Happy World Otaku Day! How Is J-List Celebrating?

Happy World Otaku Day! Since 2012, December 15th has been designated as a special day to celebrate anime, manga and all forms of nerdy pop culture from Japan. Let’s learn more about this special day in this blog post!

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Why Is December 15 World Otaku Day?

In 2012, a movement began in Japan to designate December 15 as World Otaku Day. This day marks the 1983 publication of an essay by journalist Akio Nakamori in Manga Burikko, in which he described a strange subgroup of people with a deep passion for anime, manga, computers, and pop idols. He referred to them as オタク族 (otaku-zoku), or the “otaku tribe.”

As I’ve written before, the word otaku is a formal word meaning “you or your family.” The word probably became associated with anime and manga fans because we’re quirky and awkward in certain social situations. The kanji for otaku (お宅) looks like a little house with a roof.

J-List has been part of Anime Expo since the very beginning. Read a post on our long history with the event here!

How the Term Otaku Became Accepted Around the World

Most early anime fans outside Japan weren’t reading Japanese language essays in 1983. But we were fascinated with the animation coming out of influential anime studio Gainax. This amazing studio was founded by producer Toshi Okada, animator Hideaki Anno, and future Nadia and Eva illustrator Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. All the best anime coming out of Japan seemed to flow from these amazing creators for years. When they released Otaku no Video, about a happy well-adjusted young man who falls into the temptation of otaku culture, the word became a label for our generation.

The term otaku was a negative label inside Japan for years. In those days, it was good advice to hide your love of Sailor Moon or tokusatsu favorites like Ultraman or Kamen Rider from casual acquaintances, only letting them see your true self after getting to know them. But when anime started to go West in a big way — and with it, the term otaku — the word’s negative connotation stayed behind. By the early 2000s, television personalities like Shoko Nakagawa (who sang the OP for Gurren Lagann) were openly discussing their huge manga collection on prime-time variety shows. It was suddenly okay to be an out-of-the-closet otaku.

What’s in a weeb? Read my blog post about the history of the word “weeb” and how it got its unique meaning, here!

My Personal Otaku Journey

While the word otaku is most closely associated with anime, manga, and video games, we all know that there are an unlimited number of things we can obsess about. Japanese and British “train otaku” love taking photos of rare trains. Video game otakus might collect classic console games. There are otaku communities for Japanese idols, Vocaloids, and Vtubers. There aren’t a lot of guns in Japan, but there are plenty of “military otakus” who memorize all the details of their favorite military weapons around the world. Hell, every sports enthusiast out there is basically a “sports otaku.”

I’ve always been a huge Star Wars fan. When I was younger, I had a collection of figures and vehicles, which I eventually outgrew. But when they relaunched Star Wars figures in the mid-1990s, I found myself tempted to start a new collection. I was especially delighted by the clever innovations the designers came up with, like Jawas with transparent yellow windows in their heads, allowing their eyes to “light up” when light hit them from a certain angle. It was also great to have R2-D2 figures with proper retractable third legs, something we never had back in the old days in standalone figure firm.

But wait! Wouldn’t it be awkward for a grown man to have a toy collection in his office? I run a business and occasionally meet with suppliers or bankers. Wouldn’t they think I was crazy for displaying “children’s” toys at work?

This was something I actually worried about back in 1996. Fortunately, I pushed past my doubts and restarted my collection, and my Star Wars figure and vehicle collection has brought me immense satisfaction ever since. All of this was possible because otakus have taken over the world.

How Is J-List Celebrating World Otaku Day?

On the one hand, it seems like it would be right to celebrate this “special” day catching up on episodes of anime or perhaps playing through some of my favorite anime-related games. But then…this is what I do pretty much every day.

Thanks for reading this blog post about the history of World Otaku Day and how J-List will be celebrating. What do you think of otaku culture? And how has it changed the global perception of Japan over the past 30 years?

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