Otaku

A term used to describe individuals that have a heavy interest in Japanese culture which includes the practice of Japanese art, culinary practices, and Japanese pop culture. Often this term is used to refer to individuals in a derogatory term as these individuals are considered to renounce their own culture in place of Japanese thereby calling themselves “authentic” Japanese. With the proliferation of asian culture in America, there is an increased involvement of embellishing Japanese culture within an individual Often individuals will fantasize about Japanese cartoons called anime and subjugated it onto themselves.

This specific subculture can be an extension of the geek/nerd subculture as the interests stem off of interests in superheroes such as marvel, DC, star wars, and any other sci-fi pop culture. 

Japanese culture has had a profound influence on American society today. For example, individuals have a slight fascination with tattooing Japanese words “kanji” on them that says some mundane word like “fire.” The obsession of using Asian culture to make an individual appear “exotic” gives a false sense of security making them appear to use the culture as a means of being “cool”.

Other than that the rise of Japanese obsession significantly rocketed with the rise of video games and live streaming. Japan being known as production capital of video games has a large influence over the gaming industry such as Nintendo. As these Japanese companies streamline their video games towards the American audience there is a growing interest in these video games often because Japanese video games “explicit” oversexualize their content.

As a subculture that has been increasingly popular especially with the rise of video game streaming this culture primarily emphasizes on the sole practice of Japanese culture.