Otaku and the Struggle for Imagination in Japan

Otaku and the Struggle for Imagination in Japan PDF Author: Patrick W. Galbraith
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 147800701X
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
From computer games to figurines and maid cafes, men called “otaku” develop intense fan relationships with “cute girl” characters from manga, anime, and related media and material in contemporary Japan. While much of the Japanese public considers the forms of character love associated with “otaku” to be weird and perverse, the Japanese government has endeavored to incorporate “otaku” culture into its branding of “Cool Japan.” In Otaku and the Struggle for Imagination in Japan, Patrick W. Galbraith explores the conflicting meanings of “otaku” culture and its significance to Japanese popular culture, masculinity, and the nation. Tracing the history of “otaku” and “cute girl” characters from their origins in the 1970s to his recent fieldwork in Akihabara, Tokyo (“the Holy Land of Otaku”), Galbraith contends that the discourse surrounding “otaku” reveals tensions around contested notions of gender, sexuality, and ways of imagining the nation that extend far beyond Japan. At the same time, in their relationships with characters and one another, “otaku” are imagining and creating alternative social worlds.

Otaku and the Struggle for Imagination in Japan

Otaku and the Struggle for Imagination in Japan PDF Author: Patrick W. Galbraith
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 147800701X
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 249

Get Book Here

Book Description
From computer games to figurines and maid cafes, men called “otaku” develop intense fan relationships with “cute girl” characters from manga, anime, and related media and material in contemporary Japan. While much of the Japanese public considers the forms of character love associated with “otaku” to be weird and perverse, the Japanese government has endeavored to incorporate “otaku” culture into its branding of “Cool Japan.” In Otaku and the Struggle for Imagination in Japan, Patrick W. Galbraith explores the conflicting meanings of “otaku” culture and its significance to Japanese popular culture, masculinity, and the nation. Tracing the history of “otaku” and “cute girl” characters from their origins in the 1970s to his recent fieldwork in Akihabara, Tokyo (“the Holy Land of Otaku”), Galbraith contends that the discourse surrounding “otaku” reveals tensions around contested notions of gender, sexuality, and ways of imagining the nation that extend far beyond Japan. At the same time, in their relationships with characters and one another, “otaku” are imagining and creating alternative social worlds.

Beautiful Fighting Girl

Beautiful Fighting Girl PDF Author: Tamaki Saitō
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
ISBN: 0816654506
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
From Nausicaä to Sailor Moon, understanding girl heroines of manga and anime within otaku culture.

Tokyo Geek's Guide

Tokyo Geek's Guide PDF Author: Gianni Simone
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 1462919707
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 144

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Book Description
Tokyo is ground zero for Japan's famous "geek" or otaku culture--a phenomenon that has now swept across the globe. This is the most comprehensive Japan travel guide ever produced which features Tokyo's geeky underworld. It provides a comprehensive run-down of each major Tokyo district where geeks congregate, shop, play and hang out--from hi-tech Akihabara and trendy Harajuku to newer and lesser-known haunts like chic Shimo-Kita and working-class Ikebukuro. Dozens of iconic shops, restaurants, cafes and clubs in each area are described in loving detail with precise directions to get to each location. Maps, URLs, opening hours and over 400 fascinating color photographs bring you around Tokyo on an unforgettable trip to the centers of Japanese manga, anime and geek culture. Interviews with local otaku experts and people on the street let you see the world from their perspective and provide insights into Tokyo and Japanese culture, which will only continue to spread around the globe. Japanese pop culture, in its myriad forms, is more widespread today than ever before--with J-Pop artists playing through speakers everywhere, Japanese manga filling every bookstore; anime cartoons on TV; and toys and video games, like Pokemon Go, played by tens of millions of people. Swarms of visitors come to Tokyo each year on a personal quest to soak in all the otaku-related sights and enjoy Japanese manga, anime, gaming and idol culture at its very source. This is the go-to resource for those planning a trip, or simply dreaming of visiting one day!

Fandom Unbound

Fandom Unbound PDF Author: Mizuko Ito
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300158645
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description
In recent years, otaku culture has emerged as one of Japan's major cultural exports and as a genuinely transnational phenomenon. This timely volume investigates how this once marginalized popular culture has come to play a major role in Japan's identity at home and abroad. In the American context, the word otaku is best translated as “geek'—an ardent fan with highly specialized knowledge and interests. But it is associated especially with fans of specific Japan-based cultural genres, including anime, manga, and video games. Most important of all, as this collection shows, is the way otaku culture represents a newly participatory fan culture in which fans not only organize around niche interests but produce and distribute their own media content. In this collection of essays, Japanese and American scholars offer richly detailed descriptions of how this once stigmatized Japanese youth culture created its own alternative markets and cultural products such as fan fiction, comics, costumes, and remixes, becoming a major international force that can challenge the dominance of commercial media. By exploring the rich variety of otaku culture from multiple perspectives, this groundbreaking collection provides fascinating insights into the present and future of cultural production and distribution in the digital age.

Train Man

Train Man PDF Author: Nakano Hitori
Publisher: Corsair
ISBN: 1472107845
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
This is a true story of love for the internet generation - the international bestseller that sold over a million copies. This wonderfully unique book from Japan derives from a series of postings over a three-month period to a particularly computer-geeky thread of 2 Channel, the world's largest anonymous Message Board. The events all took place in Tokyo. One day a shy otaku computer geek mentioned on the message forum how he had met a girl on a subway train. As things developed he continued to post updates to the message board. He gained the nickname 'Train Man'. With each update from bashful Train Man, his fellow correspondents throw in own colourful speculations, boyish encouragements, tongue-in-cheek warnings, and fabulously inventive ascii text drawings. Train Man tries to take on board their comments as events unfold. Eventually he finds love with the girl, Hermes, and reveals to her the entire history of the thread. The true identity of Train Man remains a closely guarded secret.

Otaku Spaces

Otaku Spaces PDF Author: Patrick W. Galbraith
Publisher: Chin Music
ISBN: 9780984457656
Category : Fans (Persons)
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The first comprehensive look at Japan's otaku collectors, including peeks inside their rooms and visits to their favorite stores.

Guide to the Perfect Otaku Girlfriend: Roomies and Romance Volume 1

Guide to the Perfect Otaku Girlfriend: Roomies and Romance Volume 1 PDF Author: Rin Murakami
Publisher: J-Novel Club
ISBN: 1718381484
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 183

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Book Description
If I’m going to find a girlfriend, she has to be an otaku. She’ll be beautiful, innocent, with long black hair, and she’ll like all the stuff that I like! Kokoro Nishina, the girl I’m living with, is the exact opposite of that. So why did I promise that I’d turn that flashy, extroverted gyaru into the ideal otaku girlfriend?! Sadly, I know just how it feels to need a little self-improvement to find the perfect date... and there’s no way a girl like that will tell her friends that she’s actually a closet fujoshi. But I’ll teach her—then maybe she can teach me too! With my expertise, she’ll definitely become an otaku’s dream girl!

Otaku

Otaku PDF Author: Hiroki Azuma
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
ISBN: 0816653518
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
Printbegrænsninger: Der kan printes 10 sider ad gangen og max. 40 sider pr. session

My Brother's Husband, Volume 2

My Brother's Husband, Volume 2 PDF Author: Gengoroh Tagame
Publisher: Pantheon
ISBN: 1101871539
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
The acclaimed global sensation, from one of Japan's most notable manga artists: the concluding volume in the story of Yaichi, his daughter Kana, and how their meeting Mike Flanagan—Yaichi's brother-in-law—changes their lives and their perceptions of acceptance of homosexuality in their contemporary Japanese culture. As Mike continues his journey of discovery concerning Ryoji's past, Yaichi gradually comes to understand that being gay is just another way of being human. And that, in many ways, remains a radical concept in Japan even today. In the meantime, the bond between Mike and young Kana grows ever stronger, and yet he is going to have to return to Canada soon—a fact that fills them both with impending heartbreak. But not before more than a few revelations come to light.

The Otaku Encyclopedia

The Otaku Encyclopedia PDF Author: Patrick W. Galbraith
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 1568365497
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Otaku: Nerd; geek or fanboy. Originates from a polite second-person pronoun meaning "your home" in Japanese. Since the 1980s it’s been used to refer to people who are really into Japanese pop-culture, such as anime, manga, and videogames. A whole generation, previously marginalized with labels such as "geek" and "nerd," are now calling themselves "otaku" with pride. The Otaku Encyclopedia offers fascinating insight into the subculture of Cool Japan. With over 600 entries, including common expressions, people, places, and moments of otaku history, this is the essential "A to Z" of facts every Japanese pop-culture fan needs to know. Author Patrick W. Galbraith has spent several years researching deep into the otaku heartland and his intimate knowledge of the subject gives the reader an insider’s guide to words such as moé, doujinshi, cospla y and maid cafés. In-depth interviews with such key players as Takashi Murakami, otaku expert Okada Toshio, and J-pop idol Shoko Nakagawa are interspersed with the entries, offering an even more penetrating look into the often misunderstood world of otaku. Dozens of lively, colorful images—from portraits of the interview subjects to manga illustrations, film stills and photos of places mentioned in the text—pop up throughout the book, making The Otaku Encyclopedia as entertaining to read as it is informative.