The Otaku Enigma

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  • オタクという謎
  • オタク ト イウ ナゾ

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Abstract

In the early 1980s, young people called otaku began to appear in Japanese society. The aim of this paper is to show how enigmatic this otaku phenomenon is. What is the meaning of otaku? As for the subjects in which otaku are interested, otaku is defined in terms of an extreme discrepancy between the degree of significance and the density of information. This paper will propose four otaku paradoxes as follows: Otaku are only interested in one particular subject. However, with regard to the genetic and developmental processes of otaku, we will hypothesize that for otaku the universal world is condensed into one particular subject such as animation, comics, computer games and so on. Otaku are ironic relativists who consider that reality is constructed by human communicative activities. However their behavior shows that they are absorbed in fictional objects. There is a contradiction between consciousness ("it is nothing but a fiction") and behavior ("it is the ultimate reality".) Otaku try to escape from relations with others. At the same time, they long for solidarity with others. In an otaku's relations with others we can find the same type of paradoxes that exist for their subjects: a conversion from universality to particularity and a desire for otherness that is reversed and becomes a negation of otherness, or a desire for similarity. The desire for otherness is parallel to an interest in the body. A lack of physical activity is characteristic of the otaku. A strong interest in physical immediacy is another characteristic of contemporary young people. Thus, there is also a contradiction in the domain of physical desire. Why do these paradoxes exist in the world of otaku? A sociological evaluation of otaku must answer this question.

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