Japan 9: Otaku

"Masahiko is seventeen," Mitsuko said. "He is a 'pathological-techno-fetishist with-social-deficit,'" this last all strung together like one word, indicating a concept that taxed the lexicon of the ear-clips. Chia wondered briefly if it would be worth running it through her Sandbenders, whose translation functions updated automatically whenever she ported.

"A what?"

"Otaku," Mitsuko said carefully in Japanese. The translation burped its clumsy word string again.

"Oh," Chia said, "we have those, We even use the same word."

"I think that in America they are not the same," Mitsuko said.

William Gibson, Idoru

Today we visited Akihabara district in Tokyo - Otaku City, as it were. Otaku is often used by English speakers as a synonym for "nerd" or "geek", with a specific slant toward fans of anime or manga, but in Japanese, it's not entirely the same thing.

The word "otaku" literally means "your home" - loosely translated, an otaku is someone who never leaves the house. The term came into common usage in Japan during the 80s, and refers to a Japanese subculture predominantly made up of young males who have turned inward, away from the pressures to conform and succeed that dominate the Japanese educational system, and ultimately, Japanese society. In place of scholastic success and social interaction, otaku choose to obsessively focus on a particular area of esoteric knowledge.

Although many otaku do concentrate on aspects of pop culture like manga, or the Mobile Suit Gundam series or other anime, an otaku could just as easily choose to become an expert in variant types of World War II Sherman tanks - it is the obsessive nature of their interest, and the not entirely healthy manner in which it replaces everyday life, that characterizes an otaku.

Akihabara reflects all of these aspects of being an otaku, but showcases the subculture in a way which would probably not be acceptable in the Western world.  The ubiquitous advertising, and the action figures, videos and games that it promotes, are all intensely sexualized in an exaggerated and somewhat fetishistic manner.

If you turn off the main thoroughfares, the other side of Akihabara becomes visible.  Narrow corridors are lined with diminutive shops specializing in whatever items might catch the eye of a passing otaku. These miniature storefronts are not much larger than an office desk, with an opening just large enough for the proprietor to keep watch over his stock, such as hundreds of kinds of LEDs, or electrical connectors of every shape and size.

Akihabara also originated the maid cafe, another Japanese institution which might not translate well to the Western world.  In a maid cafe, patrons are served by young women dressed in exaggerated French maid costumes - with the accent on the phrase "served".  The maids treat their customers as the masters of their household rather than as paying customers, with services such as spoon feeding or kneeling by the table to stir cream or sugar into coffee.

It may be significant that Akihabara Station was the only place in Tokyo with bilingual Japanese - English warnings on the escalators to beware of upskirt photographs.  This would seem to be an unfortunate indicator that some otaku have chosen to focus (so to speak) on something other than electronics or giants robots.

- Sid

Japan 08: Head Office.

After I commented on the possibility of an Umbrella Corporation branch office in Yokohama, I remembered that according to the movies, they actually do have a main office in Tokyo.

Based on the footage at the beginning of the fourth Resident Evil installment, it's located at - or more accurately beneath - Shibuya Crossing, one of Tokyo's landmark intersections, which we visited today.

In real life, it's the home of the world's busiest Starbucks™ - you know, that other ubiquitous sinister global company.

- Sid

Japan 07: Gundam Front

The most fascinating thing about the Gundam Front Experience located on the sixth floor of the Diver City Plaza at Odaiba in Tokyo is not the innovative Dome-G animated movie presentation; it's not the life-sized Strike Freedom Gundam torso or the battle-scarred Core Fighter GFT, and it's not the Character Photo spots that allow you to be photographed with characters from any of the Gundam series.

No, it's none of those things.  The most fascinating thing about the Gundam Front Experience is the exhibition that showcases the unbelievable amount of Gundam-related merchandise that has been produced over the last 36 years.

Photo by Karli

The display is located just outside of the paid area of the exhibition, and features the literally thousands of models and toys inspired by the various Gundam movies and television shows.

The range of items is staggering - it's easy to imagine a dedicated collector standing in this room for hours, alternately salivating and brooding as they examine the glass-fronted cases showing model after model after model.

However, to be fair, the paid area offers some unique experiences as well.  The Dome-G video presentation gives the audience an impressive 360-degree ants-eye view of life-sized battlesuit combat on a 16 meter wide hemispherical screen.  The illusion is epic in scale, dizzying and fast-paced, with two short videos in steady rotation.

Leaving the dome, guests enter the Experience Field, which features a life-sized torso of a ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom Gundam, a full-sized recreation of a battered Core Fighter, and a scale model of the A Baoa Qu space fortress from the final episode of the original series.  Given that the original fortress is 13.5 kilometers tall, I think that the decision to go with a scale version was a prudent one.  There's also a pair of character photo-ops where you can be photographed with a character chosen from a full range of the Gundam programs.

The Experience also includes an area which explains the process by which the models are manufactured, and offers workshops in model building.  And, of course, if you're going to show people all those models, how they're made, and how to put them together, it seems only reasonable to offer the opportunity to buy some of them...

Merchandising aside, I enjoyed the Gundam Front Experience, although I admit to finding it a bit limited in terms of its scale - which is an odd thing to say about an exhibition dedicated to giant battlesuits.  However, I realize that it's intended for a more earnest fan of the series and its models than myself, and I can appreciate that for someone who was a serious follower, the Gundam Front Experience would be more than worth the price of admission.

And, for myself, I can now add "battlesuit pilot" to my list of geek achievements.

- Sid