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Abstract
The term ‘otaku’ is generally used in Japan to denote subcultures revolving around the consumption of popular culture, such as manga, anime and games. This paper, however, seeks to analyze ‘otaku’ as a label applied to individuals whose consumption is perceived and judged to have compromised certain values in contemporary Japan. Through analysis of interviews with a group of Japanese students, I found that the values they invoke to judge who the ‘otaku’ are, and which they construe as a form of common sense concerning consumption, correspond to the demands of advanced capitalism: consumption should be productive of capital, either leading to further production or fostering communication that is directly productive. At the same time, people are labeled as ‘otaku’ not merely for failing to produce capital through their consumption, but also for actively practicing a perversion of the capacities that are necessary to advanced capitalist Japan, most notably imagination and autonomy. ‘Otaku’ labeling thus points to capital's anxieties over capacities such as imagination, knowledge and autonomy: these capacities, while essential to a flexible and immaterial economy, could potentially become unproductive and threaten advanced capitalism.
Notes
1 Authors who have written on ‘otaku’ in English have, following the conventions of Anglophone writing, italicized the term to indicate that it is a non-English word. However, instead of italicizing, I have placed it within quotation marks in a bid to challenge it as a neat referent to a specific group of people.
2 Ōtsuka, ‘Otaku’ no seishinshi, 39–43. Dōjin refers to people sharing the same interest, and shi is magazine. Hence, dōjinshi is a magazine created by and for people sharing an interest. However, the term has increasingly come to denote manga that are produced by amateur artists and are parodies of existing manga, anime or games. Comic Market (also known as komike in Japanese) is the largest public convention in Japan where dōjinshi are bought, sold and exchanged. See Kinsella, ‘Japanese Subculture in the 1990s’, for more detailed discussions.
3 Kinsella, ‘Japanese Subculture in the 1990s’, 308–311.
4 Morinaga, Moe keizaigaku, 27–33.
5 Nomura Research Institute, Otaku shijō no kenkyū, 52.
6 See for example Morinaga, Moe keizaigaku.
7 Okuno, Japan kūru to jōhō kakumei; Sakurai, Anime bunka gaikō; Sakurai, Nihon wa anime de saikō suru.
8 Freedman, Train Man and the Gender Politics of Japanese ‘Otaku’ Culture.
9 Leheny, ‘A Narrow Place to Cross Swords’, 219.
10 Kōjien Sixth Edition, 400.
11 Geertz, Local Knowledge, 76.
12 Daliot-Bul, ‘Japan Brand Strategy’, 257–261.
13 Galbraith, ‘Akihabara’, 219–225.
14 ‘Akihabara hokōten saikai’.
15 Hiruma and Nagayama, 2007–2008 Manga ronsō boppatsu, 110–115.
16 Tōkyōto Seishōnen Chian Taisaku Honbu, ‘Heisei 22nen Tōkyōto seishōnen no kenzen na ikusei’.
17 Kinsella, ‘Japanese Subculture in the 1990s’, 311–113; Galbraith, ‘Lolicon’.
18 The examination of ‘otaku’ as a label does not deny the fact that there are people, in Japan and elsewhere, who identify themselves as ‘otaku’. But even for these people, the act of identifying as ‘otaku’ deserves critical attention, because the ways this identity is articulated reflects particular political and moral concerns over how consumption should be conducted, Furthermore, self-identification as ‘otaku’ does not correspond to any particular cultural activity. For example, while there are dōjinshi artists who profess to be ‘otaku’, we cannot assume that all creators of dōjin goods engage in such identification.
19 Lazzarato, ‘Immaterial Labor’; Hardt and Negri, Multitude.
20 Becker, Outsiders, 3.
21 Ibid., 9; italics in original.
22 Ibid., 15.
23 Miyadai, Seifuku shōjo tachi no sentaku, 205–232.
24 Saitō, Sentō bishōjo no seishin bunseki; Saitō, Kankei suru onna shoyū suru otoko.
25 Azuma, Dōbutsuka suru posuto modan.
26 Yoshimoto, Otaku no kigen.
27 For example, see Okada, Otakugaku nyūmon; Morikawa, Shuto no tanjō; Honda, Moeru otoko; and Ishikawa, Seeking the Self.
28 Becker, Outsiders, 5.
29 These students comprised 27 women and 24 men, who studied at the following universities: Keio University, Waseda University, Chuo University, Digital Hollywood University, Tokyo University, Tokyo University of Technology, Sophia University, Kyoto University, Doshisha University, Ritsumeikan University, Kansai University of Foreign Studies, Kyushu University and Hokkaido University.
30 Becker, Outsiders, 2.
31 For a discussion of these studies, see Goode and Ben-Yehuda, Moral Panics.
32 For an overview of the constructionist approach to youth categories in Japan, see Toivonen and Imoto, ‘Making Sense of Youth Problems’. For specific studies, see Horiguchi, ‘Hikikomori’, and Toivonen, ‘NEETs’.
33 Sutton-Smith, The Ambiguity of Play, 62.
34 Pseudonyms are used to protect the students’ confidentiality.
35 Maid cafes are cosplay cafes where waitresses dress up as French maids.
36 Moe is a term that is generally associated with the subculture revolving around characters (especially female ones). The definition of the term, however, has been the subject of debate. For example, Azuma Hiroki, in Dōbutsuka suru posuto modan, sees moe as a form of pleasurable sensation obtained from characters. Honda Tōru, in Moeru otoko, and Morinaga Takurō, in Moe keizaigaku, define it as romantic love towards the characters. For this student, it appears that moe is a form of affective feelings for characters.
37 Romance simulation games (ren'ai shimyureshon) are games where the players’ objective is to engage in romance (for example, dating) with one of the available characters.
38 Allison, ‘The Cool Brand, Affective Activism and Japanese Youth’, 90–91.
39 Lazzarato, ‘Immaterial Labor’, 133; Hardt and Negri, Multitude, 108.
40 Lazzarato, ‘Immaterial Labor’, 137.
41 Young, The Drugtakers, 128–137.
42 Allison, Permitted and Prohibited Desires, 154–155.
43 Sennett, The Culture of the New Capitalism, 48–49.
44 Ibid., 50–51.
45 Lazzarato, ‘Immaterial Labor’, 135.
46 Ibid., 143.
47 Arvidsson, ‘Brands’, 242.
48 Foster, ‘The Work of the New Economy’, 717.
49 Zwick, Bonsu and Darmody, ‘Putting Consumers to Work’, 164–166.
50 Nomura Research Institute, Otaku shijō no kenkyū, 8.
51 Okuno, Japan kūru to jōhō kakumei, 102–103.
52 Suzuki and Dentsū, Watashitachi shōhi, 154.
53 Foster, ‘The Work of the New Economy’, 715–719; Zwick, Bonsu and Darmody, ‘Putting Consumers to Work’, 177–179.
54 Given the fact that many dōjinshi contain sexual depictions, and are possibly used for masturbation, it is possible to read the media professional's comment more literally. I maintain however that he was speaking of ‘masturbatory’ in the metaphorical sense because the conversation centered on his frustration over the dōjinshi artists’ refusal to turn their skills into profits, and their apparent contentment to make losses.
55 Laqueur, Solitary Sex, 186.
56 Ibid., 210, 248.
57 Ibid., 210, 268, 276–278.
58 Ibid., 221.
59 Ibid., 224.
60 Ibid., 249.
61 Ibid., 303.
62 Ito, ‘Mobilizing the Imagination in Everyday Play’, 398.
63 Jenkins, Convergence Culture, 95.
64 Ibid., 119.
65 Ibid., 103.
66 Jenkins, Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers, 147.
67 Ibid., 148.
68 Morinaga, Moe keizaigaku, 116–119.
69 Ibid., 14–15.
70 Okuno, Japan kūru to jōhō kakumei, 26, 44.
71 Ibid., 40–1.
72 Ibid., 146.
73 Nomura Research Institute, Otaku shijō no kenkyū, 28–29.
74 Lazzarato, ‘Immaterial Labor’, 133; Hardt and Negri, Multitude, 108.
75 See Ōtsuka, Teihon monogatari shōhi ron.
76 See Azuma, Dōbutsuka suru posuto modan.
77 Hardt, ‘Affective Labor’, 90. See also Hardt and Negri, Multitude, 108; Allison, ‘The Cool Brand’, 91.
78 Lazzarato, ‘Immaterial Labor’, 138.
79 Ōtsuka, Teihon monogatari shōhi ron, 324–325.
80 Read, The Micro-politics of Capital, 123.
81 Lazzarato, ‘Immaterial Labor’, 141.
82 Ibid., 134.
83 Ibid., 136.
84 Sennett, The Culture of the New Capitalism, 52–55.
85 Ibid., 60–61.
86 Ibid., 61.
87 Arvidsson, ‘Brands’, 249.
88 Sennett, The Culture of the New Capitalism, 46.
89 Takeda, The Political Economy of Reproduction in Japan, 153–187.
90 Arai, ‘The Neo-Liberal Subject of Lack and Potential’.
91 Suzuki and Dentsū, Watashitachi shōhi, 65–67.
92 Ibid., 82.
93 Lukacs, Scripted Affects, Branded Selves, 148–149.
94 Azuma, Dōbutsukasuru posuto modan, 125–141.
95 Morikawa, Shuto no tanjō, 34–35.
96 Honda, Moeru otoko.
97 Ibid., 80.
98 Read, The Micro-politics of Capital, 155.
99 Foster, ‘The Work of the New Economy’, 726.
100 Butler, Bodies that Matter, 14–15.