Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Otaku From USA

I first heard the word 'Otaku' a couple years back when I first visited Tokyo for the the Tokyo Game Show. I was there covering the convention and the video game scene for my (still current) day job as TV producer.

One of our translators was translating a question I had asked a Japanese gamer in a small retro video game store in Akihabara (the electronics district of Tokyo). I think the question was something about how 'geeked out' he was to have found a store like the one we were in. He smiled slightly, gave me a pretty good answer and walked away.

After we left the shoot, the translator revealed to me that he was having some trouble figuring out how to translate 'geeked out' but then he remembered the connection to 'Otaku' and it fell into place.

Of course later I found out it's not exactly a term of endearment in Japan and felt really bad about asking that question.

Essentially, Otaku is Japanese for 'geek' or 'nerd', specifcally someone deeply versed/obsessed in the worlds of Anime (Japanese Animation) or Manga (Japanese Comic Books). Mostly, Otaku are seen as being so obsessed with their made-up worlds that they can't live in the real one. Kind of like people I know stuck in World of Warcraft. The term even spawned an awesome TV show that I'll blog about some point in the future called Densha Otoko.

In a strange twist of events, the term has caught on here in the States as a label of pride for geeks of all types, specifically those into Japanese culture.

So why the hell should you care about all of this?

Well, check out this Google Video 'Otaku From USA'. It's a Japanese TV program that chronicled a group of American 'Otaku' on a group tour of a Anime Festival in Japan.

It's basically a nature video about nerds. Totally awesome.


Comments:
The show is actually fairly kind to the American geeks. Mostly accurate subtitles, and the segment doesn't use the Americans for laughs. It's not hard news, but at least there isn't the streak of cruelty so common to lots of stuff on TV in Japan.
 
It's like a nerd homecoming...
 
Oh, damn! I know that guy!!!
 
"And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."

Seriously, this is like a funhouse of nerds where one culture's geeks mirror the others in perpetuity, growing all the nerdier with each reflection and refraction.
 
re not using the Americans for laughs: There's a part where one of the guys says something that sounds like "ecchi" and laughs, and the subtitles are crossed out. What's going on there, anyone know?
 
If any un-selfconscious gaijin otakus would care to post links to a subtitle file for the clip, that would be great.
 
Kind? We're absolute laughingstocks.

Of course, we knew that already.
 
I said the word "unchi", 'cause that's what Arale says in the manga. (I've never seen the anime.)

It's not a greeting per-se, just something she likes to say while holding a bit of poo at the end of a stick. Off camera, you can hear one of the TV crew say "kiiiii" which is another sound Arale likes to make. Hence I responded with "unchi."

I confused dokidoki with tokitoki precisely because I was very exited to go into Tokyo Big Sight for the first time.

Actually, I think it's rather cool that so many people have taken an interest in this video! The tour was very neat and I had a great time. http://www.popjapantravel.com/

Also, there were TWO TV crews. One from Fuji TV and another from Nippon TV. Eventually I will get my hands on a tape from Nippon TV and upload that to Google too.

http://img512.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc045079mz8wc.jpg

-Rick.
 
Hi Rick!

Thanks for sharing your video with the internet and then coming here to comment on it. Please be sure to drop me a line when you do post the next video.

Yours,

Gavin (TV in Japan)
 
Can you imagine the shitstorm that would ensue if there was a tv show in America where we made from of Japanese tourists' broken English? Actually, that's probably been done before. Nevermind.

You could just as easily flip this around and do the same segment about Japanese people who are obsessed with vintage Levi's.
 
Speaking of broken english, I meant "fun," not "from." Yikes.
 
LOL! I did it again! In my comment above I meant to write "I confused tokidoki with dokidoki..." (As Jackson B pointed out, "tokidoki" means "sometimes", while "dokidoki" is Japanese onomatopoeia indicating the sound of a beating heart.)

Heh, I guess I was nervous when I made that post. (^_^);;;

Gavin, thanks for the comment. When I get the next video uploaded I will be sure to let you know.

I suppose I should translate the whole thing and put subtitles on it... If I do get around to doing that, I will also let you know.
 
Geh, that was sad. The only guy who didn't look and act like a pathetic geek was the black guy.
 
Regarding the Eva song...

If you look closely at that part you will notice that I am totally lost trying to read the kanji at the bottom of the karaoke screen (which is off camera). Boy, that song was hard... too fast and too many kanji.

You know, I wanted to sing some other stuff I know better (and with easier kanji!), but the director (who's nickname was "Jonjon") wanted me to sing anime songs (as this was supposed to be the theme of this news segment.)

I actually got to sing three different times... here are some pics that might get shown on the Nippon TV program. (By this time, Fuji had all they needed and were no longer stalking our tour group.)

http://img403.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc053279mh8zv.jpg

http://img476.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture4289al5cx.jpg

-Rick
 
I love how they make fun of American otaku...and the narratar talks like Meowth from Pokemon. Fantastic finishing touch, guys. Japan rules!

Also, the guy in glasses wearing the backpack looks EXACTLY like the Japanese nerds I saw at Disney World last summer. It was odd seeing a character from Densha Otoko come to life.
 
at least they downplayed the worst creation to come out of the States...American cosplayers
 
I had my manic manga/anime phase back in Jr. High. I had a Japanese bff who wasn't into it, but I used to bother her so much about the culture. How losery I must have seemed. (But not to this extent! :P)

Was that cut for maximum dorkiness, or were you just really that dorky?
 
How about some American otaku fansub groups take a crack at subtitling this and releasing it via BitTorrent?
 
Nice! When was this broadcast exactly? I'd agree with the comment above that it was pretty kind, and I think they were only saying "otaku" cos they didn't know what else to put. "Otaku" conjures a way sadder image here, more like cockroach people that scatter under the tables as soon as you turn the lights on. I work with a bunch of them. Not fun to be around under any circumstances.
 
I have to say that was pretty awesome to watch, having just come back from japan (i studied there for 4 months). The excitement they showed in akihabara was exactly the way i felt when i first set foot there.
 
I don't know, but the older guy with the part and the glasses creeped me out.

The whole American otaku thing creeps me out. It's kind of like a retarded puppy. It's terribly cute and vulnerable, but you know deep down inside that it won't survive the following year.
 
BTW, I concurr with Jackson B.

Mad props to Rick for visiting TV in Japan.

We're all looking forward to your next post Rick. Don't disappoint.
 
He said "mune ga tokidoki"

First and foremost, "mune" is boobs.
"tokidori" is sometimes.
I hypothesize with my educated guess that he was trying to say "kokoro ga dokidoki" which means my heart is pounding. Instead, he said "My tits are sometimes". I was pretty surprised at how they didn't roast him any worse than they did. I wouldnt have let it go so easily. Then again Ive been known to be really mean.
 
Actually, you just made yourself look like the biggest newbies in the anime world. The guys looking at the Shakugan no Shana stand... I can respect that... the rest... no. Rick was, IMO, just trying too hard.
I just wanna know what kinda people go on these kinds of tours, because right now, I'm clinging to the stereotype that only the ignorant and those who can afford get to go on such tours.
You guys, when you went on television to represent the 'western' otaku had a duty to make yourself AT LEAST look a bit more knowledgable about the otaku culture in Japan. Instead, you showed these Japanese that you're just a bunch of freaks who want to show off your hobby.
Man, you guys get to go to Japan and all you care about is Sasuke figures from a vending machine?!? The envy is just too great to let you guys off that easily.
 
"shinzou ga dokidoki suru" would work even better.
 
Sometimes an easy way to determine the validity of a Japanese phrase is to do a Google lookup of the romanized Japanese word. A search of Google for the phrase "mune ga doki doki" might reveal how valid this phrase is.

However, if you know Japanese, you can try writing the phrase in actual Japanese and then use that for your Google search.

The phrase "mune ga dokidoki" will probably have more than one kind of spelling in Japanese. For example, using katakana or hiragana for the dokidoki part. A few ways I can think or are:

胸がどきどき (hiragana for dokidoki)
胸がドキドキ (hiragana for dokidoki)
or maybe without the "ga" particle...
胸ドキドキ

Actually, this strategy has the disadvantage that it may pickup "slang" terms that are not normally spelled that way in Japanese dictionaries. An example of this is the well-known slang "spelling" for "die" in the imperative (i.e., "shine") While the correct way to write this is「死ね」, there are many Japanese bloggers who use the slang 「氏ね」. Hence, though this is a syntactically incorrect spelling of the word, a Google search on「氏ね」yields over 1 million hits for this slang spelling of the word.
 
"munega dokidoki" is 100% legit. I checked and it's even used as an example sentence by Kenkyusha's Shin eiwachu jiten. "Sorewo mite munega dokodoki shita."
 
"mune ga dokidoki" is just fine. "kokoro ga dokidoki" is bogus :P ("my spirit is racing!"...but enough of the japanese lesson...)

seriously...this was a funny video, and i hope the folks on the tour had a great time in japan. i'm not saying i would have necessarily wanted to run into you on the street but...more power to you. you're living the american anime nerd's dream, congratulations ;)
 
If somebody can link me to a non-crippled version of the video (preferably MPEG or QT) I'll knock out some English subs in the next couple of days or so.
 
arale says unchya~
which is an ultra-abreviation of
konichi wa
n ch a
NCHYA~
 
Heh, that was pretty interesting. I do wish I had a translation of it. Props to Rick for being brave enough to appear on that show and actually speak Japanese on camera. Further props for coming here and commenting on it despite the trolls who are flaming him both for being "geeky" and for not being geeky enough.
 
Mune, along with meaning chest or breasts, can also be used symbolically to mean "heart" (after all, your heart is under your chest ^^). So "Mune ga dokidoki" is OK. Anyway, I liked this video. And Densha Otoko rocks. :P
 
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