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With the spread of manga (Japanese comics) and anime (Japanese cartoons) around the world, many have adopted the Japanese term ''otaku'' to identify fans of such media. The connection to manga and anime may seem straightforward, but, when taken for granted, often serves to obscure the debates within and around media fandom in Japan since the term ''otaku'' appeared in the niche publication Manga Burikko in 1983. disrupts the naturalization and trivialization of ''otaku'' by examining the historical contingency of the term as a way to identify and contain problematic youth, consumers and fan cultures in Japan. Its chapters, many translated from Japanese and available in English for the first time - and with a foreword by Otsuka Eiji, former editor of Manga Burikko - explore key moments in the evolving discourse of ''otaku'' in Japan. Rather than presenting a smooth, triumphant narrative of the transition of a subculture to the mainstream, the edited volume repositions ''otaku'' in specific historical, social and economic contexts, providing new insights into the significance of the ''otaku'' phenomenon in Japan and the world. By going back to original Japanese documents, translating key contributions by Japanese scholars and offering sustained analysis of these documents and scholars, Debating Otaku in Contemporary Japan provides alternative histories of and approaches to ''otaku''. For all students and scholars of contemporary Japan and the history of Japanese fan and consumer cultures, this volume will be a foundation for understanding how ''otaku'', at different places and times and to different people, is meaningful.>
About the author
Patrick W. Galbraith is a Duke University-based scholar of Cultural Anthropology and Japanese Studies. He is author of Tokyo Realtime (2010), The Otaku Encyclopedia: An Insider’s Guide to the Subculture of Cool Japan (2014), The Moe Manifesto: An Insider’s Look at the Worlds of Manga, Anime, and Gaming (2017), and co-editor along with Jason G. Karlin of Idols and Celebrity in Japanese Media Culture (2012) and Media Convergence in Japan (2016).Thiam Huat Kam is a Ph.D. candidate in Media Studies at Rutgers University, USA.Björn-Ole Kamm is a researcher and lecturer at the Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Japan.
