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Precis: " Otaku's Pseudo-Japan" (2009) by Hiroki Azuma

In the chapter “Otaku’s Pseudo-Japan” in his book “Otaku (Japan’s Database Animals)” (2009), Hiroki Azuma gives an overview explanation of the emergence of Otaku Culture, and stresses its significance for a need to study it as a subculture (as it is no longer confined within Japan alone) and has become a mode of restructuring the Japanese identity. The purpose of the book is to explore the psychological structure of the age through a brief history of subcultural products such as manga, anime, and video games; and that it is valid not only in Japan but to a certain extent in the West. Through analysing Otaku Culture against historical events that made up its definition (the various themes of academia movements – post-modernism, etc.; societal reactions from controversial news stories; the different perceptions and reactions of the “West” and “East”; and the impact of WW2 guilt and nostalgia of the pre-war years), Azuma establishes a multidimensional facet towards Otaku Culture, thus pronouncing it more than a mere subculture, let alone, “purely-Japanese” by nature. The book was written for the Japanese Audience (particularly of the new generation) to understand the subcultural traits and impacts, but was later translated for foreign audiences such as in French, Korean and English translations, thus widening the scope of this book’s readership.

(October 22, 2016)

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