An American journalist based in Tokyo, Patrick Galbraithcombines a scholarly devotion to studying Japanese popular culture with a, well, otaku-like enthusiasm and love of cosplay. Galbraith is a PhD candidate researching otaku culture at the University of Tokyo—that is when he isn’t dressed up as Goku from Dragon Ball Z and leading tours of Tokyo’s downtown Akihabara district, a neighborhood that has become a mecca for anime and manga otaku, or intense Japanese pop culture enthusiasts. This month Kodansha International published Galbraith’s TheOtaku Encyclopedia: An Insider’s Guide to the Subculture of Cool Japanwith a foreword by renowned Japan expert and translator Frederik L. Schodt. PW Comics Weektalked with Galbraith about the nature of Japanese fandom and the history of the term otaku and how this Japanese subculture of cool stuff—from manga, anime and cosplay to gaming, toys and related merchandise—has evolved and changed in recent years.
PW Comics Week: Why is it necessary to have an Otaku Encyclopedia?
Patrick Galbraith: The thing about otaku,or Japanese fandom, Japanese geeks, is that it is an important part of Japanese popular culture. Everyone has heard about it but the way people talk about it is through media stereotypes. The discourse is entirely based on news reports where otaku have a really good or really bad image. Fandom in Japan is oblique—nobody has an idea of what it really is. When I started my research I was going through different books, talking to experts, and I found a unique and layered culture, one worth taking a look at.This encyclopedia is necessary because it comes from the scene of the Japanese otaku themselves, and comes from extended ethnographic research. It's a new and fresh way to look at this culture.
PWCW: Is "otaku" an accepted term in Japan?
PG:It's becoming a lot more accepted. In the 1980's it was a subculture that grew up around media and technology so these guys were considered dark and strange. That image was solidified with the serial killer Tsutomu Miyazaki, who was arrested for the sexual assault and murder of four young girls.A number of manga and pornography was discovered in his apartment, introducing to the Japanese public the first example of the "killer geek," who was killing and cannibalizing young girls. "Otaku" was a negative word in the 1990's. But when Neon Genesis Evangelion[an enormously popular mecha, or anime about giant robots]came out in 1995, a positive discourse emerged. Otaku realized that we could be a group ourselves.
The word really started to pick up in the U.S. with the term "otaku" uniting people with this new medium [of manga and anime]. Around 2000 or so this really positive image from U.S. and Europe and Southeast Asia starting coming back to Japan with political reports and white papers about the creativity, the consumption behavior and it started this revolution where famous people now say "I'm otaku, too." It's opened up the term and it's become more positive than ever before. Now the discussion is around "real otaku" v. "just fans."
PWCW: Who is The Otaku Encyclopedia for?
PG: It's for a lot of different people I hope. It's for people who are into video games, manga, anime, but who want to know more about Japan, about the culture. Within the fandom, you can notice the history and get deeper into this culture. It's a tool for the new and uninitiated otaku, a guide for people who are not familiar with but want to know more about it. It's an easy reference guide: you hear a term and you can look it up.
PWCW: In addition to your teaching, you also lead tours of Akihabara for tourists?
PG: Yes. In the begginning it wasn't for tourists, it was an academic thing. I was teaching Japanese people about Japanese pop culture. They didn't understand what Astroboy was about. The fastest way to teach them was to take them to Akihabara (the neighborhood in Tokyo where otaku go to shop for merchandise or games and manga). I opened it up to other people like visiting academics and media people. In 2008, I started doing it for tourists, people coming from overseas. There are still many reservations coming in. They want to experience Japan and see Akihabara for themselves.
PWCW: What are tourists visiting Akihabara most interested in seeing?
PG: The most popular sight is cosplay. People are doing on the street—it's bohemian. I take tours down to the street where they can take photos and see performances and see the street culture. It's much easier if you have visual reference. You're not just talking about it, you're seeing it and talking about it.
PWCW: What was your biggest challenge in writing the Otaku Enclyclopedia?
PG:The biggest challenge was in trying to talk about a very large cultural development since the 1970's in 250 pages. People were wondering what type of otaku I was talking about [the otaku of the 1970's and 1980's] or the otaku today. It was necessary to give the core ideas of the culture but it's not exhaustive. I'm not talking about the 70' or 60's—that's another book entirely and I'm only one writer. It's difficult to include all aspects of the culture. The bigger challenge has been explaining why certain things are in there and why others are not. It's hard to please everybody.
PWCW: What did you enjoy most about putting together the book?
PG: I would say it was meeting all these different people and learning about the parts of otaku culture that I didn't know about. They would offer this way of looking at the culture. It was really rewarding to borrow people's eyes and see their stories. I gained access to all this cultural knowledge that was far beyond my experience being an American born in Alaska and raised in Montana. It was overwhelming and really rewarding.
PWCW: You mentioned you were born in Alaska. What was your entry point to Japanese pulp culture?
PG: In Alaska, my brother had these video tapes of anime—Nausicäa of the Valley of the Wind, mecha, and these beautiful girls. I was 5 or 6 and couldn't be part of my brother's circle of friends. When I was 12 years old, I didn't fit in with those around me. Instead of trying to get out more, I watched as much anime as I could. I wanted to know about it and it become my thing.For me, my entire developmental patter is based on Japanese pop culture. I can't express enough how much [this book] means to me
