Japan is finishing up its Golden Week holidays, and since several of the J-List staff have been taking a few days off here and there this week, I’ve been flitting around the office helping fill in where I can. Yesterday I was processing the day’s orders, something I don’t normally do, and I was amazed at the broad mix of countries J-List’s customers hail from. I’d enter an order of bento boxes and cosplay magazines going to France followed by shimapan and zettai ryoiki tall socks for a customer in Australia, a Touhou T-shirt headed to Sweden then a Takoyaki cooker for someone in Houston, Texas. There’s no corner of the world where people aren’t interested in Japan on some level, and the Internet has made it possible for everyone to plug into the universal gestalt of Japanese pop culture in whatever way they’re comfortable with. You could think of it as a new nation, really — maybe called the Hyper-Democratic Online Republic of Otakustan? The International Union of Japan-Fascinated Persons? The Principality of Shimapansylvania? The Pantsu-American League? Whatever name it might have, it’s a real thinig, and the idea that I could travel to the other side of the world and meet with people who would understand me if I told them that Mugi is mai waifu makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.So what do you think the proper name for this online nation should be?
J-List’s customers are part of a massive group of people who love Japan.
