hasn't inverse completely, nor has the social stigma disappeared. A lot - certainly not all of it, but a lot - of otaku culture is withal a save for being alone: the endless "virtual girlfriend/fellow" anime and games, the piles of hentai material of all kinds, and the time spent online are all very much solitary activities. Even late-nighttime anime, which usually broadcasts at a fourth dimension when almost nobody is awake -- works largely considering people tin can fourth dimension-shift those programs and spotter them in underground. Japanese gild -- and Asian societies in full general -- tend to favor collectivism and social harmony over individualism. Information technology's a lot more of a "matter" to shame or shun people who throw off harmony, who are hating. So while otaku culture might exist changing, in many palpable means we're still waiting for order to catch upwardly.
Otaku culture as well tends to be favored past the young and nerdy, which makes it something that many older people don't "become" and by and large disapprove of. The local media has played up this angle: at that place have been scare stories about maladjusted otaku doing everything from attacking people on the street to whatsoever number of other crimes. Some younger fans have also started to decline honne and tatemae, proudly waving their "freak flags" about being otaku -- causing no stop of disapproval from the older and bourgeois crowd that makes upward most of the land.
Fed by these media scare stories, parents worry well-nigh their kids becoming otaku. The farthermost cases of hikikomori -- societal drop-outs -- are the ultimate otaku, afterwards all, and for those who are non into the subculture, it could seem similar the logical decision of getting into tardily nighttime anime and manga. The idea of someone innocently just liking these things is not the concern -- the idea that it will atomic number 82 you downwards a road of social decay, is.
You also must remember that the Japanese "otaku" market involves a lot more erotic delights than information technology is overseas. The anime and manga from mainstream sources are more often than not non reliant on smut, just the subculture is practically swimming in information technology. If y'all walk through random shops in Akihabara, you will see a TON of graphic sexual imagery, boldly and openly displayed in many shops. In that location are whole stores dedicated to immaculately designed figurines in ridiculously graphic poses. Eroge (erotic visual novels) are far more pervasive. A huge percent of doujinshi -- the main attraction at Comiket -- is porn. You and I might be sex-positive heroes, but this is however a recipe for social stigma in both Nihon and America.
Otaku, fujoshi , and all of the other sub-groups of hardcore fans are nerds, afterwards all. Fifty-fifty every bit small parts of the otaku globe cross over into the mainstream and proceeds broader societal credence, the majority of this content, and the fans that consume it, volition always be looked at as foreign outsiders. This mentality itself has become part of the content: what easier manner is there for a fan to chronicle to a character than to make that graphic symbol an otaku? Or meliorate all the same, a solitary otaku, living in fear that they'll exist shunned by order?
I don't see any major push to fight these attitudes, even every bit more and more people quietly consume this content, and more and more than of information technology is proudly and loudly consumed overseas. Japanese fans seem (for the most part) happy to enjoy it quietly, underground. For many, information technology's still their secret delight at the end of the day.
Thank y'all for reading Answerman!
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Anime News Network founder Justin Sevakis wrote Answerman between July 2013 and August 2022, and had over 20 years of feel in the anime business at the time. These days, he'south the possessor of the video production visitor MediaOCD, where he produces many anime Blu-rays. You can follow him on Twitter at @worldofcrap.
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Are Japanese People Who Like Anime Otakus
Source: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/answerman/2017-06-09/.117222
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