Japan and 'Otaku'

Worse. Because it perpetuates Ugly American stereotypes.

Um. Check out the history of the word "awesome" some time... <_< It's got little to do with where a word comes from, when it's taken or who is doing the importing.

Words just do this. -_-

edited 26th Oct '14 4:41:00 PM by Euodiachloris

Remember, when you say someone is "nice", you're really calling them an idiot.

Words tend to change meaning and connotations over time and place. There's little reason to get worked up because a word has a different connotations in America than in Japan.

Or, you're calling them "neat and precise aka 'prissy'". "Nice" has slithered all over the spectrum in its progression.

Heck: some of this may even feed back into Japan itself, you know. In time, "otaku" may change back there, too, by taking on some of the revised, overseas meanings. Many a kanji has acquired meanings in Japan it didn't leave China with, for example.

And, don't start me on some of the Engrish. <_< I may not always like it, but it is a form of English with people taking it at face value, too.

edited 26th Oct '14 4:52:39 PM by Euodiachloris

It only has a different meaning here because people don't realize it's an insult. I'm pretty sure any Japanese people who see how we abuse the word would be like "You do know otaku is a BAD thing to be, right?"

I've read accounts indicating that some of the younger generation in Japan is attaching less stigma to the term than the older gen. Like, in the Wikipedia article, they link to a news article that talks about how more teens in Japan than before are openly calling themselves Otaku. So if Japan is slowly considering the term to have less negative connotations, wouldn't it also make sense for others around the world to think the same way?

If it's losing it's meaning in Japan as well, then I weep. I need something to call those kinds of guys that's indisputable; Even Nerds Have Standards, you know.

Remember that in a lot of ways, Japan is twenty years behind the rest of the world (for many reasons, not least the fact that their older generations still have most of the control of their culture). Twenty years ago, "nerd" was a deadly insult in the US. Now, it's drifted, with people proud to be nerds and geeks, due to the intelligence and knowledge it implies (and poking fun at themselves for the implied obsessions). Otaku is basically the exact same thing, and is making the exact same progression.

Is people, especially young people, really THAT proud to be labeled nerds and geeks in the current USA? I keep hearing that, but somehow I keep finding it an exaggeration, or hard to believe. I imagine advances have been made, yeah, but I still can't imagine the class brainiacs being as popular and well accepted as the party animals and athletes. Around here, at least, those words are still like poison (well, 'nerd' at least, since it was a term we imported from English. The local equivalents of 'geek' still apply anyway).

I'd say so.

Hell, the entire concept of Nerdcore and nerd rock is that they're proud of their geekiness.

edited 27th Oct '14 1:04:51 PM by Rosvo1

well they embrace it more. Really things considered "nerdy" are just the new popular things. Plenty of people into "nerdy" stuff that are terrible students.

This pic seems app.

No, see, that's the other direction, and I can't stand them either. If there's one thing that makes my piss boiler faster than misappropriated languages, it's Gatekeepers Of Culture like that cartoonist. YOU don't get to decide what others choose to label themselves as just because you're angry that outsiders are in your domain, boyo.

Ha. Nerd Rage

I get this you're speaking about the 'fake nerd' accusation. Which is an issue, but that's not the point being made.

It is the difference between a identity given to you versus one that you take yourself.

The people who are thought of as nerds, like 'Otaku', tend to view the term with varying degrees of stigma and are what uncomfortable with referring to themselves by it.

People who call themselves nerds simply because of their geek interests tend to have the self-confidence and personal security in using the term typically not associated with nerds.

And so I am reminded of this.

There's a world of difference between a self-accepted term and one thrown out as an insult. But historically, the latter becomes the former more often than not. And it came about long before a word from a book by a certain children's author got turned into an insult against social recluses with odd hobbies, and then embraced with pride when those hobbies became mainstream.

The classic example is Yankee. Stick a feather in his cap and call it macaroni, indeed.

edited 28th Oct '14 9:19:56 PM by TotemicHero

Anyone here think that Japan should amp up security in regards to voice actor/actress events? Why? Some otaku can be violent, see these:

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-06-22/man-who-disrupted-neptunia-event-charged-with-carrying-knife

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-06-25/voice-actress-rie-tanaka-puts-her-twitter-account-on-hiatus

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-06-23/voice-actress-rie-tanaka-agency-responds-after-disrupted-neptunia-event

Hm... just a thought here.

When I recall a lot of what the Japanese called Otaku did (the hardcore loser type)... it reminds me of some definitions of 'What a weeaboo would do'...

Does this mean that if we call someone a weeaboo, it's comparable to a Japanese normal guy calling someone an Otaku? That their level of insult is kind of... equal?

^ "Weeaboo" is never used outside of an insult context, so yes, it's basically the same as "otaku" is in Japan.

Except "weaboo" also has a connotation of a foreigner ("non-Japanese person") who has an obsession with Japanese culture to the point of adding in random Japanese words as punctuation. As I understand it, "Otaku" is the variant for people in Japan.

Yet somehow the special event for Comiket Special 6 which will be held on March is called World Otaku Summit, which allows foreign circles to sell their own doujinshi without needing a Japanese proxy as with normal Comiket. It might symbolizing that Otaku is less stigmatized now.

Also, I have seem in anime/manga some characters to refer themselves as otaku. They tend to be weird oddball characters, but still. From what I understand, the word is still used as an insult when used to refer others, but it have been adopted by some Proud to Be a Geek types.

It's a little sad to admit, but I am an otaku through and through. I'm part Japanese, and when my parents found out I liked anime they weren't happy. Wary, at first, but they ignored it. That is, until I reached 9th grade. Someone, who always used to pick on me for my hobby, jokingly told the class I had pornography. Cue the teacher swooping in like Mc Gonagall and taking all of my manga on hand.

They read the manga. The next day I was called in to the principal's. Next thing I know I'm having in-school suspension for three days. They sent my manga to my family, with all 'inappropriate' pages marked. My parents got my manga I saved up my allowance to buy. They told me to shred all of it. I had to.They gave me five licks with a belt and threatened to kick me out.

From then on, all manga and anime sites are blocked, I can't access using a V P N, or else I'll have no internet forever at my house.

I hated when my friends who liked anime would call me a weeaboo, even in joking, because in my mind it actually is WORSE than otaku in connotation. Also, I never was overly interested in Japan and Japanese culture, but absolutely love the language and otaku subculture and love any otaku-pandering works like Genshiken or Don't Become an Otaku Shinosaki!

I really just. Can't help it. I get so obsessed. But sadly, now I have to be a closet otaku.

I really want to move, for all the reasons above.

But I'm glad that the stigma of otaku is starting to lift in Japan. I really am.

Ow. What, how, why... Have some comfort.

"They sent my manga to my family, with all 'inappropriate' pages marked."

If I may ask, what did they consider 'inappropriate'? I suppose they marked stuff that isn't actually 'inappropriate', such as non-sexual short skirts or two boys holding hands.

I love Japanese mythology, and some Japanese culture, but I mostly only like humorous anime like Samurai Pizza Cats, Bobobo, etc. and don't like manga.

Let's be fair, even something as vanilla mainstream as, say, Naruto would give someone with unreasonable fear for erotic material plenty of ammo. I thank the heavens for the fact that my mother lost all interest in my hobbies once I gained an interest in manga, or she'd have me burned at the stake for my Oh My Goddess collection. (that was only barely a hyperbole, btw. That woman is kinda unhinged. We don't talk any more)

Which does not, in any way, excuse what happened to Webidol. That's horrible, and you did not deserve it. I mean, you'd think people would be a little more open-minded once their kids hit 14, but noooooo. Sexuality is the devil, and showing some underboob turns perfect little angels into sex-crazed maniacs.

I wish I had something to say that would help you, but I doubt that your parents could be easily reasoned with or that you have an internet café within reach. Just hold on in there. This whole thing is only temporary, and you'll be making your own rules soon enough.

Good luck.

edited 11th Feb '16 2:50:17 AM by Kayeka