The Recent Phenomenon Of 'Sexy' Japanese Otaku

Date: 2005 April 29 14:40

Posted by Ash

The UK Times newspaper this week carried a two page article of at Bridget-Jones style blogger Artesia, who has written a document of her relationship with an Otaku man which has fascinated the Japanese and has asked serious questions about the conflict between old-world Japanese beliefs and the massive Otaku culture.

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You wouldn't expect the culture section of the Times to carry a two page article on the whole nature of the Japanese Otaku, but that is precisely what happened this week when a story was printed about how a new breed of Japanese women were not demanding the traditional Japanese working man but instead the passionate and obsessive character of the Otaku 'nerd'.

A high-powered Japanese freelance advertising consultant called 'Artesia' (one of the female characters in the Mecha-Anime Gundam) has declared that it is the 'Otaku' man who is what the new generation of single Japanese women should be looking for. The article asks many interesting questions about how the Otaku is becoming more and more important in Japanese society, although conflicting with many of the old-world Japanese stereotypes. Europe and America contain their fair share of comic book 'geeks' but in Japan the 3 million Otaku carry a £1.5 billion industry.

Who knows? Maybe in the West one day it won’t be your wallet or your car which women go for, but the size of your anime and manga collection!