It's hard to say which came first, present-day Akihabara or Otaku Culture, but today we are
here to shed some light on the origin of these two fascinating aspects of Japanese sub-culture!
'Akihabara', also known as 'Akihabara Electric Town' or 'Akiba' by those familiar with the
place, is a district of Tokyo located about five minutes from Tokyo Station.
Over the past 140 years Akihabara has developed into a nexus of electronic, computer, anime,
games and otaku culture, but if you were to travel back about 100 years in Akihabara's
history, you'd find more fruits and vegetables than anything else as Akihabara was, for several
decades, a produce market.
Following a devastating fire in 1869, the 30,000 square meters of what would later become
Akihabara was cleared in an effort to prevent future fires from reaching the inner part
of the city.
At that time, it was common for Edo, modern day Tokyo, to be leveled by fire about once
every 20-25 years.
Following the fire, the 'Chinka-sha' shrine was constructed on the cleared site and was
embraced by the local citizens, who completely got it wrong!
Many residents of Downtown Tokyo misunderstood the shrine and thought it enshrined the most
popular fire-controlling deity at the time, Akiba or Akiha.
They went a step further and decided to call the land surrounding the shrine 'Akiba ga
Hara' or 'Square of Akiba'.
I'm sure you can see where this is going.
It wasn't until post-World War II however, that Akihabara began to take the form it resembles
today.
Centered around the first school of electrical manufacturing, now the Tokyo Denki University,
black market vacuum tubes and radio related electronic shops began to sprout up.
This continued until computers and console gaming started to enter mainstream culture
with devices like the 'famikon' driving the sales of videogames.
The subsequent Windows PC boom in 1994 cemented Akihabara's reputation as a technological
mecca as vendors began carrying computer related products.
But don't think the evolution ends there!
With computer sales slowing somewhat in the past decade, Akihabara has shifted it's focus
toward 'otaku' subculture and the transition has been seamless.
If you were to translated the modern usage of the word 'otaku' into English, you'd probably
end up with 'geek' or 'nerd'.
That being said, this word applies to anyone who is a fan of a particular theme, hobby,
topic or form of entertainment.
While there are connotations of social awkwardness and a somewhat obsessive nature, the word
has started to be reclaimed by the 'otaku' population as a positive descriptor.
The word 'otaku' as it's used in Japanese subculture comes from the Japanese word of
the same pronunciation that is the honorific term for a person's house but is used metaphorically
as a second-person pronoun meaning 'you'.
Although there is a bit of dispute regarding the origin of the word, most attribute it
Akio Nakamori's series titled 'An Investigation of Otaku' printed in the lolicon magazing
Manga Burikko in 1983.
The terms was used to describe fans who inappropriately used the very informal word 'otaku' well past
the point in their relationship in which it would have been OK to use a more casual word.
The word continued to gain popularity but was catapulted into the mainstream with the
murder trial of Tsutomu Miyazaki who was branded 'The Otaku Murderer' after being convicted
in a series of gruesome deaths.
While this notorious murderer cast the title in a negative light, as enthusiasts around
the world have begun to embrace the word, 'otaku' has become somewhat more positively
received in recent years.
Whether you're into anime, manga, video games, computers, trains, characters, maid cafes,
music idols, cooking, insects, pop stars, etc...
it's probably safe to call yourself an 'otaku'.
Wear your badge of 'otakuness' with pride!
Thanks for watching this episode of The Japan Show, if you have any questions or suggestions
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