Bestselling Book: 'Otaku Is Dead (オタクはすでに死んでいる)' by Okada Toshio (岡田斗司夫)

So it seems that this newly published collection of essays from the cultural critic Okada Toshio (nicknamed 'The Godfather of Otaku') kicked up quite a controversy in Japan as he goes on radio shows and what-not to promote his bestseller. Here is my translation of the book review on Asahi Shinbun:

The book postulates that otaku belonging to Okada's generation are those who discover out of their own initiative 'things they like' unlike the vast majority of people in the world, who possess intelligence and a mentality that resists public opinion, and who live their lives as well-adjusted and gainfully employed members of society*; in fact, they are an 'aristocracy'** who possess strong pride and sociability.

The reason why all this changed is because of 'change in society as a whole'. 'Otaku is the flower that blossomed from economic growth and the national character of diligence. When the economy takes a downturn, Japan changed because people do not want to be grown-ups and prioritize their own interests and feelings over everything else. This book is also a book about the Japanese people.'

I am definitely placing an order on this book. Certainly the table of contents posted on Amazon seems interesting. Although I am reluctant to make comments on whether I agree or disagree with him until I have read the full argument, my gut feeling is that contradictions are likely to surface from one paragraph to the next in the book, similar to the above two translated excerpts of the book review.

Anyway, stay tuned and I will be sure to report more on this.

* 社会人: I for one would translate it as 'well-adjusted and gainfully employed members of society'. It's quite a mouthful in English considering how short the word is in Japanese, I know.

** 貴族: I paused over whether meaning-wise the more approximate English translation should be 'aristocracy' or, in this context, 'elite'. But from what I see of the table of contents, Okada actually distinguishes between otaku who are the 'aristocracy (貴族)' and otaku who are the 'elite (エリート)' and he discusses the disagreement between these two camps (貴族とエリートの反目). I will stick with 'aristocracy' in this translation but I am extremely curious as to how he defines these two groups and why he perceives them to be in a state of disagreement.

Comments

[bioeng]

I've always been curious to know how the Japanese feel about their own otaku-culture. I'll be looking forward to your future insights.

[Wabisabi]

If my order actually goes through. -__- I just got a phone call from the local Japanese bookstore saying that my previous order of 'Titania' novels did not go through - I guess they are probably sold out in view of the upcoming anime series. I would expect more printing once the anime airs though.