42% of Japanese “Otaku”
- Categories: Anime, News
- Date: Apr 29, 2013 06:16 JST
- Tags: Collections, Comparison, Old People, Otaku, Schoolboys, Schoolgirls, Statistics
Otaku are once again pondering statistics showing that of over 130,000 Japanese questioned, some 40% consider themselves “otaku,” with an even higher proportion – 62% – of teenagers saying the same.
When 137,734 Japanese were asked “do you consider yourself an otaku when it comes to a particular area?”, 42.2% answered they thought they were.
Admissions solicited from those who confessed ranged from a love of games or sports to soaps and seiyuu.
The statistics for those reckoning themselves otaku were further broken down by gender – with 45.7% of the admitted otaku being men and 38.1% women (what the remainder were is not specified) – and age:
Teens: 62.0%
Twenties: 55.6%
Thirties: 46.4%
Forties: 44.8%
Fifties: 36.7%
Sixties: 26.9%
Seventies: 23.1%
Eighties: 23.3%
Although “otaku” carries a generally negative if not highly discriminatory nuance and even in Japanese is strongly associated with stereotypical male anime fans or the idol otaku even they despise, it would appear the term still carries enough of its nuance of the earnest hobbyist, ardent fan or well-versed expert for it to be easily admitted to.
Just what proportion of those owning up to being “otaku” would also fit into the definition of “creepy otaku” is far from clear – although it seems extremely unlikely more than a fraction would have owned up to it had it been so worded.
Amongst actual creepy otaku there has been some resistance to so many commoners appropriating their label – the usual complaints being along the lines of “these are just brats posing as otaku” and “their definition of ‘anime otaku’ may just be ‘liking anime’ so it’s no wonder.”
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2011 = 25% of Japanese Now "Otaku"
2013 = 42% of Japanese "Otaku"
It seems are numbers are growing, my brethren!
We attack at dawn!
Just wait until it is 51% we already have sleeper agents in the gov just waiting for the right moment.
Does that mean we can get rid of mosaic censoring in hentai? Please?
Oh we already Did!! A few years back Some Japanese Govt officials got in trouble because they spent like 80% of there day updating Gundam facts on the internets
i am sawa nakamura otaku <3
Do they know what otaku means ?
It's like my 8 years old cousins says he's a geek because he have an Iphone.
Dont make me laugh.
Do you know what having a sense of humor means?
It's like going to a comedy club and you decide not to laugh because your trying to look cool in front of your friends?
Don't make me regret being born as a human.
But do you have to laugh at a comedy club if the jokes aren't funny.
Same applies here, just because you have a hobby or like something, doesn't make you're an Otaku.
Don't be a tool.
@14:50 Anon
Hahaha hipster...
Or, the performer heckles the shit out of you lol :o
@15:13 Anon
I agree, if you don't laugh at a comedy club, the comedy Nazi's will throw you out. It's why being a comedian is an easy and well paid job, as people will always laugh.
I don't know why I have to join into this discussion but I must say that I already regret being born... Btw, "otaku" has a positive meaning until god knows when the meaning got totally inverted. I am proud of being an otaku as I build, learn and do robots/electronics as well as playing piano or watching anime most of the time. I don't go out partying and sit in a pub pretending I am cool, getting drunk while pretending I care about what other people say. The only downside being an otaku is that I cant get to bang a chick. Well, I am used to it anyway...
No, if you go to a comedy club you are required to laugh or you look like a hipster, lol :/
iShit you mean!
22:50 Why not?
I can't believe someone voted you up.
I can't wait till we breed children just for carnal pleasure. XD. I want to tear ones vag to her anus again. Oh the sounds of glee!
>42%
The Japanese's meaning of life is to embrace the otaku soul.
So, does this mean that the heavy negative connotations that always came with the word "Otaku" in Japan are finally changing? More people are embracing the word and accepting it the way it is used outside of Japan?
42% of Japanese people will die a lonely virgin.
Nah. More otaku among Japanese mean that less discrimination towards them, mean higher chance the get to choose as dating material..
maybe now "Japanese experts" will stop ranting about 'you call yourself an otaku? don't u know an otaku in Japan is a bad thing huh hur hurr why would u call yourself one u idiot hurr'
actually those japanese 'otaku' are just confusing otaku for maniac, which is what happens when you poll casuals.
on that note, I find the term "creepy otaku" (kimo-ota) rather amusing. It sounds like such a negative term, but if you pay attention to the spoken dialog in OreImo, you'll notice Kirino refer to herself as one with absolutely no qualms.
It's all about the difference in being an otaku or to be called one, dude.
Doesn't Otaku means fan of something? This doesn't mean they'te all fan of anime or manga...
Actually the word means "you" (or more specifically "your house" but used in the meaning of "you").
In the 90s people who would be considered otaku today used the word when talking to each other instead of more common words like anata or saying the persons name and other time the whole group became known by that word.
While you're not wrong, it only refers to anime/manga/games by default to westerners. You normally don't use the word alone in Japan because whoever you're talking about won't have any idea what you're referring it to - hence all the prefixes that developed over the years, mainly because of the western view of the word.
It means, "Your house," and was used to refer to people who would spend copious amounts of time in their house preferring to do whatever hobby they had instead of going out and socializing. As the term, itself, gained in popularity, it, also, gained the negative connotation it has today, where otaku are viewed as, more or less, socially inept, awkward, and, more often than not, perverts, especially otaku of the male persuasion.
the word meaning in japan is something like "obsess about something", when use it alone, by default it'll mean about anime/manga. Correct me if i'm wrong, i don't speak japanese xD
You do prove a point. JAPANESE ARE STUPID SHIT PEOPLE!
Usually one's race is always determined by a IQ and Japan just proves how much of it is low. By making PEDO shit and all.
Normally one race SHOULD BE SMART ENOUGH not to insult other ones but since JAPAN IS STUPID due to it being OTAKU than this shows how much a dumb race they need to be genocided for.
Conclusion? Japan should GTFO from the anime into a reality.
Japanese are actually in the top 3 amongst the nations with highest IQ.
IQ is not an accurate measure if intelligence. The positive relationship between IQ and education is not accidental.
Who the fuck is upvoting this racist idiot?
I find it funny that people on this site get all up and arms over racism towards the Japanese. But if it's Japanese towards anyone else, it's not a big deal.
You think it's just with the racism? Things are messed up all over sankaku... almost every thread is full of hypocrisy and bigotry.
Have you degraded a Korean lately?
thinking about it... if the racism thing is not here.. what would "fans" from other countries do?
racism happens everywhere...
but in anime everyone can laugh about it which is not happening in rl.
Conclusion? You should GTFO Sankaku Complex, and leave anime fans alone.
What is this ad-hominem bullshit.
The fuck anon 7:11
Race is determined by genetics, although the term has been used differently in the past. IQ certainly has nothing to do with it.
By the way, I consider myself Human. What are you?
wtf is that nazi crap about determining races ?!
Well, wasn't Hitler part Jew anyway?
i saw it in a documentation about the adolf hitler and the ss nazi regime.
some parts of the video included: how does the perfect arian (male) look like? and they made a "design" including: proportions, BONESTRUCTURE and stuff like that... of course the yellow hair with the blue eyes has been mentioned with pride...
and so on....
maybe inspired by hetalia too?
cant remember it clearly anymore.. but the chara was refering to his homeland as us...
"do you want to defy us? (while there was noone there except the talker and listener)
7:11 WTF did Japan ever do to you ya little shit Just because it's the internet doesn't give you the right to piss people off. GTFO of sankakucomplek stop trolling B4 i digital slap your ass!
The biggest irony is that Hitler himself looked closer to a Jew than a "perfect" specimen with blond hair and blue eyes.
The term Otaku is merely a buzz word. Anyone who hasn't figured that out yet doesn't understand anything about people.
Donald Glover defined nerd well with someone who likes "Strange Specific Stuff." That's all an Otaku really is, someone who likes strange specific stuff enough to devote a portion of their life around it. That includes people who are awkward and not awkward alike. The Otaku as a negative connotation is merely attached to those who have a love but haven't been in a social environment to adapt to being around others enough not to be blamed for their awkwardness. Unfortunately they also mostly pull back and blame everyone else instead of recognizing they are one who doesn't know how to listen either.
This is all that buzz words do, they simplify judgements and make it so that nobody can think. Every single person is an Otaku about something. If they didn't literally call it "Otaku" they probably would have gotten almost 100% if they asked the real question: "Do you have a passion in life?"
Woman in Japan would spend $300 to $1000 for a pair denim pants and know the brand the names by heart.I am surprise they even know fashion history what dresses where made in what era.
They're money & fashion otaku, but they just wouldn't put it that way!
I think, simply put, the negative connotations of "otaku" came with an idea of stereotype, much like "nerds" had in the 80s with their specific fashion sense (consisting of pocket protectors and glasses).
I have read plenty of your comments and I daresay that I might have become a fan of yours.<3