Introduction OTAKU

Otaku is a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly (but not limited to) anime and manga.

In Japan 

In modern Japanese slang, the term otaku is most often equivalent to "geek" However, it can relate to a fan of any particular theme, topic, hobby or any form of entertainment. The term otaku can be applied to both males and females. For example, Reki-jo are female otaku interested in Japanese history. While the word is used abroad to mean a fan of anime and manga who enjoys the anime culture, In Japan, the word can be looked down upon as a term for a person with any obsessive interest (This is not confined to anime and manga) in particular some cases reaching extreme levels such as Men falling in love with Dakimakuras (Body Pillows). "When these people are referred to as otaku, they are judged for their behaviors - and people suddenly see an “otaku” as a person unable to relate to reality".

Despite the negativity, in Japan the moe-related content was worth ¥88.8 billion ($807 million) in 2003, while some estimated the market could be as much as ¥2 trillion ($18 billion). In 2004 the Nomura Research Institute put the number of otaku in Japan at 2.85 million people. Japan based Tokyo Otaku Mode a place for news relating to Otaku has been liked on facebook almost 10 million times.

The former Prime Minister of Japan Taro Aso also claimed himself to be an otaku, using this subculture to promote Japan in foreign affairs. In recent years some "idol otaku" have been naming themselves simply as Wota as a way to differentiate from traditional otaku. The word was derived by dropping the last mora, leaving otaku and then replacing with the identically sounding character wo, leaving the pronunciation unchanged.

The district of Akihabara in Tokyo has been a notable attraction center for otaku where maid cafes have been set up where waitresses dress up and act like maids or anime characters. Akihabara also has dozens of stores specializing in anime, manga, retro video games, figurines, card games and other collectibles. In Nagoya, students from Nagoya City University started a project on ways to help promote hidden tourist attractions such as the otaku culture to attract more otaku abroad to the city.

  

In English

The term is a loanword from the Japanese language. In English, it is typically used to refer to an obsessive fan of anime/manga, Japanese video games, and/or Japanese culture in general.

The term serves as a label similar to Trekkie or fanboy. However, use of the label can be a source of contention among some anime fans, particularly those who are aware of the negative connotations the term has in Japan. Unpleasant stereotypes about otaku prevail in worldwide fan communities, and some anime fans express concern about the effect these more extreme fans can have on the reputation of their hobby (not unlike sentiments in the comic book and science fiction fandoms).

The term was popularized by William Gibson's 1996 novel Idoru, which has several references to otaku.

The otaku, the passionate obsessive, the information age's embodiment of the connoisseur, more concerned with the accumulation of data than of objects, seems a natural crossover figure in today's interface of British and Japanese cultures. I see it in the eyes of the Portobello dealers, and in the eyes of the Japanese collectors: a perfectly calm train-spotter frenzy, murderous and sublime. Understanding otaku -hood, I think, is one of the keys to understanding the culture of the web. There is something profoundly post-national about it, extra-geographic. We are all curators, in the post-modern world, whether we want to be or not

Negativity

In Japan there has been some negativity towards otaku and otaku culture. Tsutomu Miyazaki became known as "The Otaku Murderer" in 1989. His bizarre murders fueled a moral panic against otaku.
In 2004, Kaoru Kobayashi kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and murdered a seven-year-old first-grade student. Japanese journalist Akihiro Ōtani suspected that Kobayashi's crime was committed by a member of the figure moe zoku even before his arrest. Although Kobayashi was not an otaku, the degree of social hostility against otaku seemed to increase for a while, as suggested by increased targeting of otaku by law enforcement as possible suspects for sex crimes, and by calls from persons in local governments for stricter laws controlling the depiction of eroticism in materials which cater to some otaku (e.g. erotic manga and erotic videogames). Nobuto Hosaka criticised a lot of the hype.