posted instruc.

Ito, Mizuko, Okabe, Daisuke, and Tsuji, Izumi, eds. Fandom Unbound : Ota\ ku Culture in a Connected World. New Haven, CT, USA: Yale University Pre\ ss, 2012. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 26 August 2014.

Copyright © 2012. Yale University Press. All rights reserved. Int roduction MIZUKO ITO Otaku culture defies si1nple definition. Emerging first in Japan in the 1980s as a marginalized and stigmatized geek subculture, it has gradually expanded its sphere of influence to become a major interna tional force, propelled by arguably the n1ost ~,ired 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 fluency. 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 fixed definition, 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 ani1ne, manga, and Japanese ga1nes and are in turn associated with a more generalized set of dispositions to\vard passionate and participatory engagement "vith popular culture and technology in a net,vorked \Vorld. This introduction situates otaku culture within these varied histori cal and social conditions, tracing its diverse n1anifestations as well as the comn1on set of characteristics that 1nake it recognizable as a unique cultural movement. I begin by describing how otaku culture is situated within the transnational 1nedia culture of the Internet age. \i\Thile otaku culture grows out of fa1niliar processes 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 rno1nent, a 1noment in "vhich net~rorked 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 tions of this book: the particular cultural logics of otaku culture, the Ito, Mizuko. 2012. “Introduction.” In Fandom Unbound:

Otaku Culture in a Connected World , edited by Mizuko Ito, Daisuke Okabe, and Izumi Tsuji, xi – xxxi. New Haven: Yale University Press. Ito, Mizuko, Okabe, Daisuke, and Tsuji, Izumi, eds. Fandom Unbound : Ota\ ku Culture in a Connected World. New Haven, CT, USA: Yale University Pre\ ss, 2012. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 26 August 2014.

XII INTRODUCTION underlying peer-to-peer infrastructures that enable it, and the varied niche subcultures that these logics and infrastructures have encour aged. DTAKU CULTURE IN A TRANSNATIONAL ARENA Today's otaku culture is situated at a transnational confluence of social, cultural, and technological trends that are increasingly global in reach. Vi lhile the origins of otaku culture can be found in the spec ificities of postvvar Japanese experiences and imaginations (see Chap ters 1 and 6), the international circulation of these cultural for1ns grew from a trickle to a torrent in the decades from the 1980s to the present (see Chapter 7). Accelerated by the international expansion of fan ac tivity and e1nerging forms of digital and networked communications, otaku 1nedia and practices have becorne a media "rneganiche" (Shirky 2006) that is decidedly multicultural in fantasy content and human 1nembership . In other words, while otaku culture retains a Japanese cul tural identity, it is a notably large tent that is as welcorning to knights as it is to ninja and includes not only the fans who flock to Tokyo's Comic i larket but also those \vho frequent Southern California's Anime Expo and the countless other gatherings that take place regularly around the \vorld. Historical Antecedents In many \vays, the transnationalization of otaku culture follows a long -standing tradition of cultural cross-pollination between Japan and other parts of the \Vorld. In her book Fro1n ftnpressionimt to Aninie, Susan Napier (2007) notes that the European and American impression ists of the nineteenth century and today's ani1ne aficionados are united by common themes: aesthetic pleasure, intercultural fascination, andJa panophilia. Napier suggests that the pleasure that nineteenth- and early twentieth -century Euro -American elites derived from "Orien tal" gardens and architecture \Vas punctured by Japan's role as imperi alist aggressor in World War II. It \Vas only after the \Var that the U.S.

occupation of Japan in tande1n with Japan's post\var recovery created a context to revive the Western cult of Japan. At that point, the counter cultural attraction to Japanese spirituality and fascination with Japan's Ito, Mizuko, Okabe, Daisuke, and Tsuji, Izumi, eds. Fandom Unbound : Ota\ ku Culture in a Connected World. New Haven, CT, USA: Yale University Pre\ ss, 2012. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 26 August 2014.

Copyright © 2012. Yale University Press. All rights reserved. INTRODUCTION Xlll business success became closely internvined. "Japan Inc." vvas a source of both fear and fascination, a curious mix of exotic tradition and ad vanced technocapitalist 1nodernity (Ivy 1995; Miyoshi and Harootu nian 1993; Mor ley and Robbins 1995). Napier sees this long-standing a1nbiva lence as the basis of today's fascination with Japanese popular cu lture, such as anime, games, and rnanga.

These cultura l fascinations are rnultidirectional. As Euro -A1nericans absorbed the tenets of Zen Buddhism, Bushido, and Sony's globaliza tion, the Japanese ernulated Euro -American political and economic forms, fashion, and popular culture. Rather than focus on repairing relations with Asian neighbors and building a fully Asian national iden tity in the period since its economic rise, Japan has developed an iden tity that is neither cornplete ly Vlestern nor Eastern (I\.vabuchi 2002, 8-11). Japanese "remaking" of the West (Tobin 1992) has generated both business success and cultura l ridicule. The ridicule has focused on stereotypica l examples of Japanese cultural n1imicry, such as non sensical "Japlish" or salaryrnen donning co\.vboy hats and singing coun try and \.Vestern (see, for exarnple, the 1991 docurnentary The Japanese T7ersion). But these stereotypes hardly capture the depth and breadth of Vestern cultura l influences. Osamu Tezuka, generally considered the father of conternporary manga and anime, was a devoted fan of Disney animation (Kelts 2006; Schodt 1983), and rnany films of today's most celebrated anirnator, Hayao Miyazaki, are set in the European country side and cityscapes. Vi lhile retaining a culturally distinctive style, the content of n1uch of today's anime represents ongoing Western influ ence as well as a kind of "deodorization" (Iwabuchi 2002) or unmoor ing from cultura l origins.

"Cool Japan" In 2002, the journalist Douglas McGray pub lished an influential article in Foreign Polic)', declaring a shift in Japan's international iden tity fron1 a purveyor of hard\\,are, such as cars and electronics, to one of "software." Describing the influence of Hello Kitty, j-p op, anime, and manga, i lcGray identified Japan's emerging "soft power" as a form of "gross national cool." McGray's article crystallized \\'hat street and fan culture had known for decades-that Japanese popular culture was a \.vellspring of generative fantasy content that invited the passionate Ito, Mizuko, Okabe, Daisuke, and Tsuji, Izumi, eds. Fandom Unbound : Ota\ ku Culture in a Connected World. New Haven, CT, USA: Yale University Pre\ ss, 2012. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 26 August 2014.

Copyright © 2012. Yale University Press. All rights reserved. . XIV INTRODUCTION engage1nent of media hobbyists around the world. Well before .i'Vlc Gray's article, influential fans in the United States had been writing reviews, encyclopedias, and guides to ani1ne and manga culture (Cle ments and i lcCarthy 2001; Levi 1996; Patten 2004; Schodt 1983, 1996), and kids around the world were growing up with Japanese media mixes such as Pokenzon and Yu -Gi -Oh.' as facts of life (Ito 2007; Tobin 2004) .

American teenage girl fan-fiction \.vriters ,vere discovering that doujin shi (fan -created manga) shared their obsession vvith homoerotic sub texts in popu lar media (.i'VlcLelland 2001), while Ainerican and European kids in 1nilitary and expat banker families based in Japan had been circulating videotapes of ani1ne to peers in their home lands since the 1980s.

But McGray's article marked the tipping point in a cultural bal ance of po,ver: high culture and the business sector had lost to youth and pop culture in their efforts to craft Japan's identity in the interna tional arena. In the 1980s, Japan studies vvere dorninated by college students Vl 'ith career ambitions in business, and courses \.Vere designed \.Vith them in mind. But as Japan's economic fortunes declined, univer sities saVI ' a shift in the profile of students studying Japanese. In her survey of students in Japanese classes at the University of California, Irvine, University of Southern Ca lifornia, and Occidental, Annie .i'Vlan ion (2005) found that the majority cited interest in anime and manga as one of the primary reasons they were studying the language. As one TVall Street Journal article put it, "Interest in Japanese is about cool, not careers" (Parker 2004). Faculty interests also shifted in the 1990s, "vith a gro"ving number of course offerings and pub lications in Japanese popular cu lture (Condry 2006; Craig 2000; Gottlieb and McLelland 2003; Kelly 2004; Martinez 1998; Skov and i loeran 1995).

This shift in cultural geopolitics happened in tandern \.Vith the main streaming of otaku culture domestically and of fan culture more gen erally in the United States and e lsewhere. Henry Jenkins (2007) argues that in the age of digital and netVl'orked culture, fannish engagement with media, including the creation of fan fiction, videos, and art, have beco1ne rnuch more mainstream and less stigmatized. In Japan, the pub lication of the otaku love story Densha -Otoko (Train Man) in 2004 and the subsequent TV version in 2005 marked a crucia l turning point:

by representing otaku as harrnless and endearing, both dramas helped to remove the subculture's historically more negative and sociopathic Ito, Mizuko, Okabe, Daisuke, and Tsuji, Izumi, eds. Fandom Unbound : Ota\ ku Culture in a Connected World. New Haven, CT, USA: Yale University Pre\ ss, 2012. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 26 August 2014.

Copyright © 2012. Yale University Press. All rights reserved. INTRODUCTION xv connotations and to recast it in a much 1nore sympathetic light (see Chapter 3). The site where the Densha-Otoko story unfolded, 2ch (chan nel 2), was by then an established feature of Japanese online culture and had achieved the status of the largest online forurn in the ~rorld. The otaku district of Akihabara became a tourist destination for both local and international visitors (see Chapter 6), and otaku art and "superflat" 2-D aesthetics became enshrined in U.S. modern art museums through the cultural brokering of pop artist Takashi Murakami (2005). In tandem with the growing dornestic and international interest in Japanese popular culture, such as manga, ga1nes, and anime, academic attention to otaku culture also gre,v. In their introduction to the English version of Hiroki Azuma's Otaku: Japan's Database Ani1nals, translators Jonathan Abel and Shion Kono (2009, xix-xxi) explain ho~ , in the 1980s, before the rise of otaku studies, cultural critics in Japan associated ,vith the "New Academism" popularized highly theoretical and philosophi cal works by ~ ,riting about then1 in books that were accessible to the general public; in the process, these critics became popular icons thern selves. Scholars such as Shinji Nliyadai (1994), Masachi Osa,va (1995), and Tamaki Saito (2000, 2007) came of age ,vithin this context and rep resented the first wave of Japanese scholarship to look specifically at otaku culture. Hiroki Azuma, Kaichiro Morika~ ra, and Akihiro Kitada, represented in this volume, expanded on this pioneering work, further establishing otakt1 and popular cultural studies as a legitimate field of scholarly inquiry. Published in Japan in 2001, Azuma's best -selling book was an impor tant turning point. While the success of the Ne,v Academis1n in promoting accessible genres of ~ ,riting "paved the way for Azuma's success" (Abel and Kono 2009, xxi), Azurna's book heralded a new era of scholarship devoted to popular and youth culture. In the preface to the English translation, Azun1a (2009) describes how the ne,v scholar ship on otaku departed frorn "those critics and theorists of an older sort ~ rho ignore such [popular culture) trends and continue to talk about 'the end of literature' and 'the end of criticisrn.'" He also la mented the fact that the work of popular culture theorists such as Mori ka,va, Kitada, and Miyadai are largely untranslated and unavailable to English-language readers (Azuma 2009, ix-x).

In English -language scholarship, including Japan studies, the pio neering ~ rork of scholars such as Anne Allison (2000, 2006), Sharon Ito, Mizuko, Okabe, Daisuke, and Tsuji, Izumi, eds. Fandom Unbound : Ota\ ku Culture in a Connected World. New Haven, CT, USA: Yale University Pre\ ss, 2012. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 26 August 2014.

Copyright © 2012. Yale University Press. All rights reserved. >.'VI INTRODUCTION Kinsella (1995, 1998, 2000), Susan Napier (2000, 2007), and Joseph Tobin (2004) has helped establish the study of rnanga and anime as a legitin1ate specialty. Today, ~ ,e see a growing body of scholarly output centered on the study of anime and manga (Bolton, Csicery-Ronay Jr., and Tat su1ni 2007; Brown 2006; Lamarre 2009; Lunning 2006). The annua l i lechademia series of edited books (Lunning 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010) is testament to the robust scholar ly interest in 1nanga and anirne as well as to growing international scholarly cross-pollination. Further, these edited books now often feature translated essays frornJapan. Also, \.vhile rnost English -language scholarship on anime and manga has focused on professional creators or media content, we are no\.v begin ning to see ~rork that looks at fan activity. The fifth i1echadernia vol ume, Fanthropologies, is dedicated to fandorn.

In Japan itself, a ne\.v generation of fan studies is extending the \.Vork of the first pioneers of otaku studies, energized by the growing visibil ity of otaku culture both domestically and overseas. By focusing on e1npirically grounded and detailed case studies, this ne,v generation of scholarship highlights the diversity of fan and otaku engagernent. This book showcases key texts from both the first wave of otaku scholars (Azuma, Kitada, and i1orika\.va) and the next generation (Ishida, Ki jima, Okabe, Tamagawa, and Tsuji). By translating the work of promi nent scholars of otaku culture in Japan, this book contributes to the multidirectionality of cultural flow bet\.veen Japan and the West and comp lements ear lier ~rork on popular cultur al flo\.VS ~,ithin Asia (Iwabu chi 2002, 2004). Our aim is to consolidate some of the key work on the conternporary state of otaku culture and practice by focusing specifi ca lly on the U.S. -Japan cultura l corridor.

"Cool Japan" of the 2000s belongs to an established tradition of East West cu ltural flow, and as an example of Japan's continuous rebrand ing in the international arena, it also belongs to what I"vabuchi (2010, 90) has described as the broader international trend to~'ard "brand nationalisrn." It echoes the familiar patterns of exoticism and Japano philia that have defined the privi leged U.S. -Japan cu ltural and political corridor, and it is in keeping \.vith Japan's ongoing nationalist project insofar as it looks more to the v\Test than to Asian neighbors in order to define Japan's identi ty in the transnational arena (Ivvabuchi 2010, 90-91). In contrast to earlier periods of Japanese culture's overseas influence, however, today's otaku landscape has been built by a mostly Ito, Mizuko, Okabe, Daisuke, and Tsuji, Izumi, eds. Fandom Unbound : Ota\ ku Culture in a Connected World. New Haven, CT, USA: Yale University Pre\ ss, 2012. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 26 August 2014.

Copyright © 2012. Yale University Press. All rights reserved. INTRODUCTION .. XVII lo"vbrow, youth -driven, and highly distributed networked 1nedia ecol ogy. International elites, governmental bureaucrats, and transnational corporations are latecomers to a party already dominated by a scrappier and youth -centered cro\.vd. Roland Kelts describes how this ground swell of overseas interest in anime and rnanga caught local industries off guard: "The global anime boom of the twenty-first century has taken Japan, whose corporate culture prides itself on knowing the next new thing, almost completely by surprise" (Kelts 2006, 7) . Kelts goes on to describe how the Japanese governrnent eventually latched on to McGray's notion of soft power as a ~ ray to revitalize Japan's international influ ence in an era of economic recession (Kelts 2006, 112-113). Otaku culture is emblematic of the growing force of technological privi lege and online networks in dictating the terrns of transnationa l cultural flo\.v. Policy makers are responding to and capitalizing on trends set by the technocultural sector and online networks rather than being in the driver's seat. Vle can see the power of technological and online leadership in the gro\.ving influence of South Korea in transnationa l cultura l flows as well. As I,vabuchi notes (2010, 93-94), Korean media culture, particularly drama, has become huge ly popu lar in Japan. This gro\.ving cultura l influence cannot be decoupled from South Korea's status as one of the 1nost wired countries on the planet, defining a new techno -pop cultural sensibi lity within the context of its leadership in online and mobile networks and distribution. In short , today's interests in otaku cu lture and the branding of cool Japan bring a ne,v twist to the ongoing projects of national identity production and transnationa l flows as they are intertwined with the gro~ ring influence of popular cu lture and online peer -to-peer networks.

Similarity and Difference Even as otaku culture is recuperated by elites and the mainstream, and as the terrns "ani1ne" and "manga" have become part of a con1mon international lexicon, otaku cu lture and practice have retained their subcultural credibility . In Japan, much of rnanga and anirne is associ ated \.vith mainstream consumption; otaku must therefore differentiate themselves from ippanjin (regular people) through a proliferating set of niche genres, alternative readings, and derivative works. In the United States, the subcultural cred of anime and manga is buttressed by their Ito, Mizuko, Okabe, Daisuke, and Tsuji, Izumi, eds. Fandom Unbound : Ota\ ku Culture in a Connected World. New Haven, CT, USA: Yale University Pre\ ss, 2012. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 26 August 2014.

Copyright © 2012. Yale University Press. All rights reserved. >.'Vil! INTRODUCT ION status as foreign "cult media." This stance of U.S. fans is not grounded, ho\.vever, in a simplistic exoticism. Susan Napier suggests that "rather than the traditional Orientalist construction of the Vlest en1powering itself by oppressing or patronizing the Eastern Other, these fans gain agency through discovering and then identifying with a society that they clearly recognize as having both universal and culturally specific aspects" (Napier 2007, 189). She describes ho"v U.S. fans 1nost often ex plain their interests in terms of the \.vorks' "thematic complexity and three -dirnensional characterization" rather than as an interest in Japan per se (Napier 2007, 177). Put different ly, the international appeal of otaku culture is grounded precisely in its ability to resist totalizing global narratives such as nationalism. The long -runn ing and intricate narrative forms of popu lar Japanese media represent a platform or, in Hiraki Azuma's terms, a database of referents that are highly amenable to recombina tion and custon1ization by fans and gamers (see Chapter 2). We can see this in the stunning diversity of doujinshi derived frorn the same manga series (see Chapters 5 and 9) and in the activities of young Poke11 ion or Yu -Gi -Oh . 1 card game players who design their own decks out of the nearly infinite set of possibilities on offer through a growing pantheon of 1nonsters (Buckingharn and Sefton -Green 2004; Ito 2007; Sefton Green 2004; vVillett 2004). Whi le certain fen1ale fans might look to Gunda111, for source material to tell stories of erotic trysts between the ma le characters, otl1er fans geek out over building and customizing models of the giant robots.

What unifies otaku culture as a vvhole is less its certain content and genres and more its malleable narrative platform and mode of partici patory niche media engagement Qenkins 1992, 2006). The rnedia m ixes of Japanese popular culture invite fannish engagement through links across multiple rnedia types (garnes, toys, TV, cinerna, manga, nove ls), intricate and open -ended story lines, and massive databases of characters, monsters, and rnachines (Ito 2006). Otaku also gravitate to\.vard media forms and communication p latforms that enable them to engage in peer -to-peer exchange of know ledge and appropriative DIY creation (see Chapters 10 and 12). While earlier generations of fans re lied on conventions and amateur rnedia markets to circulate their \.vork and connect vvith other fans (see Chapters 5 and 7), the Internet has made these forrns of fan communication and sharing \.videly ac- Ito, Mizuko, Okabe, Daisuke, and Tsuji, Izumi, eds. Fandom Unbound : Ota\ ku Culture in a Connected World. New Haven, CT, USA: Yale University Pre\ ss, 2012. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 26 August 2014.

Copyright © 2012. Yale University Press. All rights reserved. INTRODUCTION XIX cessible. Armed with personal digital media and plugged into the end to-end architecture of the Internet, otaku have truly found their 1nediun1.

The Internet has also radically expanded the opportunities for transnational co1nmunication and connection. Practices of fan subtitling and translation (Chapter 8) and peer-to-peer Internet distribution have 1nade ani1ne and rnanga accessible to fans around the world, even in the absence of localization and overseas distribution by the industry.

The niches ,vithin the rneganiche of anime are increasingly uniting fans across national boundaries. For example, the yaoi otaku fandom of Japan shares much in cornmon with slash fandoms in the United States. Both are female -centered fandoms that center on "couplings" between male characters in popular series, and cyberpunk science fic tion has strong crossovers betvveen Japan and the United States as "veil. Although "ve are seeing 1nore instances of U.S. media producers' taking up anime -like styles and thernes, or creating their ovvn manga, Japan is likely to retain its role as the central site of production for otaku cultural products. Drawing frorn an intervie~, ~,ith Shinichiro Ishikawa, president of anime studio Gonzo Digimation Holdings, Kelts describes how Japan's media markets are a generative site of ex perimentation and innovation in manga and anime. Ishikawa ernpha sizes that in one "veek, Japan sees the equivalent of a full year's "vorth of U.S. comic sales (Kelts 2006, 196). The fact that Japan is ho1ne to the rnost diverse and robust market for cornics in the ~'orld obviously goes a long way toward explaining why it is also the source of the tre mendous creative output of both rnanga and ani1ne. Japan's manga ecol ogy is like a primordial soup supporting narrative mutation, and even in the Internet age, only a fraction of the characters and content circu late outside the domestic market. \Tariations in otaku culture between Japan and the United States stern not from irreducible differences in national culture but from spe cific historical, social, and infrastructural conditions. For example, train otaku culture found fertile ground in Japan because it resonated ~ ,ith the history of Japan's postwar rnodernization and the train-centered trans port systems of the small country (see Chapter 1). But we have seen much less transnational uptake of this variation of otaku culture in the car -centered U.S. context. American fans, rnost of "vhom encountered anime and manga in a postdigital era, are also much more likely than Ito, Mizuko, Okabe, Daisuke, and Tsuji, Izumi, eds. Fandom Unbound : Ota\ ku Culture in a Connected World. New Haven, CT, USA: Yale University Pre\ ss, 2012. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 26 August 2014.

Copyright © 2012. Yale University Press. All rights reserved. JOI'. INTRODUCTION their Japanese counterparts to engage with digital variants of fan media and production, such as anime music videos (see Chapter 12) or web co1nics. In contrast, Japan's otaku culture was well established in the predigital era, and it continues to center on the circulation of physi cal 1nedia such as print doujinshi and physical models and figures.

This focus is supported by the compact density of Japan and special ized fan events such as the doujinshi 1narket, Co1nic Nlarket (see Chapter 5), or Wonderfest, \.vhere rnodel makers showcase their \.Vork. Fans in the United States need to travel greater distances and there fore attend events ~,ith less frequency, and conventions tend to be general-purpose un1brellas for all dimensions of the ani1ne and manga fandom.

While the specificities of particular histories, practices, and places are central to the essays collected in this volume, \.Ve do not assume that national culture on its own defines the 1nyriad cultural forms that otaku culture takes. We take a transnational rather than a co1npara tive approach. Our interest is not to identify sources of national differ ence but rather to trace sorne of the contours of a transnational subculture. Following the lead of a growing body of work in transna tional studies that looks at the flow of culture across national bound aries, we see otaku culture as a lens through ,vhich to disrupt the cornmonsensical isomorphisrn bet~ reen culture, people, and places (Appadurai 1996; Gupta and Ferguson 1992, 1997; r~,abuchi 1999, 2002). Even as Japan continues to be the primary source of anime and manga content, it is increasingly non-Japanese fans and makers who are defining what it means to be an otaku and a fan of Japanese popu lar culture. UNDERSTANDIN G DTAKU CU LT URE The essays that follow draw fro1n both Japan- and U.S.-centered scholarship to explore three shared dimensions of otaku culture: its dis cursive and cultural logics, the infrastructures of communication and media distribution, and the structures of cornrnunity and cornmunity membership. The organization of the volurne embodies an argument about commonality and difference, in which otaku culture shares a set of common cultural logics and platforrns (sections 1 and 2), which are taken up in diverse ways by niche communities (section 3). These under- Ito, Mizuko, Okabe, Daisuke, and Tsuji, Izumi, eds. Fandom Unbound : Ota\ ku Culture in a Connected World. New Haven, CT, USA: Yale University Pre\ ss, 2012. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 26 August 2014.

Copyright © 2012. Yale University Press. All rights reserved. INTRODUCTION XX! lying dynarnics of connection and distinction 1naking are what unify otaku subcultures regardless of national origin and location. Here I provide an overview of these three themes by way of introduction to the chapters of this book.

The Semiotics of Otak'U Culture The chapters in the first section of the book explore the "vays in "vhich otaku culture has evolved as a complex set of resistances and ac commodations to n1odernity, mainstrearn culture, and other subcul tures. According to otakt1 scholar and spokesperson Toshio Okada (1996), the terrn originated in the early 1980s as a polite term of ad dress betvveen upper-crust college students who were fans of emergent anime cultures. It was transformed into a social category by colurnnist Akio Nakarnori, who published a column on "Otaku Research" in a manga magazine in 1983. In 1989, a full-blovvn "moral panic" (Cohen 1972) about otaku arose after the arrest ofTsutornu Miyazaki . .i liyazaki had abducted, murdered, and mutilated four girls. Photos and footage of his bedroom, crammed with manga and videotapes, rnany of the Lolita-complex and pornographic variety, flooded the popular press, and i\ 1Iiyazaki became the poster boy of the otaku subculture. After this, "otaku" ca1ne to be used and recognized by the mainstream as a stig matizing label for somebody ,vho is obsessed with anirne, manga, and games and out of touch vvith everyday social reality. Okada (1996) and others have argued against the stigmatizing use of the term, and a more positive vision of otakt1 as innovative popular-culture enthusiasts has increasingly taken hold.

In the United States, in tandem with the rise of cyberpunk and geek chic in the 1990s, the terrn "otaku" started to be used in a largely positive n1anner to refer to enthusiasts of Japanese media rnixes, partic ularly anime. In Chapter 4, La"vrence Eng describes in detail the trajec tory through which this term became established in the U.S. context.

Although the term has tended to have relatively positive connotations in the United States, it can still function as a term of stigmatization. Like Okada, ho"vever, Eng believes in the positive potential of otaku culture and identifies the key dimensions of "the otaku ethic" as follows: infor mation literacy, subcultural resistance, and affinities "vith net,vorked so ciability and culture. The purpose of this section is to give the reader an idea of what to expect in the upcoming chapters that follow in tis edited volume.

Feel free to scan the reading quickly from here to end of article! Ito, Mizuko, Okabe, Daisuke, and Tsuji, Izumi, eds. Fandom Unbound : Ota\ ku Culture in a Connected World. New Haven, CT, USA: Yale University Pre\ ss, 2012. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 26 August 2014.

Copyright © 2012. Yale University Press. All rights reserved. .. X.XII INTRODUCTION The other chapters in this section ana lyze the particular cultura l logics behind the rise of otaku cu lture in Japan. In Chapter 1, Izumi Tsuji looks in depth at early train otaku culture , when the establish ment of a high-tech national rail"vay system en1bodied Japan's dreams of modernization. As Japan entered the postindustrial era, this train hobbyist culture was transformed into a train otaku culture as young 1nen began to turn to fantasy representations of trains and as ani1ne series such as Galaxy Express 999 began to treat steam locomotives as objects of nosta lgia. Tsuji argues that by tracing the historical e1nergence of train otaku culture, vve can understand the changing structure of the imagination as it evolved through different historical periods.

In an excerpt fro1n his longer book on otaku as "database animals," in Chapter 2 Hiroki Azuma argues that today's otaku culture is grounded in the broader postmodern turn that challenged the stability of mod ern grand narratives. The decline of these grand narratives has led to "vhat Azuma has named "database consumption." Database con su1nption marks a shift from the late 1990s, when otaku culture was oriented to narrative structures and unique characters, to the early twenty -first century, when it became focused on 1noe elements such as cat ears, glasses, business suits, or particular personality quirks. i\1oe elements are traits that invite particular forms of otaku affection and that are recognizable across a \.vide range of ani1ne and manga characters and narratives. Today's 1noe otaku cu lture represents a fun da1nental overturning of the premises of modernist narratives. By po sitioning the act of appropriation and play of signifiers as the generative foundation of cultural production, it downplays the traditional modern ist emphasis on "original" and proprietary narrative constructs.

This i1nplicit challenge to 1naster narratives is also evident in otaku's ironic and reflexive critique of mainstream media and institutions. This attitude is 1nanifest in the snarky commentary on the n1assive anony mous on line forum 2ch (channe l 2), which is the subject of Chapter 3.

Yet even amid the abrasive social exchanges that characterize the dis course of 2ch, otaku's embrace of socia l connection is also apparent.

In line ,vith Eng's description of the networked culture of U.S.

otaku, Kitada argues in Chapter 3 that 2ch represents a "kingdo1n of socia l connection" that centers on the traffic in insider knowledge.

Characterized by an ironic and snarky one -up1nanship, this kind of online com1nunication is also oddly sincere . 2channe lers' en1brace of Ito, Mizuko, Okabe, Daisuke, and Tsuji, Izumi, eds. Fandom Unbound : Ota\ ku Culture in a Connected World. New Haven, CT, USA: Yale University Pre\ ss, 2012. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 26 August 2014.

Copyright © 2012. Yale University Press. All rights reserved. INTRODUCTION XXIII the 1nelodramatic Densha-Otoko love story, in which an otaku is united \.vith the girl of his dreams, is emblen1atic of the codependent and highly co1nplex relation bet~ reen irony and sincerity that Kitada identi fies. Although all of the essays in this section describe the ways in "vhich otaku culture emerged through resistance to mainstrea1n narra tives and sensibilities, they also trace the ways in which these modes of engagement are becoming much rnore prevalent and visible in today's networked and digital age.

Peer-to -Peer Platforn1s and Infrastructures Undergirding the gro,ving visibility of otaku culture is an increas ingly robust social, technical, and place-based infrastructure. Shifting from the previous section's focus on cultural content and process, the chapters in the second section of this book examine these enabling loca tions and infrastructures. As described earlier, otaku culture has strong affinities with user-configurable digital media and online networks that connect people rnany-to -rnany and peer-to-peer, rather than relying on the one -to -rnany mass broadcast rnodel of communication. i1any of the core characteristics of today's networked and digital age \.Vere evident even in the early origins of otaku culture. These charac teristics include immersion in specialized and fluid niche knowledge networks (Anderson 2006; Hagel, Brown, and Davison 2010), decen tralized forrns of social organization and production (Benkler 2000, 2006; Shirky 2008), the prirnacy of participatory amateur and DIY media Qenkins 1992; Leadbeater 2004; Varnelis 2008), distributed and collective innovation and intelligence (Hippel 2005; Howe 2009; Jen kins 2006; Lakhani and Panetta 2007; Shirky 2010), and an open and nonproprietary approach to intellectual property (Lessig 2004, 2008; Weber 2004). In Chapter 6, Kaichiro Morikawa describes a physical set of infra structures for otaku activity that is unique to the dense urban ecolo gies of Tokyo but that still embodies the properties of peer-based and arnateur otaku culture. As otaku culture has flourished in the 1980s and beyond, particular districts of the city have been able to support a high density of otaku-related establishments. i1orika\.va describes ho\.v in the 1990s, in tandem with the Evang-elion boom, stores dedicated to otaku commercial products and doujinshi began to centralize in the Ito, Mizuko, Okabe, Daisuke, and Tsuji, Izumi, eds. Fandom Unbound : Ota\ ku Culture in a Connected World. New Haven, CT, USA: Yale University Pre\ ss, 2012. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 26 August 2014.

Copyright © 2012. Yale University Press. All rights reserved. . X.XJV INTRODUCTION districts of Akihabara and Ikebukuro, dedicated to male and female otaku, respectively. Far from being the result of centralized urban plan ning, the specialization of these districts represented a kind of coalesc ing of distributed intelligence as hobbyists and businesspeople with shared interests converged through rnutual attraction. Today's Akihabara is a veritable otaku theme park, plastered \.Vith posters of cute anime characters and dotted with rnaid cafes, where young wornen dress up as fantasy maid characters. It embodies \.vhat Morikawa describes as "the architecture of otaku taste." Although decidedly low-tech in its execution, Comic Market, the biannual event dedicated to the buying and selling of doujinshi, also exemplifies all of the dimensions of a net\.vorked, participatory, and peer -to -peer infrastructure. In Chapter 5, Hiroaki Tamagawa describes the early origins of Comic Market in the late 1970s, when a subset of fans broke from the industry-centric convention style dorninant at the tirne. Comic Market \.Vas founded as a distribution venue for the amateur arts of doujinshi, and its ethic of nondiscriminatory par ticipation continues to this day. Ivluch like the Internet, the market is a neutral platform that invites fans of all denorninations to partici pate. v\ Tith the growth of otaku culture, this open-door policy has meant that the event has ballooned in size; while the first markets attracted several hundred participants, today's events mobilize more than 400,000 fans.

This peer-based fan culture is evident in the growth of the U.S.

otaku social networks that Eng describes in Chapter 7. The U.S. fan dom began in the 1970s and 1980s via a dedicated core of anime lovers who trafficked in insider inforrnation and tapes of anime that were extremely difficult to corne by at the tirne. Eventually, fans at universi ties established clubs that facilitated the sharing and vie\.\ring of anime, and other dedicated fans organized conventions that brought together members of the gro\.\ring fandorn. Since very few anime were localized for the U.S. market in these early years, fans took on the task of trans lating and subtitling the works, as \.veil as distributing them through snail mail, clubs, and conventions. With the advent of the Internet in the 1990s, U.S. fans found an ideal medium to share kno\.\rledge and media with other fans around the country. Informational fan sites and fan forums proliferated, and \.vith the advent of peer-to-peer video Ito, Mizuko, Okabe, Daisuke, and Tsuji, Izumi, eds. Fandom Unbound : Ota\ ku Culture in a Connected World. New Haven, CT, USA: Yale University Pre\ ss, 2012. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 26 August 2014.

Copyright © 2012. Yale University Press. All rights reserved. INTRODUCTION xxv distribution and digital fansubbing, the online circulation of anirne exploded. In Chapter 8, on fansubbing, I describe hovv today's digisubbers or ganize highly disciplined volunteer ,vork tea1ns that translate, subtitle, and distribute anirne episodes to rnillions of fans around the wor ld. Prac tices such as fansubbing and scanlation (fan translation of manga) are fan localization practices that have been centra l to the establishment of the overseas fandom for Japanese popu lar culture. Fansubbing embodies the complicated dynarnics of managing intellectual property and the relation between commercial and noncommercial distribution in the digital age.

The syrnbiotic yet fraught relation between fans and con1mercia l anirne and manga industries is a persistent feature of otaku practice, and it is no'"rhere rnore evident than in the fansub case.

Participatory and DIY Co1n1nunities The spirit of volunteerism, contribution, and participation that we see in the organizers of Comic Market and fansu bbers is a foundationa l aspect of ho'" ' otaku communities are organized. The final section of the book looks at specific cases of niche otaku cornmunities and ho,v they organize membership, status, and identity. Although otaku share corn mon types of cultural referencing and infrastructures, particular genres and forrns of expression are highly diverse. Otaku subcultures employ strateg ies to distinguish themselves from mainstrean1 culture, to dis tinguish different subsets of otaku cu lture, and to distinguish inter nally among members of these different subset niches . Dra'"'ing from detai led ethnographic work, the chapters that complete this volun1e offer a ,vindo'" ' into the fine-tuned distinctions that characterize the internal work ings of specific niche con1rnunities within the broader anime and manga fandom. In Chapter 9, Daisuke Okabe and Kimi Ishida examine the sub cu lture of fujoshi, fernale otaku ,vho specialize in "boys' love" and yaoi narratives that center on hornoerotic relationships bet'"reen characters in mainstream rnanga for boys and young men. Rewriting rnainstream heteronorn1ative manga to center on these boys' love narratives, fujoshi disrupt dominant expectations about their o,vn sexuality and feminine identity. Fujoshi also manage a comp lex iden tity formation in which Ito, Mizuko, Okabe, Daisuke, and Tsuji, Izumi, eds. Fandom Unbound : Ota\ ku Culture in a Connected World. New Haven, CT, USA: Yale University Pre\ ss, 2012. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 26 August 2014.

Copyright © 2012. Yale University Press. All rights reserved. X.X'VI INTRODUCTION they hide their fujoshi identity frorn fan1ily, boyfriends, and friends at school. Bonding rituals of fujoshi identity display are reserved for 1noments with other fujoshi friends, ~,hen they will self-deprecatingly and ironica lly describe their irrepressible attraction to the fantasy ob jects of their affections. Wh ile yaoi culture rese1nbles rnany of the products of female fandoms of U.S. television fans, such as fan art and fan fiction (Bacon-Smith 1991; Jenkins 1992; Penley 1997), the iden tity rnanagement practices of fujoshi are inflected by the particu lar contexts of Japanese girls' culture. This co1nplicated set of identity negotiations is also evident in Ok abe's study, in Chapter 10, of cosplayers, "vho dress up as characters from manga, games, and anime. Largely overlapping with the fujoshi fandom, cosp lay is a fe1nale -dominated niche grounded in a DIY and anticommercial ethic of costume 1naking and performance. Alth ough not characterized by for1nal forms of evaluation and hierarchy, cosplay ers are high ly conscious of quality standards for costu1nes. Only hand made costu1nes that conform to fujoshi interests and moe pass 1nuster; those cosplayers who dress up outside of otaku-dedicated venues or "vho display mainstream forms of sexua lity to at trac t the male gaze are ostra cized from the community.

With Yoshimasa Kijima's study of hand-to -hand fighting games, in Chapter 11, we are offered a glimpse into a masculine and competitive subculture of game otaku. Kijima describes how fighting game culture evo lved through various gaining genres and a network of ga1ne ar cades. Today these gamers have a highly developed set of competitive practices in which they constant ly test their skills in combat "vith other players, moving from local to regional to national competitions. Like the other otaku co1nmunities surveyed in this section, the subcu lture of fighting game otaku is built on a high degree of camaraderie, but it a lso has a unique brutally competitive character.

In the final chapter of the book, I describe the U.S. -centered sub cu lture of anime music video (AMV) 1nakers. AMVs involve ren1ixing anirne to a soundtrack of the editor's choosing, usually Euro-American popular music. As digital video editing became more accessible, ~,hat was once a tiny niche community has expanded into a massive and high ly visib le on line scene. In the process, Ai\1V makers developed various so cia l and technica l mechanisms for defining the center and periphery of their community, recognizing high -quality work , and defining an elite Ito, Mizuko, Okabe, Daisuke, and Tsuji, Izumi, eds. Fandom Unbound : Ota\ ku Culture in a Connected World. New Haven, CT, USA: Yale University Pre\ ss, 2012. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 26 August 2014.

Copyright © 2012. Yale University Press. All rights reserved. .. INTRODUCTION JLXVII cro~ ,d of dedicated makers. This dyna1nic tension between de1nocratic inc lusi veness and highly specialized distinction making is central to all of the otaku com1nunities described in this book. CONCLUSION The picture of otaku culture that ernerges from this volurne is one that honors its irreducible diversity and contested nature while also recognizing it as a growing transnational movement ~,ith a shared set o f infrastructures and cultural practices . As the networked and digital age enters a period of maturity, ~ re n1ight expect that otaku culture "vill becorne both a more taken-for -granted feature of the global cul tura l landscape and one that continues to proliferate unexpected niches, genres, and activities fueled by a growing horde of amateur fan mak ers. Already, we are beginning to see distinctions and niches becom i ng eve r more fine -tuned within the overall otaku scene as the palette of opportunity and participation expands. Although otaku culture "vill doubtless always be identified with its Japanese origins, its trans national nature has also become one of its defining characteristics. Nlore than simply a seque l to the ~,e ll-established narrative of cultural contact bet"veen Japan and the West, otaku cu lture represents a genu i n ely ne"v syn1bo lic database of transnational flo"vs that has already provided a cast of characters, setting, and back story that invites end less . . . . appropriative 1nnovat1on. Refere nces A bcl,Jonat han, an d Sh ion Kono. 2009 . Trans lators' i ntrod ucti on . In Otaku: Japan's database ani111 aJs, xv-xxix. /\II in ne apolis : Univ ersity of !I'[ in ncs ota Pr ess.

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