Everyone is familiar with the stereotype of that old Japanese tourist with a camera. Nowadays, everyone has a camera... or a PDA or a cell phone or a camera phone or if you're like me a pda/camera phone [bitchin!]. The folks in Toyko gotta stay ahead of the tech curve and in doing so, many have come together in the Akihabara district of Tokyo. This WaPo article takes a tour of this nerd village.
A subculture of social misfits obsessed with electronic role-playing games, manga comics and Japanese animation, they began gathering in Akihabara in the late 1990s, lured by the district's proliferation of electronics retailers and stores selling everything you would need to build your own computer.
Maligned and shunned by mainstream society, here they stayed, their tastes and habits transforming the area also known as Electric Town into what sociologists are calling an urban first -- a ghetto of geeks.
It's an interesting phenomenon. Similar to how other ethnic or social groups have gathered in sections of certain cities like NYC's Chinatown and SF's Castro, the article points out. And just like those towns, the concentration of the inhabitants leads to good and bad things. On one hand, the self-described nerds are among their peers with less fear of persecution within the confines of the Akihabara district. On the other hand, they lose touch with the rest of the vibrant city around them. But then again, a lot of the rest of the city considers them outcasts of some sort.
Yet some sociologists critical of the nerd culture here have linked it to the high incidence of severe behavioral problems among men under 40. Immersed in role-playing games and comic fantasy worlds, many have found real-life personal conflict difficult to cope with-- one cause, some say, for a massive increase in the social problem of hikikomori , or shut-ins. Now numbering as many as 1 million nationwide, the shut-ins -- mostly men in their twenties or thirties -- typically live in their parents' homes, rarely leaving their rooms.
Otaku [nerd] behavior is also being blamed, along with social disillusionment following Japan's protracted recession, for the increasing numbers of Japanese youth who have no apparent career ambitions. Instead, many are choosing to work part time -- or not at all -- so they can spend most of their time pursuing their hobbies.
It's an interesting glimpse of the über nerds in a generally "bookish" culture as compared to Americans. I see myself somewhere in between though. I love the computer and my connection to others through the internet, in private. But then again, I love meeting them even more. Going to physically meet fellow Philly bloggers and photobloggers is an experience that is more rewarding, for me, than the online communicé we have. But for the otaku, they'd rather stay in a windowless room and never come out. Me, I gotta make my rent and pay my bills so I gotta. I also gotta get outside to take all these photos as well. I don't think I could ever cut it as a hardcore otaku and I wouldn't want to.
This sounds like a belated April Fools Day article.
I'm sure there's a bad comedy coming out based on this place.
Posted by: Mark | June 08, 2005 at 07:17 PM