FANDOM UNBOUND —-1 —0 —+1 561-47344_ch00_1P.indd i 7/27/11 6:21 PM -1— 0— +1— 561-47344_ch00_1P.indd ii 7/27/11 6:21 PM FANDOM UNBOUND Otaku Culture in a Connected World Edited by MIZUKO ITO DAISUKE OKABE IZUMI TSUJI —-1 New Haven & London —0 —+1 561-47344_ch00_1P.indd iii 7/27/11 6:21 PM Published with assistance from Copyright © 2012 by Yale University. All rights reserved. Subject to the exception immediately following, this book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. The author has made an online version of this work available under a Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial 3.0 License. It can be accessed through the author’s Web site at http: www .itofi sher .com/ mito . Yale University Press books may be purchased in quantity for educational, business, or promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected] (U.S. offi ce) or [email protected] (U.K. offi ce). Designed by James J. Johnson Set in Janson Roman and Helvetica type by Westchester Book Group, Danbury, CT Printed in the United States of America [[CIP info to come]] A cata logue record for this book is available from the British Library. This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48- 1992 (Permanence of Paper). 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Chapter 2, “Database Animals,” is excerpted from Otaku: Japan’s Database Animals by Hiroki Azuma, translated by Jonathan E. Abel and Shion Kono (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2009), pp. 25– 62. Originally published in Japa nese as Dobutsuka suru posutomodan: otaku kara mita nihon shakai (Tokyo: Kodansha Gendai Shinsho, 2001). Copyright 2001 by Hiroki Azuma. En glish translation copyright 2009 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota. Chapter 3, “Japan’s Cynical Nationalism,” is excerpted from Wararu Nihon no “Nationalism” by Akihiro Kitada (Tokyo: Nihon Housou Shuppan Kyokai, 2005), introduction, pp. 9– 23; and chapter 4, pp. 197– 216. Chapter 6, “Otaku and the City: The Rebirth of Akihabara,” is excerpted from Shuto -1— no Tanjo—Moeru Toshi Akihabara by Kaichiro Morikawa (Tokyo: Gentosha, 2003), 0— introduction, pp. 26– 36; and chapter 1, pp. 40– 78. +1— 561-47344_ch00_1P.indd iv 7/27/11 6:21 PM Contents Ac know ledg ments vii Editors’ Note on Translation ix Introduction xi mizuko ito PART I. CULTURE AND DISCOURSE 1 Why Study Train Otaku? A Social History of Imagination 3 izumi tsuji 2 Database Animals 30 hiroki azuma 3 Japan’s Cynical Nationalism 68 akihiro kitada 4 Strategies of Engagement: Discovering, Defi ning, and Describing Otaku Culture in the United States 85 lawrence eng —-1 —0 —+1 561-47344_ch00_1P.indd v 7/27/11 6:21 PM vi Contents PART II. INFRASTRUCTURE AND PLACE 5 Comic Market as Space for Self- Expression in Otaku Culture 107 hiroaki tamagawa 6 Otaku and the City: The Rebirth of Akihabara 133 kaichiro morikawa 7 Anime and Manga Fandom as Networked Culture 158 lawrence eng 8 Contributors v. Leechers: Fansubbing Ethics and a Hybrid Public Culture 179 mizuko ito PART III. COMMUNITY AND IDENTITY 9 Making Fujoshi Identity Visible and Invisible 207 daisuke okabe and kimi ishida 10 Cosplay, Learning, and Cultural Practice 225 daisuke okabe 11 The Fighting Gamer Otaku Community: What Are They “Fighting” About? 249 yoshimasa kijima 12 “As Long as It’s Not Linkin Park Z ”: Popularity, Distinction, and Status in the AMV Subculture 275 mizuko ito List of Contributors 299 -1— Index 000 0— +1— 561-47344_ch00_1P.indd vi 7/27/11 6:21 PM Ac know ledg ments The editors would like to thank those who provided invaluable guid- ance and support in creating this book. We are grateful to Shinji Mi- yadai for inspiring and helping us conceptualize this volume. Elissa Sato provided not only expert translations but valuable insights on otaku culture. Henry Jenkins and Ellen Seiter gave feedback that critically sharpened the core themes of the book, and Jason Schultz offered expert counsel on matters of intellectual property both practical and theo- retical. Mariko Oda helped keep this project on track in so many ways. At Yale University Press, this book was in the capable hands of Alison MacKeen, Christina Tucker, and Niamh Cunningham. Very special thanks go to Karen Bleske, who provided editorial support for this proj- ect throughout. —-1 —0 —+1 561-47344_ch00_1P.indd vii 7/27/11 6:21 PM -1— 0— +1— 561-47344_ch00_1P.indd viii 7/27/11 6:21 PM Editors’ Note on Translation With the exception of the chapters by Eng and Ito, all of the chapters in this book were written originally in Japanese. The chapter by Azuma was translated by Jonathan E. Abel and Shion Kono. The remaining chapters were translated by Elissa Sato and Mizuko Ito. Although the authors have worked closely with Ito in editing the English versions of the chapters, Ito bears responsibility for any faults in the translation. Karen Bleske also contributed to the editing and readability of all chap- ters. Japanese names are written in the Western format, given name fi rst, to avoid confusion in the frequent juxtaposition of Japa nese and Western names. Certain key terms with no direct counterpart in En glish have been written in romanized Japa nese. Japanese nouns have no plural form, thus terms such as “otaku,” “anime,” and “manga” are treated as both singular and plural. When fi gures in Japanese yen are mentioned, we have included a cor- responding value in U.S. dollars, at an exchange rate of approximately ¥100 per US$. Chapter 2, “Database Animals,” by Hiroki Azuma, is a reproduc- tion of a previously published work, and as such, some of its style con- ventions differ from those in the other chapters in this book. Citations and dates appear in the notes, rather than in the text, Japa nese names are written last name fi rst, non-English words remain italicized after their fi rst appearance, and some syllables retain their diacritical marks. However, for the sake of clarity, fi gures have been renumbered and obsolete cross- references removed. To conserve space, the notes have also been renumbered to remove the translator’s notes; interested read- ers should consult the original publication for those. —-1 —0 —+1 561-47344_ch00_1P.indd ix 7/27/11 6:21 PM -1— 0— +1— 561-47344_ch00_1P.indd x 7/27/11 6:21 PM Introduction mizuko ito Otaku culture defi es simple defi nition. Emerging fi rst in Japan in the 1980s as a marginalized and stigmatized geek subculture, it has gradually expanded its sphere of infl uence to become a major interna- tional force, propelled by arguably the most wired fandom on the planet. Along the way, the term “otaku” has been hotly contested by those inside and outside the subculture. For some, it evokes images of socio- pathic shut- ins out of touch with reality. For others, and increasingly, it suggests a distinctive style of geek chic: a postmodern sensibility expressed through arcane knowledge of pop and cyber culture and strik- ing technological fl uency. This book seeks to plumb the varied mean- ings and practices associated with otaku culture, not by pinning it to a single origin story or fi xed defi nition, but by exploring its protean and multifaceted nature in varied social and historical contexts. For the authors in this book, otaku culture references a constellation of “fan- nish” cultural logics, platforms, and practices that cluster around anime, manga, and Japa nese games and are in turn associated with a more generalized set of dispositions toward passionate and participatory engagement with pop u lar culture and technology in a networked world. This introduction situates otaku culture within these varied histori- cal and social conditions, tracing its diverse manifestations as well as the common set of characteristics that make it recognizable as a unique cultural movement. I begin by describing how otaku culture is situated within the transnational media culture of the Internet age. While otaku culture grows out of familiar pro cesses of cultural exchange be- tween Japan and the rest of the world, its growing visibility is keyed to the unique conditions of our current historical moment, a moment in which networked and digital culture has energized peer- to-peer and participatory forms of media creation and sharing. I then turn to a dis- cussion of the key conceptual frameworks that structure the three sec- —-1 tions of this book: the par tic u lar cultural logics of otaku culture, the —0 —+1 561-47344_ch00_1P.indd xi 7/27/11 6:21 PM xii Introduction underlying peer- to-peer infrastructures that enable it, and the varied niche subcultures that these logics and infrastructures have encour- aged. OTAKU CULTURE IN A TRANSNATIONAL ARENA Today’s otaku culture is situated at a transnational confl uence of social, cultural, and technological trends that are increasingly global in reach. While the origins of otaku culture can be found in the spec- ifi cities of postwar Japa nese experiences and imaginations (see Chap- ters 1 and 6), the international circulation of these cultural forms grew from a trickle to a torrent in the de cades from the 1980s to the present (see Chapter 7). Accelerated by the international expansion of fan ac- tivity and emerging forms of digital and networked communications, otaku media and practices have become a media “meganiche” (Shirky 2006) that is decidedly multicultural in fantasy content and human membership.