Tag: otaku

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Brand_New_World Equipment jason

Wish we were in Japan

…so that I could order a few of these.

Dakigokochi
Dakigokochi

To celebrate the birth of a baby in a way that makes it feel like the kid’s right there in your arms, a rice shop in the southwestern Japanese city of Kita-Kyushu will send out a customized dakigokochi, a roughly baby-shaped bag of high-grade rice to everyone on your birth announcement list. The bag will be printed with the kid’s picture, stats, and a greeting–and it will weigh the same as the kid did at birth.

One of the million reasons that I love Japanese culture. Wish I had a rice bag o’ Eliza!

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Digital Culture

The world is not only stranger than you know…

…it is stranger than you can imagine. And this is never more true than on this wacky series of tubes we call the Interweb.

Exhibit One: I give you….Otherkin.

Otherkin is a subculture made up of people who describe themselves as being non-human or having a connection to a mythical archetype in some way, usually believing themselves to be mythological or legendary creatures. The word is a neologism primarily used by members of that subculture, and is somewhat fluid in definition, and in its broadest sense includes those who consider themselves to be animals, aliens, extradimensional beings, and any other non-human entities.

These are people who believe that they are dragons, werewolves, and elves.

Yes, really.

No, I’m not joking.

You want even wackier? Ok…you asked for it: Otakin!

A sort of crossbreed between fans of anime and otherkin, Otakin believe that they are actually the reincarnation of an anime (or occasionally game) character and that the worlds depicted in popular animes such as evangelion and games like final fantasy exist in another dimension. Unlike their otherkin counterparts, otakin are relatively rare and tend to limit their activities to obscure message boards and livejournal communities. >>from the Urban Dictionary

Otakin (sometimes Otakukin) believe that they have the souls of fictional characters, usually from Japanese anime. Let me say this again, slowly: They believe that they contain within them the souls of cartoon characters.

*boggle*

The obvious question seems to be: Why those particular sets of things? That is, why is there a group of people who believe they have within them the soul of elves, but not, oh…trolls? Or Goblins? Why are Otakin just anime based, and there’s no one running around believing they are the “reincarnated” soul of Woody Woodpecker? I’m not saying this is any more rational than believing, oh…that there’s an invisible man in the sky who watches everything I do…but on the “weird” meter, this one goes to 11.

Oh, and just for you, dear readers…one last special site that involves both dragons AND invisible men in the sky.

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Digital Culture

Japanese desk toys

So I spent the last 4 days in Indianapolis, Indiana at GenCon, the largest collection of gamers in the world. As you might imagine, there are a lot of strange things there…and I came home with a few (not the ones in the pictures search, though).

While I’m not the otaku that many, many, many people are in the gaming community, I am fascinated by certain aspects of Japanese culture. I’m hoping maybe someone out there can help me identify the type of toy I’m talking about here, so that I can find more of them. 🙂

There’s a history in Japan of producing a type of figure/toy/object called karakuri, which means something like “mechanical device to tease, trick, or take a person by surprise”. When you cross that tradition with a culture that’s tied to their desks for insane hours a day, and their nearly inexhaustable ability to produce cute (kawaii)…you get these desk toys I’m just obsessed with. The problem is I don’t know what to call them…if there is even a word for toys of this type. So here’s some examples:

turtleturtle

Walkie Bits is the famous toy from Takara — a mini robotic turtle that responds to commands made by tapping its shell! With four different modes, this tiny turtle can walk and run, sing, race, or walk in a rhythm you program by tapping its shell.

unazukin

Unazukin is the latest interactive toy from Bandai — a small “fairy” that is actually a good listener. The voice activated doll actually reacts to your voice, nodding and shaking her head whenever appropriate. Battery powered (the battery is included — make sure to remove the protective slip first) with an on off switch, the cute two inch high doll has four different movements, shaking head back and forth once or twice; and nodding once or twice, An adorable toy that makes a great gift or a display item.

hidamari no tamihidamari

The Hidamari no Tami (also known as “the Sunshine Buddies” are beloved across Japan for their happy pleasant expression, and their serenely nodding head that seemingly in time with a private tune. Powered entirely by solar power, these display toys are also environmentally friendly and teach the power of sunlight.

So…I bought one of these guys:

haro

…at the con, mainly due to the kawaii. It looks like they are a part of a manga or anime, but I can’t be sure, not being able to read Japanese and such. 🙂

These toys have some things in common…they are all very kawaii, and all are mechanical in some limited way. My Haro is sitting on my desk now, happily flapping his ears (?) up and down via solar power. I have a small bear made by Tomy that dances in response to sounds. Do these sorts of things have a name? Can anyone in blog-land help? Is anyone else obsessed with these things?

I’ve tried the Google translator for things like this, but it gets me only wonderful advice like:

  • How! Design of fragrance being attached new appearance!
  • Enjoying just your arrangement with the hologram seal which is defeated don’t you think?
  • After opening, there is also the pleasure and a secret.
  • Be able to open and close the ear, it shakes swingingly with the weight which is built in.
  • Putting in place [harokore], the pedestal which it can decorate has been attached.
  • It is the paint end finished product. As for color of the commodity there are times when really it differs somewhat.
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Digital Culture Master's Paper Personal

Summary of attention

This is all in addition to the feedback I’ve gotten from the UK, Canada, and various schools here in the US. To make things REALLY interesting, Eli, of “Confessions of a Mad Librarian” above, gave a copy of the paper to Michael Gorman when he spoke at Stanford San Jose State yesterday. Needless to say, I’m interested to see what that brings.