You’ve seen the fans, but you’ve probably never really seen a throng of them up close and personal, and studied their behaviour while you’re at it. We’re talking about the “Otaku”.
What/who are they?
Otaku (おたく/オタク) is a Japanese term for people with obsessive interests, commonly the anime and manga fandom. Its contemporary usage originated with Akio Nakamori’s 1983 essay in Manga Burikko.
So-called Otaku from at least 18 countries and territories, many dressed as their favourite anime characters, were converging on the Otaku Expo at a convention centre near Tokyo for the 2-day event.
23-year-old Briton Katie Carter, who turned up dressed as Usagi Tsukino, a character from the popular “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon”, said that the Otaku culture is spreading worldwide “like a big snowball picking up a pace”. “This is amazing. There are so many people of different cultures coming together,” she told AFP.
28-year-old Expo visitor Valentino Notari said of the Otaku culture outside Japan, In my country, Italy, currently it’s a very big thing. It used to be much smaller, we used to be sort of outcasts when we started back then about 10 years ago, and now it’s becoming massive. It’s quite fun and nowadays everybody accepts it.”
Comic Market Committee co-chief Kahoru Yasuda said, “The number of foreign visitors has been increasing over recent years.”
The Expo is part of a special comic book fair held every 5 years, which attracts about half a million visitors. This year’s event marks the first time that groups from outside Japan are invited. About 4 dozen overseas Otaku groups were expected to attend.
Sources: Otaku Wikipedia, AFP via Yahoo! News, NST Online / Featured image from AFP.
