Neojaponisme (Web Site)
April 10th, 2008So I was cruising on the information super highway last night and I came across this really interesting site. So I slammed on my breaks, yanked my wheel to the right, and pulled in to see what it is about.
Neojaponisme.
A blog dealing with things Otaku and Japanese, bringing us such things as translated texts from the origional Japanese, stories about Japan, and various blog posts dealing with that great Asian culture.
It is all wrapped up in a cool looking blog that is decked out in black and red.
The article that brought me screeching to a halt at this stop is about the orgin of the work Otaku. The article is a translation of a 1983 Japanese text, dealing with those obsessive fans of manga and anime.
Wait..isn’t all of Japan obsessed with manga, anime, and video games? hmmmm..
Here is a quote:
When this first installment of “Otaku no Kenkyu” (『おたく』の研究, “Otaku Research”) first appeared in the pages of an obscure weekly soft-core porno comic magazine called Manga Burikko, Nakamori probably had little idea that the word would eventually take a life of its own. It’s important to note that he didn’t coin the actual word, which is nothing more than a politer-than-polite way of saying “you” in Japanese. Perhaps because of this, “otaku” wouldn’t gain widespread popularity until 1989, after a one-two PR punch of Nakamori using the term in his biography of notorious serial killer Miyazaki Tsutomu, combined with the publication of pop-culture commentator Machiyama Tomohiro’s bestselling book Otaku no Hon (“The Otaku Book”) the same year.
In all of this I must admit this is a good website to keep reading on a regular basis. I recommend it, for the translated articles that they print and also for keeping abreast on a side of culture you might not notice otherwise.
- Warren