WIT Life #62: Otaku analysis
Anecdote Article, Japan Trends, Translating/Interpreting, WIT Life 
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WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Translator/Interpreter/Writer Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03). Recently she’s been watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese and sharing some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with h
er own observations.
Thanks to Rochelle Kopp at Japan Intercultural Consulting, I was alerted to an article posted to the website Boing Boing by Lisa Katayama, writer and commentator on modern Japanese society. In a previous post this summer, I had discussed Katayama’s New York Times magazine article about the subcategory of otaku men and women who indulge in real relationships with imaginary characters. This time around she focuses on not taking the weirdness of Japan too seriously. As an example, she cites the strange story last month of a Japanese man wedding an anime game character which received much attention.
This morning I was surprised to find the topic of otaku also taken up by NYT editorial contributor Roger Cohen in his column entitled Japanese Obsessions. He concedes that “we’re all going a little otaku in a world where technology encourages a solipsistic retreat into private worlds and even flirting has been cyber-infected,” but holds firm to the notion that Japan goes above and beyond this. Cohen argues that the four factors of wealth, postmodernism, conformism and despair in Japan have contributed to the otaku concept having been taken the furthest in this country.
Speaking of Japanese despair, this article from last week’s Washington Post (also courtesy of Rochelle) discusses the relevance of today’s Japan, especially in terms of the new administration. He raises the question as to whether Japan still matters, and comes up with a resounding yes while acknowledging that its place in the world and in the context of the U.S.-Japan alliance has definitively changed. As we approach the end of 2009, it will be interesting to see what the new year bring in terms of both Japanese cultural trends and politics.
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