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In 2022, the birth number in Japan dropped down to 840,832, which is around 2.5% down from 2019, and the lowest it has ever been ever since the record started in 1899. The number of registered marriages also dropped around 12.5% from 2019 to 525,490, which is a post-war record for Japan. At the moment, Japan is considered "super-aged", as 20% of their population is over the age of 65. The country's total population stood at 124 million in 2018, but by 2065 it is expected to have dropped to about 88 million.

Otakus have a part in this as many men are dedicating their time and life to the isolationist lifestyle that being an otaku entails. This, therefore reduces their time with women, or even just meeting them, and inherently women will be less attracted to these people, and thus, neither side really wants to be around the other.

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Takashi Murakami, writer of children's books and contemporary artist

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Mamoru Oshii, the director of Ghost in the Shell and Lupin III

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Otakus, with their inherent knowledge of relatively niche topics, can go on to make amazing works of art for said topics. An example would be the director of the anime Ghost in the Shell, Mamoru Oshii who is a self-confirmed otaku, as well as writer Takashi Murakami.

“Otaku are highly critical and able to discover and judge cutting-edge pop culture,” says Ichiya Nakamura, executive director at Stanford Japan Center-Research and ex-government policy maker at the Ministry of Telecommunications.

“As amateur producers, they also play a role as a breeding ground for future professional creators. People have started to realize otaku’s positive worth as leaders of pop culture.”

However, the line between mainstream culture and otaku culture is fading and there is little Japanese pop culture that isn't affected by otaku culture itself.

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Despite the convenience of email and/or anime/manga fan sites that have forums, comic conventions attract a massive amount of people, with 2003's Comic Market (Comiket for short) convention at Tokyo Big Site having some 440,000 attendants per day. Since these gatherings are so popular, they tend to almost 'dwarf' political events that may be happening around the same time. An example would be the anti-Iraq protests in Tokyo that were very big around then, but only had tens of thousands of participants, while otaku gatherings can harbor up to half a million participants.

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In recent years, the first real otaku generation is now between the ages of 40-50 and play has turned into work for them. The feeling that they could play or read manga, or whatever it may be, forever went away. However, even though people were very detached from society then, they still have plenty of opportunities for jobs and the like in modern Japan. Technology and computer systems companies welcome otakus with open arms because of their usually inherent knowledge or expertise in technology and allowing otakus to find a job as they wouldn't find one otherwise. This provided a way back into the real world and had a new economic influence, further boosting Japan's already meritable technology economy.

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In current Japan, there is a pretty big birthing rate problem because of the sheer amount of individuals who are considered otakus, therefore impeding on social relationships with others. I believe, that after reading quite a few articles on the matter, otakus, or at least the term, had been very 'demonized' or just has really bad connotations, more than it deserves.  I think that people like this, albeit at an acceptable level, can really help and be apart of communities or societies, contrary to popular belief. A lot of the Japanese people's beliefs or thoughts about Otaku are usually based in what they see in the news, etc. such as the serial killing and the perpetrator happening to be an Otaku himself. I think that since there are so many of them, calling them 'sick' or 'twisted' loses most, if not all, meaning since there are simply that many of them in Japan.

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Ellis, Theo J. “Differences between an Anime Enthusiast, Otaku and a Weeb.” Anime Motivation, Anime Motivation, 21 May 2020, https://animemotivation.com/otaku-vs-weeb/.

Theartist, et al. “Otaku Subculture History.” David Charles Fox, 7 July 2021, https://davidcharlesfox.com/otaku-subculture-history/.

Eng, Lawrence. “The Origins of Otaku.” The Origins of "Otaku", 11 Apr. 2003, https://www.cjas.org/~leng/otaku-origin.htm.

Luecke, Andrew. “The Secret Origins of the Otaku.” Google, Google, Mar. 2018, https://dotandline.net/otaku-subculture-cool-andrew-luecke-excerpt-7ab89952a425/.

ALT, Matthew. “" What Kind of Otaku Are You?:: Néojaponisme " Blog Archive.” Nojaponisme RSS, 2 Apr. 2008, http://neojaponisme.com/2008/04/02/what-kind-of-otaku-are-you/.

Cloutman, Violet. “An Introduction to Otaku: Japan's Counterculture Heroes.” InsideJapan Blog, 10 June 2016, https://www.insidejapantours.com/blog/2016/06/10/otaku-japans-counterculture-heroes/.

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an "otaku" (a lil bit uh disturbing if you look closer)

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Most popular manga that were later turned into anime (or vice versa)

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Popular manga between the 2000s to present times

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While Western audiences were blissfully unaware of the negative implications of otaku-dom, the stigma clung to the term with greater tenacity in Japan. Beginning with The Book of Otaku, a compilation of 19 articles by otaku insiders printed in the 104th edition of Bessatsu Takarajima magazine, released in 1989, the otaku community made constant attempts to reclaim their name.

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The word now has quite a different meaning behind it since the West started getting more into anime, manga, and video games. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Japanese pop culture became a worldwide phenomenon, with very prominent examples such as: Nintendo, with Super Mario Bros., Hello Kitty, Power Rangers, Transformers, and lastly, but certainly not least of the bunch, Pokemon.

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*READER DISCRETION ADVISED* Talks about serial killing

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*READER DISCRETION ADVISED* Talks about serial killing

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The negative reputation of otaku really stems from a serial killer, named the "Otaku Murderer" (real name is Tsutomu Miyazaki) who was apprehended for the killings of multiple young girls.

Miyazaki was previously already a social outcast, being born with deformed hands and therefore being ostracized by his parents and peers. A quick search and look at his room would reveal that he had a rather large stockhold of anime, manga, horror films (mostly slashers), and pornography (all of which was later used in court as an explanation for his divergent behavior).

Since 1990, when his actions came to light, the term otaku had become the main word used to describe negative aspects of society: weirdness, social ineptitude, perversion, and detachment from reality.

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The term otaku was not originally invented to have the same connotations that it has been given now.

It was originally used in mangas as an honorific second-person pronoun, essentially a more polite way to say "you". When Nakomori chose the term, it was already being used by manga and anime enjoyers to refer to each other on daily basis (a form of respect, one may say).

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Link to translated essay if you would like to read more into it

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Link to translated essay if you would like to read more into it

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While neither long, in-depth, nor politically correct, the following 1983 article by essayist Nakamori Akio represents a watershed moment in subcultural journalism: the official debut of the word "" as the definition of a then-new social demographic. Prior to its introduction, this anime- and manga-obsessed group was known under a variety of names, including mania ("maniacs"), nekura-zoku (loosely, "the gloomy tribe"), and even byōki (a play on the word "sick"), but none captured the diverse crowd's distinctive esprit de corps - or lack thereof - symbolized by the word "otaku."

When this first installment of " Otaku no Kenkyu" (『おたく』の研究,　"Otaku Research") first appeared in the pages of an obscure weekly soft-core porno comic magazine called Manga Burikko, Nakamori probably had little idea that the word would eventually take a life of its own. It's important to note that he didn't coin the actual word, which is nothing more than a politer-than-polite way of saying "you" in Japanese. Perhaps because of this, "otaku" wouldn't gain widespread notoriety until 1989, when the mass media seized on the word to describe notorious serial killer Miyazaki Tsutomu. The resulting societal backlash sparked an (eventually) successful subcultural movement to "reclaim" the word, including the bestselling 1989 book Otaku no Hon ("The Otaku Book"), edited by Tomohiro Machiyama, and the 1991 mockumentary Otaku no Video ("The Otaku Video"), directed by Toshio Okada.

From humble roots, "otaku" flowered to become the de facto term for individuals who pursue their hobbies with a single-minded passion bordering on obsession. As part of a series, here is our original translation of Nakamori's first column in "Otaku no Kenkyu" - which we believe has never before appeared in English.

Otaku Research #1
"This City is Full of Otaku"
by Nakamori Akio
(Translated with permission by Matt Alt)

Ever heard of " Comiket" (also abbreviated as "Comike")? I only went for the first time myself last year, at the ripe old age of 23, and let me tell you: it was a trip. It's like a festival for manga freaks. More to the point, it's a place to sell amateur comic books and fanzines. As to what was so surprising, it wasn't so much that over ten-thousand young men and women gathered from all over Tokyo, but rather their eccentricities. How can I put this? They're like those kids - every class has one - who never got enough exercise, who spent recess holed up in the classroom, lurking in the shadows obsessing over a shogi board or whatever. That's them. Rumpled long hair parted on one side, or a classic kiddie bowl-cut look. Smartly clad in shirts and slacks their mothers bought off the "all ¥980/1980" rack at Ito Yokado or Seiyu [discount retailers], their feet shod in knock-offs of the "R"-branded Regal sneakers that were popular several seasons ago, their shoulder bags bulging and sagging - you know them. The boys were all either skin and bones as if borderline malnourished, or squealing piggies with faces so chubby the arms of their silver-plated eyeglasses were in danger of disappearing into the sides of their brow; all of the girls sported bobbed hair and most were overweight, their tubby, tree-like legs stuffed into long white socks. Now these unassuming classroom corner-dwellers with their perpetually downcast expressions have come out of the woodwork and swelled their ranks into a really rather surprising TEN THOUSAND PEOPLE. And just because they're here, they're channeling all of their normal gloominess into freaking out. Some are dressed in costumes of anime characters, others look like a shady character from a Azuma Hideo comic, still others constantly try foisting off their "" fanzines on unsuspecting girls, the shit-eating grins never leaving their faces all the while. Others just run around aimlessly... Man, it's enough to make your head explode. The vast majority are in their teens, mostly junior and senior high school students.

Come to think of it, manga freaks and Comiket are only the start of it. There's those guys who camp out before the opening day of anime movies, dudes who nearly get themselves run over trying to capture photos of the " blue train" as it comes down the tracks, guys with every back issue of SF Magazine and the Hayakawa science-fiction novels lining their bookshelves, science fair types with coke-bottle glasses who station themselves at the local computer shop, guys who get up early to secure space in line for idol singer and actress autograph sessions, boys who spent their childhoods going to the best cram-schools but turn into timid fish-eyed losers, guys who won't shut up when the topic of audio gear comes around. These people are normally called "maniacs" or "fanatics," or at best " nekura-zoku " ("the gloomy tribe"), but none of these terms really hit the mark. For whatever reason, it seems like a single umbrella term that covers these people, or the general phenomenon, hasn't been formally established. So we've decided to designate them as the "otaku," and that's what we'll be calling them from now on.

The question of why we're calling them "otaku," and the debate over exactly what "otaku" means, we'd like to explore in leisurely detail over subsequent installments. But in the meantime, take a good look around yourself, and we think you'll see them - that's right, there they are - the o...ta...ku....

So, what kind of otaku are you?

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" What Kind of Otaku Are You?:: Néojaponisme " Blog Archive

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While neither long, in-depth, nor politically correct, the following 1983 article by essayist Nakamori Akio represents a watershed moment in subcultural journalism: the official debut of the word "" as the definition of a then-new social demographic.

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Akio Nakomori expanding his description to other 'social outcasts' in Japan such as trainspotters, sci-fi fanatics, and those who idolise pop stars

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Akio Nakomori expanding his description to other 'social outcasts' in Japan such as trainspotters, sci-fi fanatics, and those who idolise pop stars

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“These people are normally called ‘maniacs’ or ‘fanatics,’ or at best ‘nekura-zoku’ (‘the gloomy tribe’), but none of these terms really hit the mark. For whatever reason, it seems like a single umbrella term that covers these people, or the general phenomenon, hasn’t been formally established. So we’ve decided to designate them as the ‘otaku’, and that’s what we’ll be calling them from now on.”

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Akio Nakomori's statement in the essay, painting a picture for what, in his eyes, was an otaku

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Akio Nakomori's statement in the essay, painting a picture for what, in his eyes, was an otaku

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“How can I put this? They’re like those kids — every class has one — who never got enough exercise, who spent recess holed up in the classroom, lurking in the shadows obsessing over a shogi [Japanese chess] board or whatever. That’s them. Rumpled long hair parted on one side, or a classic kiddie bowl-cut look. Smartly clad in shirts and slacks their mothers bought off the ‘all ¥980/1980’ rack at Ito Yokado or Seiyu [discount retailers], their feet shod in knock-offs of the ‘R’-branded Regal sneakers that were popular several seasons ago, their shoulder bags bulging and sagging — you know them.”

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The term otaku first appeared in an essay titled, "Otaku Research" or "The City of Otakus" (Otaku no kenkyuu), that was written in 1983 by editor Akio Nakamori in the magazine Manga Burikko. This magazine published various forms of manga -- action, slice of life, and pornographic. This magazine ran for about 3 years before getting shut down.

From the start, what seemed to characterize otaku, beyond their apparent social ineptitude and isolation, was the need to amass huge amounts of trivial information on obscure, narrow and often juvenile subjects from animated television series to pop music idols to manga to toys.

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They are generally styled as "geeks" or "nerds" but to much more of an 'extreme' as compared to how we call people "nerds" and "geeks".

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Otaku is a term used to describe someone (in Japan) who takes a hobby to an almost obsessive level, usually targeting manga, anime and to a lesser extent, video games.

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Read everything below ideally from the left side to the right side