A fan convention (also known as a con or fan meeting ) is an event in which fans of a particular topic gather to participate and hold programs and other events, and to meet experts, famous personalities, and each other. Some also incorporate commercial activity. The term dates back to at least 1942.
96-456: Otaku ( Japanese : おたく , オタク , or ヲタク ) is a Japanese word that describes people with consuming interests, particularly in anime, manga , video games , or computers . Its contemporary use originated with a 1983 essay by Akio Nakamori in Manga Burikko . Otaku subculture is a central theme of various anime, manga, documentaries, and academic research. The subculture began in
192-409: A Japanese study of 137,734 people found that 42.2% self-identify as a type of otaku. This study suggests that the stigma of the word has vanished, and the term has been embraced by many. Marie Kondo told ForbesWomen in 2020: "I credit being an otaku with helping me to focus deeply, which definitely contributed to my success." In the late 1990s, otaku was a popular subculture among Generation Xers in
288-637: A benefit from the in-group to the out-group) means "[I/we] explained [it] to [him/her/them]". Such beneficiary auxiliary verbs thus serve a function comparable to that of pronouns and prepositions in Indo-European languages to indicate the actor and the recipient of an action. Japanese "pronouns" also function differently from most modern Indo-European pronouns (and more like nouns) in that they can take modifiers as any other noun may. For instance, one does not say in English: The amazed he ran down
384-414: A distinct language of its own that has absorbed various aspects from neighboring languages. Japanese has five vowels, and vowel length is phonemic, with each having both a short and a long version. Elongated vowels are usually denoted with a line over the vowel (a macron ) in rōmaji , a repeated vowel character in hiragana , or a chōonpu succeeding the vowel in katakana . /u/ ( listen )
480-419: A glide /j/ and either the first part of a geminate consonant ( っ / ッ , represented as Q) or a moraic nasal in the coda ( ん / ン , represented as N). The nasal is sensitive to its phonetic environment and assimilates to the following phoneme, with pronunciations including [ɴ, m, n, ɲ, ŋ, ɰ̃] . Onset-glide clusters only occur at the start of syllables but clusters across syllables are allowed as long as
576-477: A less caste-like differentiation between professional and fan. Anime conventions , gaming conventions , filk-music conventions, and furry conventions may all be considered derivatives of science-fiction conventions, which began in the late 1930s. While the wearing of costumes—and even a costume competition (known as a "masquerade")—has been an occasional feature of traditional science-fiction conventions since Morojo and Forrest J Ackerman wore them during
672-484: A listener depending on the listener's relative social position and the degree of familiarity between the speaker and the listener. When used in different social relationships, the same word may have positive (intimate or respectful) or negative (distant or disrespectful) connotations. Japanese often use titles of the person referred to where pronouns would be used in English. For example, when speaking to one's teacher, it
768-425: A location, such as Akiba-kei ("Akihabara-style"), which applies to those familiar with Akihabara's culture. Miyadai describes two big subtypes of the otaku type, a world type and a battle royale type. There is a chronological development from the world type of the late 1990s to the battle royale type of the 2000s but they also coexisted. The antagonism between the world type and the battle royale type emerged in
864-544: A manga and anime adaptation, is Welcome to the N.H.K. , which focuses on otaku subcultures and highlights other social outcasts, such as hikikomori and NEETs . Works that focus on otaku characters include WataMote , the story of an unattractive and unsociable otome gamer otaku who exhibits delusions about her social status; and No More Heroes , a video game about an otaku assassin named Travis Touchdown and his surrealistic adventures inspired by anime and manga. Media about otaku also exist outside of Japan, such as
960-413: A medium for unpopular students, catering to obsessed fans. After these fans discovered Comic Market, the term was used as a self-confirming and self-mocking collective identity. The 1989 "Otaku Murderer" case gave the fandom a negative connotation from which it has not fully recovered. The perception of otaku was again damaged in late 2004 when Kaoru Kobayashi kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and murdered
1056-548: A much higher estimation in 2004, but this definition focused on consumerism and not the "unique psychological characteristics" of otaku used in the 2005 study. The NRI's 2005 study also put forth five archetypes of otaku: The Hamagin Research Institute found that moe -related content was worth ¥88.8 billion ($ 807 million) in 2005, and one analyst estimated the market could be as much as ¥2 trillion ($ 18 billion). Japan-based Tokyo Otaku Mode ,
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#17327871188071152-642: A nationwide U.S. survey conducted by Dentsu in July 2022, 34％ of American Gen-Zs (around 15 million people), acknowledged themselves as anime otaku . In 2005, the Nomura Research Institute divided otaku into twelve groups and estimated the size and market impact of each of these groups. Other institutions have split it further or focused on a single otaku interest. These publications classify distinct groups including anime, manga, camera, automobile, J-idol , and electronics otaku. In 2005,
1248-533: A not-for-profit basis, though some events catering to fans are run by commercial interests for profit. Many conventions have award presentations relating to their genre (such as the Hugo Awards which have been presented at The World Science Fiction Convention (WorldCon) since 1953). At commercial events, performers often give out autographs to the fans, sometimes in exchange for a flat appearance fee, and sometimes may perform songs that have no relevance to
1344-558: A person unable to relate to reality." The term thus has more of a negative association in Japanese society. The word entered English as a loanword from the Japanese language. It is typically used to refer to a fan of anime and manga , but can also refer to Japanese video games or even Japanese culture in general. Platforms like TrackOtaku and the American magazine Otaku USA popularize and cover these aspects. The usage of
1440-645: A place for news related to otaku, has been liked on Facebook almost 10 million times. Other classifications of otaku interests include Vocaloid , cosplay , figures , and professional wrestling , as categorized by the Yano Research Institute, which reports and tracks market growth and trends in sectors heavily influenced by otaku consumerism. In 2012, it noted around 30% of growth in dating sim and online gaming otaku, while Vocaloid, cosplay, idols and maid services grew by 10%, confirming its 2011 predictions. Ōkina otomodachi ( 大きなお友達 )
1536-530: A refuge from the nanpa culture. In 1980, around the Kabuki-chō district of Shinjuku in Tokyo, there was a boom of nyū fūzoku , or new sex services employing female college or vocational school students. The burusera boom and the compensated dating boom in the 1990s were extensions of this. In this sense, the period from 1980 to the mid-1990s was the "age of sexual love". The higher the sexual love boom rose,
1632-408: A sentence need not be stated and pronouns may be omitted if they can be inferred from context. In the example above, hana ga nagai would mean "[their] noses are long", while nagai by itself would mean "[they] are long." A single verb can be a complete sentence: Yatta! ( やった! ) "[I / we / they / etc] did [it]!". In addition, since adjectives can form the predicate in a Japanese sentence (below),
1728-411: A seven-year-old first-grade student. Japanese journalist Akihiro Ōtani suspected that Kobayashi's crime was committed by a member of the figure moe zoku even before his arrest. Although Kobayashi was not an otaku , the degree of social hostility against otaku increased. Otaku were seen by law enforcement as possible suspects for sex crimes, and local governments called for stricter laws controlling
1824-428: A single adjective can be a complete sentence: Urayamashii! ( 羨ましい! ) "[I'm] jealous [about it]!". While the language has some words that are typically translated as pronouns, these are not used as frequently as pronouns in some Indo-European languages, and function differently. In some cases, Japanese relies on special verb forms and auxiliary verbs to indicate the direction of benefit of an action: "down" to indicate
1920-500: A student's interests will be recognized and nurtured, catering to the interests of otaku . Secondly, the vertical structure of Japanese society identifies the value of individuals by their success. Until the late 1980s, unathletic and unattractive males focused on academics, hoping to secure a good job and marry to raise their social standing. Those unable to succeed socially focused instead on their interests, often into adulthood, with their lifestyle centering on those interests, furthering
2016-614: Is Otome Road in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. Students from Nagoya City University started a project to help promote hidden tourist attractions and attract more otaku to Nagoya . There are specific terms for different types of otaku, including fujoshi ( 腐女子 , lit. "rotten girl(s)") , a self-mockingly pejorative Japanese term for female fans of yaoi , which focuses on homosexual male relationships. Reki-jo are female otaku who are interested in Japanese history . Some terms refer to
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#17327871188072112-624: Is compressed rather than protruded , or simply unrounded. Some Japanese consonants have several allophones , which may give the impression of a larger inventory of sounds. However, some of these allophones have since become phonemic. For example, in the Japanese language up to and including the first half of the 20th century, the phonemic sequence /ti/ was palatalized and realized phonetically as [tɕi] , approximately chi ( listen ) ; however, now [ti] and [tɕi] are distinct, as evidenced by words like tī [tiː] "Western-style tea" and chii [tɕii] "social status". The "r" of
2208-421: Is topic–comment . Sentence-final particles are used to add emotional or emphatic impact, or form questions. Nouns have no grammatical number or gender , and there are no articles . Verbs are conjugated , primarily for tense and voice , but not person . Japanese adjectives are also conjugated. Japanese has a complex system of honorifics , with verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of
2304-555: Is a Japanese phrase that literally translates to "big friend" or "adult friend". Japanese otaku use it to describe themselves as adult fans of an anime , a manga , or a TV show that is originally aimed at children . A parent who watches such a show with their children is not considered an ōkina otomodachi , nor is a parent who buys anime DVDs or manga volumes for their children; ōkina otomodachi are those who consume such content by themselves. Japanese language Japanese ( 日本語 , Nihongo , [ɲihoŋɡo] )
2400-448: Is also seen in o-medetō "congratulations", from medetaku ). Late Middle Japanese has the first loanwords from European languages – now-common words borrowed into Japanese in this period include pan ("bread") and tabako ("tobacco", now "cigarette"), both from Portuguese . Modern Japanese is considered to begin with the Edo period (which spanned from 1603 to 1867). Since Old Japanese,
2496-527: Is also used in a limited fashion (such as for imported acronyms) in Japanese writing. The numeral system uses mostly Arabic numerals , but also traditional Chinese numerals . Proto-Japonic , the common ancestor of the Japanese and Ryukyuan languages , is thought to have been brought to Japan by settlers coming from the Korean peninsula sometime in the early- to mid-4th century BC (the Yayoi period ), replacing
2592-440: Is appropriate to use sensei ( 先生 , "teacher"), but inappropriate to use anata . This is because anata is used to refer to people of equal or lower status, and one's teacher has higher status. Japanese nouns have no grammatical number, gender or article aspect. The noun hon ( 本 ) may refer to a single book or several books; hito ( 人 ) can mean "person" or "people", and ki ( 木 ) can be "tree" or "trees". Where number
2688-701: Is associated with comedy (see Kansai dialect ). Dialects of Tōhoku and North Kantō are associated with typical farmers. The Ryūkyūan languages, spoken in Okinawa and the Amami Islands (administratively part of Kagoshima ), are distinct enough to be considered a separate branch of the Japonic family; not only is each language unintelligible to Japanese speakers, but most are unintelligible to those who speak other Ryūkyūan languages. However, in contrast to linguists, many ordinary Japanese people tend to consider
2784-466: Is better documentation of Late Middle Japanese phonology than for previous forms (for instance, the Arte da Lingoa de Iapam ). Among other sound changes, the sequence /au/ merges to /ɔː/ , in contrast with /oː/ ; /p/ is reintroduced from Chinese; and /we/ merges with /je/ . Some forms rather more familiar to Modern Japanese speakers begin to appear – the continuative ending - te begins to reduce onto
2880-509: Is correlated with the sex of the speaker and the social situation in which they are spoken: men and women alike in a formal situation generally refer to themselves as watashi ( 私 , literally "private") or watakushi (also 私 , hyper-polite form), while men in rougher or intimate conversation are much more likely to use the word ore ( 俺 "oneself", "myself") or boku . Similarly, different words such as anata , kimi , and omae ( お前 , more formally 御前 "the one before me") may refer to
2976-417: Is important, it can be indicated by providing a quantity (often with a counter word ) or (rarely) by adding a suffix, or sometimes by duplication (e.g. 人人 , hitobito , usually written with an iteration mark as 人々 ). Words for people are usually understood as singular. Thus Tanaka-san usually means Mx Tanaka . Words that refer to people and animals can be made to indicate a group of individuals through
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3072-755: Is less common. In terms of mutual intelligibility , a survey in 1967 found that the four most unintelligible dialects (excluding Ryūkyūan languages and Tōhoku dialects ) to students from Greater Tokyo were the Kiso dialect (in the deep mountains of Nagano Prefecture ), the Himi dialect (in Toyama Prefecture ), the Kagoshima dialect and the Maniwa dialect (in Okayama Prefecture ). The survey
3168-435: Is less direct and more distant than intimate pronouns, such as anata , and masculine pronouns, such as kimi and omae . The origin of the pronoun's use among 1980s manga and anime fans is unclear. Science fiction fans were using otaku to address owners of books by the late 1960s (in a sense of "Do[es] [your home] own this book?"). Social critic Eiji Ōtsuka posits that otaku was used because it allowed people meeting for
3264-554: Is mostly equivalent to " geek " or " nerd " (both in the broad sense; a technological geek would be a gijutsu otaku ( 技術オタク ) and an academic nerd would be a bunkakei otaku ( 文化系オタク ) or gariben ( ガリ勉 ) ), but in a more derogatory manner than used in the West. It is also applied to any fan of any particular theme, topic, hobby or form of entertainment. "When these people are referred to as otaku , they are judged for their behaviors — and people suddenly see an 'otaku' as
3360-420: Is often called a topic-prominent language , which means it has a strong tendency to indicate the topic separately from the subject, and that the two do not always coincide. The sentence Zō wa hana ga nagai ( 象は鼻が長い ) literally means, "As for elephant(s), (the) nose(s) (is/are) long". The topic is zō "elephant", and the subject is hana "nose". Japanese grammar tends toward brevity; the subject or object of
3456-498: Is preserved in words such as matsuge ("eyelash", lit. "hair of the eye"); modern mieru ("to be visible") and kikoeru ("to be audible") retain a mediopassive suffix - yu(ru) ( kikoyu → kikoyuru (the attributive form, which slowly replaced the plain form starting in the late Heian period) → kikoeru (all verbs with the shimo-nidan conjugation pattern underwent this same shift in Early Modern Japanese )); and
3552-610: Is the principal language of the Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people . It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan , the only country where it is the national language , and within the Japanese diaspora worldwide. The Japonic family also includes the Ryukyuan languages and the variously classified Hachijō language . There have been many attempts to group the Japonic languages with other families such as
3648-402: Is the version of Japanese discussed in this article. Formerly, standard Japanese in writing ( 文語 , bungo , "literary language") was different from colloquial language ( 口語 , kōgo ) . The two systems have different rules of grammar and some variance in vocabulary. Bungo was the main method of writing Japanese until about 1900; since then kōgo gradually extended its influence and
3744-471: Is used for the present and the future. For verbs that represent an ongoing process, the -te iru form indicates a continuous (or progressive) aspect , similar to the suffix ing in English. For others that represent a change of state, the -te iru form indicates a perfect aspect. For example, kite iru means "They have come (and are still here)", but tabete iru means "They are eating". Questions (both with an interrogative pronoun and yes/no questions) have
3840-405: Is why some linguists do not classify Japanese "pronouns" as pronouns, but rather as referential nouns, much like Spanish usted (contracted from vuestra merced , "your ( majestic plural ) grace") or Portuguese você (from vossa mercê ). Japanese personal pronouns are generally used only in situations requiring special emphasis as to who is doing what to whom. The choice of words used as pronouns
3936-615: The Ainu , Austronesian , Koreanic , and the now-discredited Altaic , but none of these proposals have gained any widespread acceptance. Little is known of the language's prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from the 3rd century AD recorded a few Japanese words, but substantial Old Japanese texts did not appear until the 8th century. From the Heian period (794–1185), extensive waves of Sino-Japanese vocabulary entered
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4032-670: The First World Science Fiction Convention in 1939, this has never been the dominant feature of such events. From press coverage of comic book and anime conventions has arisen the widespread image of fans' tendency to dress up as their favorite characters in elaborate costumes (known as cosplay in anime terminology) that are time-consuming and/or expensive to assemble. Different conventions use different methods to count their attendance, which leads to some confusion about actual convention size. Fan conventions for various genres of entertainment extend to
4128-462: The Japonic language family, which also includes the Ryukyuan languages spoken in the Ryukyu Islands . As these closely related languages are commonly treated as dialects of the same language, Japanese is sometimes called a language isolate . According to Martine Irma Robbeets , Japanese has been subject to more attempts to show its relation to other languages than any other language in
4224-514: The Philippines , and various Pacific islands, locals in those countries learned Japanese as the language of the empire. As a result, many elderly people in these countries can still speak Japanese. Japanese emigrant communities (the largest of which are to be found in Brazil , with 1.4 million to 1.5 million Japanese immigrants and descendants, according to Brazilian IBGE data, more than
4320-738: The United States (notably in Hawaii , where 16.7% of the population has Japanese ancestry, and California ), and the Philippines (particularly in Davao Region and the Province of Laguna ). Japanese has no official status in Japan, but is the de facto national language of the country. There is a form of the language considered standard : hyōjungo ( 標準語 ) , meaning "standard Japanese", or kyōtsūgo ( 共通語 ) , "common language", or even "Tokyo dialect" at times. The meanings of
4416-806: The de facto standard Japanese had been the Kansai dialect , especially that of Kyoto . However, during the Edo period, Edo (now Tokyo) developed into the largest city in Japan, and the Edo-area dialect became standard Japanese. Since the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages has increased significantly. The period since 1945 has seen many words borrowed from other languages—such as German, Portuguese and English. Many English loan words especially relate to technology—for example, pasokon (short for "personal computer"), intānetto ("internet"), and kamera ("camera"). Due to
4512-527: The 1.2 million of the United States ) sometimes employ Japanese as their primary language. Approximately 12% of Hawaii residents speak Japanese, with an estimated 12.6% of the population of Japanese ancestry in 2008. Japanese emigrants can also be found in Peru , Argentina , Australia (especially in the eastern states), Canada (especially in Vancouver , where 1.4% of the population has Japanese ancestry),
4608-403: The 1980s as changing social mentalities and the nurturing of otaku traits by Japanese schools combined with the resignation of such individuals to what was then seen as inevitably becoming social outcasts. The subculture's birth coincided with the anime boom after the release of works such as Mobile Suit Gundam , before it branched into Comic Market . The otaku culture could also be seen as
4704-456: The 1980s, through the work of humorist and essayist Akio Nakamori . His 1983 series ' Otaku' Research ( 『おたく』の研究 , "Otaku" no Kenkyū ) , printed in the lolicon magazine Manga Burikko , applied the term as pejorative for "unpleasant" fans, attacking their supposed poor fashion sense and physical appearance in particular. Nakamori was particularly critical of "manga maniacs" drawn to cute girl characters, and explained his label otaku as
4800-716: The American documentary Otaku Unite! which focuses on the American side of the otaku culture, and the Filipino novel Otaku Girl , which tells the story of a virtual reality world where otaku can role-play and use the powers of their favorite anime characters. A term used in the otaku fandom is wotagei or otagei ( ヲタ芸 or オタ芸 ) , a type of cheering performed as a group. Another term is itasha ( 痛車 , literally "painful (i.e. cringeworthy) car(s)") , which describes vehicles decorated with fictional characters, especially bishōjo game or eroge characters. The Nomura Research Institute (NRI) has made two major studies into otaku,
4896-486: The Japanese language is of particular interest, ranging between an apical central tap and a lateral approximant . The "g" is also notable; unless it starts a sentence, it may be pronounced [ ŋ ] , in the Kanto prestige dialect and in other eastern dialects. The phonotactics of Japanese are relatively simple. The syllable structure is (C)(G)V(C), that is, a core vowel surrounded by an optional onset consonant,
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#17327871188074992-483: The Japanese pavilion in the 2004 International Architecture exhibition of the Venice Biennale (Biennale Architecture) featured 'otaku'. In 2005, the word moe — one of the keywords of the present volume — was chosen as one of the top ten ' buzzwords of the year'." Former Prime Minister of Japan Taro Aso has also claimed to be an otaku, using this subculture to promote Japan in foreign affairs. In 2013,
5088-736: The Old Japanese sections are written in Man'yōgana , which uses kanji for their phonetic as well as semantic values. Based on the Man'yōgana system, Old Japanese can be reconstructed as having 88 distinct morae . Texts written with Man'yōgana use two different sets of kanji for each of the morae now pronounced き (ki), ひ (hi), み (mi), け (ke), へ (he), め (me), こ (ko), そ (so), と (to), の (no), も (mo), よ (yo) and ろ (ro). (The Kojiki has 88, but all later texts have 87. The distinction between mo 1 and mo 2 apparently
5184-488: The Ryūkyūan languages as dialects of Japanese. The imperial court also seems to have spoken an unusual variant of the Japanese of the time, most likely the spoken form of Classical Japanese , a writing style that was prevalent during the Heian period , but began to decline during the late Meiji period . The Ryūkyūan languages are classified by UNESCO as 'endangered', as young people mostly use Japanese and cannot understand
5280-591: The US. In the early 2000s, the otaku community in the United States often consisted of suburban young people and niche online groups. The district of Akihabara in Tokyo, where there are maid cafés featuring waitresses who dress up and act like maids or anime characters, is a notable attraction center for otaku. Akihabara also has dozens of stores specializing in anime, manga, retro video games , figurines, card games, and other collectibles. Another popular location
5376-543: The addition of a collective suffix (a noun suffix that indicates a group), such as -tachi , but this is not a true plural: the meaning is closer to the English phrase "and company". A group described as Tanaka-san-tachi may include people not named Tanaka. Some Japanese nouns are effectively plural, such as hitobito "people" and wareware "we/us", while the word tomodachi "friend" is considered singular, although plural in form. Verbs are conjugated to show tenses, of which there are two: past and present (or non-past) which
5472-458: The age in which reality and fiction are regarded as equivalent tools for self-defense. He further describes the internet society as a rhizomic structure which invalidates the distinction between "reality" and "fiction". The world type treats fiction as an equivalent of reality (real-ization of fiction), while the battle royale type treats reality as an equivalent of fiction (fictionalization of reality). Otaku often participate in self-mocking through
5568-414: The contemporary knowledge magazine Bessatsu Takarajima dedicated its 104th issue to the topic of otaku. It was called Otaku no Hon ( おたくの本 , lit. The Book of Otaku ) and delved into the subculture of otaku with 19 articles by otaku insiders, among them Akio Nakamori. This publication has been claimed by scholar Rudyard Pesimo to have popularized the term. In modern Japanese slang, the term otaku
5664-437: The creation of the otaku subculture. Even prior to the coinage of the term, the stereotypical traits of the subculture were identified in a 1981 issue of Fan Rōdo (Fan road) about "culture clubs". These individuals were drawn to anime, a counter-culture, with the release of hard science fiction works such as Mobile Suit Gundam . These works allowed a congregation and development of obsessive interests that turned anime into
5760-492: The depiction of eroticism in otaku materials. Not all attention has been negative. In his book Otaku , Hiroki Azuma observed: "Between 2001 and 2007, the otaku forms and markets quite rapidly won social recognition in Japan", citing the fact that "[i]n 2003, Hayao Miyazaki won the Academy Award for his Spirited Away ; around the same time Takashi Murakami achieved recognition for otaku-like designs; in 2004,
5856-451: The economic impact of otaku was estimated to be as high as ¥2 trillion ( US$ 18 billion). Otaku is derived from a Japanese term for another person's house or family ( お宅 , otaku ). The word can be used metaphorically as a part of honorific speech in Japanese , as a second-person pronoun . In this usage, its literal translation is "you". It is associated with some dialects of Western Japanese and with housewives , and
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#17327871188075952-578: The effect of changing Japanese into a mora-timed language. Late Middle Japanese covers the years from 1185 to 1600, and is normally divided into two sections, roughly equivalent to the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period , respectively. The later forms of Late Middle Japanese are the first to be described by non-native sources, in this case the Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries; and thus there
6048-498: The expansion of the Internet and media, as more anime, video games, shows, and comics were created. The definition of otaku subsequently became more complex, and numerous classifications of otaku emerged. Otaku may be used as a pejorative, with its negativity stemming from a stereotypical view of otaku as social outcasts and the media's reporting on Tsutomu Miyazaki , "The Otaku Murderer", in 1989. Otaku discrimination
6144-573: The first in 2004 and a revised study with a more specific definition in 2005. The 2005 study defines twelve major fields of otaku interests. Of these groups: The remaining five categories include mobile device otaku, with 70,000 individuals and ¥8 billion; audio-visual equipment otaku, with 60,000 individuals and ¥12 billion; camera otaku, with 50,000 individuals and ¥18 billion; fashion otaku, with 40,000 individuals and ¥13 billion; and railway otaku, with 20,000 individuals and ¥4 billion. These values were partially released with
6240-470: The first time, such as at a convention , to interact from a comfortable distance. One theory posits that otaku was popularized as a pronoun by science fiction author Motoko Arai in a 1981 essay in Variety magazine, and another posits that it was popularized by fans of anime studio Gainax , some of whose founders came from Tottori Prefecture in western Japan (where otaku is commonly used). The pronoun
6336-455: The flow of loanwords from European languages increased significantly, and words from English roots have proliferated. Japanese is an agglutinative , mora -timed language with relatively simple phonotactics , a pure vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length, and a lexically significant pitch-accent . Word order is normally subject–object–verb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, and sentence structure
6432-609: The genitive particle ga remains in intentionally archaic speech. Early Middle Japanese is the Japanese of the Heian period , from 794 to 1185. It formed the basis for the literary standard of Classical Japanese , which remained in common use until the early 20th century. During this time, Japanese underwent numerous phonological developments, in many cases instigated by an influx of Chinese loanwords . These included phonemic length distinction for both consonants and vowels , palatal consonants (e.g. kya ) and labial consonant clusters (e.g. kwa ), and closed syllables . This had
6528-430: The language, affecting the phonology of Early Middle Japanese . Late Middle Japanese (1185–1600) saw extensive grammatical changes and the first appearance of European loanwords . The basis of the standard dialect moved from the Kansai region to the Edo region (modern Tokyo ) in the Early Modern Japanese period (early 17th century–mid 19th century). Following the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853,
6624-458: The languages of the original Jōmon inhabitants, including the ancestor of the modern Ainu language . Because writing had yet to be introduced from China, there is no direct evidence, and anything that can be discerned about this period must be based on internal reconstruction from Old Japanese , or comparison with the Ryukyuan languages and Japanese dialects . The Chinese writing system
6720-449: The languages. Okinawan Japanese is a variant of Standard Japanese influenced by the Ryūkyūan languages, and is the primary dialect spoken among young people in the Ryukyu Islands . Modern Japanese has become prevalent nationwide (including the Ryūkyū islands) due to education , mass media , and an increase in mobility within Japan, as well as economic integration. Japanese is a member of
6816-427: The large quantity of English loanwords, modern Japanese has developed a distinction between [tɕi] and [ti] , and [dʑi] and [di] , with the latter in each pair only found in loanwords. Although Japanese is spoken almost exclusively in Japan, it has also been spoken outside of the country. Before and during World War II , through Japanese annexation of Taiwan and Korea , as well as partial occupation of China ,
6912-429: The more people were disappointed in sexual love for not giving them that comprehensive acceptance. The advent of information technology and databases, first and foremost, enriched the means for the homeostasis of the self, that is, self-defense; and, secondly, it thereby rapidly weakened the sense that "reality" (or embodied communication) is more fruitful than "fiction" (or virtual reality). The otaku subculture grew with
7008-425: The only strict rule of word order is that the verb must be placed at the end of a sentence (possibly followed by sentence-end particles). This is because Japanese sentence elements are marked with particles that identify their grammatical functions. The basic sentence structure is topic–comment . For example, Kochira wa Tanaka-san desu ( こちらは田中さんです ). kochira ("this") is the topic of the sentence, indicated by
7104-470: The out-group gives a benefit to the in-group, and "up" to indicate the in-group gives a benefit to the out-group. Here, the in-group includes the speaker and the out-group does not, and their boundary depends on context. For example, oshiete moratta ( 教えてもらった ) (literally, "explaining got" with a benefit from the out-group to the in-group) means "[he/she/they] explained [it] to [me/us]". Similarly, oshiete ageta ( 教えてあげた ) (literally, "explaining gave" with
7200-415: The particle wa . The verb desu is a copula , commonly translated as "to be" or "it is" (though there are other verbs that can be translated as "to be"), though technically it holds no meaning and is used to give a sentence 'politeness'. As a phrase, Tanaka-san desu is the comment. This sentence literally translates to "As for this person, (it) is Mx Tanaka." Thus Japanese, like many other Asian languages,
7296-401: The pejorative usage, were intermixed. The term was also popularized by William Gibson 's 1996 novel Idoru , which references otaku . Kaichirō Morikawa identifies the subculture as distinctly Japanese, a product of the school system and society. Japanese schools have a class structure which functions as a caste system , but clubs are an exception to the social hierarchy. In these clubs,
7392-448: The production or interest in humor directed at their subculture. Anime and manga otaku are the subject of numerous self-critical works, such as Otaku no Video , which contains a live-interview mockumentary that pokes fun at the otaku subculture and includes Gainax 's own staff as the interviewees. Other works depict otaku subculture less critically, such as Genshiken and Comic Party . A well-known light novel , which later received
7488-481: The proposed larger Altaic family, or to various Southeast Asian languages , especially Austronesian . None of these proposals have gained wide acceptance (and the Altaic family itself is now considered controversial). As it stands, only the link to Ryukyuan has wide support. Other theories view the Japanese language as an early creole language formed through inputs from at least two distinct language groups, or as
7584-459: The same structure as affirmative sentences, but with intonation rising at the end. In the formal register, the question particle -ka is added. For example, ii desu ( いいです ) "It is OK" becomes ii desu-ka ( いいですか。 ) "Is it OK?". In a more informal tone sometimes the particle -no ( の ) is added instead to show a personal interest of the speaker: Dōshite konai-no? "Why aren't (you) coming?". Some simple queries are formed simply by mentioning
7680-472: The shows or otherwise entertain the fans. Commercial conventions are usually quite expensive and are hosted in hotels. There is often tight security for the celebrities to protect against potentially fanatic fans. Such features are not common at traditional science-fiction conventions , which are more oriented toward science fiction as a mode of literature, rather than toward visual media, and do not include any paid appearances by famous personalities, and maintain
7776-439: The speaker, the listener, and persons mentioned. The Japanese writing system combines Chinese characters , known as kanji ( 漢字 , ' Han characters') , with two unique syllabaries (or moraic scripts) derived by the Japanese from the more complex Chinese characters: hiragana ( ひらがな or 平仮名 , 'simple characters') and katakana ( カタカナ or 片仮名 , 'partial characters'). Latin script ( rōmaji ローマ字 )
7872-817: The state as at the time the constitution was written, many of the elders participating in the process had been educated in Japanese during the South Seas Mandate over the island shown by the 1958 census of the Trust Territory of the Pacific that found that 89% of Palauans born between 1914 and 1933 could speak and read Japanese, but as of the 2005 Palau census there were no residents of Angaur that spoke Japanese at home. Japanese dialects typically differ in terms of pitch accent , inflectional morphology , vocabulary , and particle usage. Some even differ in vowel and consonant inventories, although this
7968-481: The street. (grammatically incorrect insertion of a pronoun) But one can grammatically say essentially the same thing in Japanese: 驚いた彼は道を走っていった。 Transliteration: Odoroita kare wa michi o hashitte itta. (grammatically correct) This is partly because these words evolved from regular nouns, such as kimi "you" ( 君 "lord"), anata "you" ( あなた "that side, yonder"), and boku "I" ( 僕 "servant"). This
8064-435: The term of address used between junior high school kids at manga and anime conventions. In 1989, the case of Tsutomu Miyazaki , "The Otaku Murderer", brought the fandom, very negatively, to national attention. Miyazaki, who randomly chose and murdered four girls, had a collection of 5,763 video tapes, some containing anime and slasher films that were found interspersed with videos and pictures of his victims. Later that year,
8160-591: The topic with an interrogative intonation to call for the hearer's attention: Kore wa? "(What about) this?"; O-namae wa? ( お名前は？ ) "(What's your) name?". Negatives are formed by inflecting the verb. For example, Pan o taberu ( パンを食べる。 ) "I will eat bread" or "I eat bread" becomes Pan o tabenai ( パンを食べない。 ) "I will not eat bread" or "I do not eat bread". Plain negative forms are i -adjectives (see below) and inflect as such, e.g. Pan o tabenakatta ( パンを食べなかった。 ) "I did not eat bread". Fan convention Fan conventions are traditionally organized by fans on
8256-419: The two consonants are the moraic nasal followed by a homorganic consonant. Japanese also includes a pitch accent , which is not represented in moraic writing; for example [haꜜ.ɕi] ("chopsticks") and [ha.ɕiꜜ] ("bridge") are both spelled はし ( hashi ) , and are only differentiated by the tone contour. Japanese word order is classified as subject–object–verb . Unlike many Indo-European languages ,
8352-577: The two methods were both used in writing until the 1940s. Bungo still has some relevance for historians, literary scholars, and lawyers (many Japanese laws that survived World War II are still written in bungo , although there are ongoing efforts to modernize their language). Kōgo is the dominant method of both speaking and writing Japanese today, although bungo grammar and vocabulary are occasionally used in modern Japanese for effect. The 1982 state constitution of Angaur , Palau , names Japanese along with Palauan and English as an official language of
8448-480: The two terms (''hyōjungo'' and ''kyōtsūgo'') are almost the same. Hyōjungo or kyōtsūgo is a conception that forms the counterpart of dialect. This normative language was born after the Meiji Restoration ( 明治維新 , meiji ishin , 1868) from the language spoken in the higher-class areas of Tokyo (see Yamanote ). Hyōjungo is taught in schools and used on television and in official communications. It
8544-407: The verb (e.g. yonde for earlier yomite ), the -k- in the final mora of adjectives drops out ( shiroi for earlier shiroki ); and some forms exist where modern standard Japanese has retained the earlier form (e.g. hayaku > hayau > hayɔɔ , where modern Japanese just has hayaku , though the alternative form is preserved in the standard greeting o-hayō gozaimasu "good morning"; this ending
8640-626: The word is a source of contention among some fans, owing to its negative connotations and stereotyping of the fandom. Widespread English exposure to the term came in 1988 with the release of Gunbuster , which refers to anime fans as otaku . Gunbuster was released officially in English in March 1990. The term's usage spread throughout the Usenet group rec.arts.anime with discussions about Otaku no Video ' s portrayal of otaku before its 1994 English release. Positive and negative aspects, including
8736-548: The world. Since Japanese first gained the consideration of linguists in the late 19th century, attempts have been made to show its genealogical relation to languages or language families such as Ainu , Korean , Chinese , Tibeto-Burman , Uralic , Altaic (or Ural-Altaic ), Austroasiatic , Austronesian and Dravidian . At the fringe, some linguists have even suggested a link to Indo-European languages , including Greek , or to Sumerian . Main modern theories try to link Japanese either to northern Asian languages, like Korean or
8832-408: Was also used in the popular anime Macross , first aired in 1982, by the characters Hikaru Ichijyo and Lynn Minmay , who address each other as otaku until they get to know each other better. The modern slang form, which is distinguished from the older usage by being written in hiragana (おたく), katakana (オタク or, less frequently, ヲタク) or rarely in rōmaji , first appeared in public discourse in
8928-539: Was based on 12- to 20-second-long recordings of 135 to 244 phonemes , which 42 students listened to and translated word-for-word. The listeners were all Keio University students who grew up in the Kanto region . There are some language islands in mountain villages or isolated islands such as Hachijō-jima island , whose dialects are descended from Eastern Old Japanese . Dialects of the Kansai region are spoken or known by many Japanese, and Osaka dialect in particular
9024-735: Was imported to Japan from Baekje around the start of the fifth century, alongside Buddhism. The earliest texts were written in Classical Chinese , although some of these were likely intended to be read as Japanese using the kanbun method, and show influences of Japanese grammar such as Japanese word order. The earliest text, the Kojiki , dates to the early eighth century, and was written entirely in Chinese characters, which are used to represent, at different times, Chinese, kanbun , and Old Japanese. As in other texts from this period,
9120-474: Was lost immediately following its composition.) This set of morae shrank to 67 in Early Middle Japanese , though some were added through Chinese influence. Man'yōgana also has a symbol for /je/ , which merges with /e/ before the end of the period. Several fossilizations of Old Japanese grammatical elements remain in the modern language – the genitive particle tsu (superseded by modern no )
9216-424: Was particularly intense between 1989 (when a serial murder suspect was arrested) and 1996 (when the compensated dating boom was at its peak). According to studies published in 2013, the term has become less negative, and an increasing number of people now identify themselves as otaku , both in Japan and elsewhere. Out of 137,734 teens surveyed in Japan in 2013, 42.2% self-identified as a type of otaku . According to
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