And so ends the experiment

This being a blog that I was running as a class assignment, the time has finally come for us to part. Due to that fact, I decided that I'll kick it up a notch for the last post. Having always been a geek at heart, I would like to expose you to the Japanese "otaku". Literally, the term refers to one's own home and is sometimes used to refer to oneself, but it is often used as a term to refer to obsessive fans of various topics. While in the US, those knowledgeable of the term generally use it only in relation to anime, but its usage is most definitely not restricted to that alone. Games, figurines, trains, photography, guns--otaku specialty knows no bounds. I would say that the anime subgroup is the most visible, but the others are there.

Nakagawa Shouko (aka Shoko-tan) is a geek that hit the mainstream. She loves games, anime, manga...yet she managed to make it into the public eye. Here is a video of her in Akihabara, the major electronics district in Tokyo (and Holy Land for many otaku).


For a bit more on female otaku, since most people picture geeky guys when they think "otaku":


A clip from a cute TV series called Densha Otoko (based on a book and movie by the same name), all about an otaku who falls for a real girl:

I highly recommend checking it out, if you are looking for a really funny show to watch, not to mention vaguely educational! For information about gal-games and moe, click the links.

I don't really like foreign specials on otaku (and this is no exception), but this might be a little more helpful to you since it is in English (I cringe every time they pronounce "cosplay" in English):


A really dedicated idol otaku:

Festivus

The Japanese love festivals (matsuri) to death. It is part of the culture really, that all-encompassing culture that I mentioned before. Summer is the big season for festivals and I was fortunate enough to have stayed there on my own after school had finished in the spring, all the way until the end of August. New Years and the blooming of the sakura (cherry blossoms) are also major festival occasions. Basically, there were more festivals than I could go to, and there were so many small ones you could stumble on without even knowing about them beforehand.

Festivals are often held at shrines to celebrate this or that. I could go into detail, but I would still be missing a lot, so I'll just link you to sites that can tell you more.

Honestly I'm pretty burned out this week as I rush to both start and finish a huge paper I have for one of my classes, so if you don't mind, I'm just going to post up some pictures. The exhaustion is causing me to be unable to remember the festivals I actually went to, so I think doing that is probably for the best.

The same random festival shown at the top

Mikoshi (portable shrine)

PL fireworks display (one of the biggest--if not the biggest--fireworks displays in the world)

Daimonji (that's the big flaming "dai" kanji on the side of a mountain as seen from somewhere along the Kamogawa in Kyoto)People playing a pop-gun game at a festival stand. If you like street vendor food (and in Japan, at least, you should), you'll love Japanese festivals. There are TONS of stands.

And I have a thing for posting videos now:
Hey, I remember going to this festival now (except this is the 2006, and I was at the 2007 one)!


And since I had actually wanted to post something unrelated:

Kind of Like Reading

Manga, like anime, is a word that is coming to fairly common use in the English language, despite its Japanese roots. Note that it is pronounced with a soft "a" sound, not a hard one (in English phonetics, mahn-ga). Strangely, I actually knew someone else that was studying in Japan who pronounced it with a hard sound, which for a student of Japanese is kind of embarrassing. Some of you may know, as well, that manga is read from right to left, rather than left to right. Early on, US publishers were mirroring it for Western audiences, but I think they have all switched to the authentic direction now. You might be thinking that is a little awkward, but it comes quite naturally since (most) books and magazines are read in the opposite direction (as in, the binding is opposite side). Anyway, rather than shower you with a continuation of cuteness fixation (which obviously is quite possible), I thought I would talk about its popularity in Japan.

Huge. It really is. I have heard it accounts for 40% of all book and magazine sales in Japan, and I don't find that surprising. It literally cannot be compared to the US comic industry. In the US, comics (and "graphic novels) have long been the domain of the young and a niche group of adults. In Japan, however, it is not uncommon to see grown businessmen reading manga on the train. Not just businessmen either. Young or old, manga is a popular way to pass the time in transit. There are some conservative Japanese who find it distasteful to see businessmen reading racy manga on a crowded train, but I can't help but grin.

There are a great many types of manga, aimed at all manner of audiences. Boys', girls', mens', womens', various fetishes in between...it's all there. They also come in various mediums, such as magazines (of varying frequency: weekly, monthly, etc) as well as books. Actually, oftentimes Japanese bookstores will offer free covers for your books, so you could look like you're reading a book in public, when it actually is manga. There is also a sizable segment of fan-made manga called "doujin". These are infamous for often being pornographic, though there are exceptions. Growing in popularity now are manga (and other books) which you can download to your cellphone. These have the added bonus of only displaying on frame at a time, so you don't have to worry about spoiling a surprise by glancing at the next page. On top of that, some even take advantage of the light and vibration functions.

At least it gets people reading. Sort of.

Since I've gotten into the habit of posting videos now, here's something or other: