Sustainability of Japanese culture AND plans to spread otaku lifestyle across the globe

[XChaosX]

Honestly, there are some nasty problems looming on the horizon in terms of sustainability for the otaku lifestyle. Even disregarding the immediate problem of nuclear war with North Korea which threatens to nuke the birthplace of the otaku lifestyle and US, Japan is really the only country where we get this degree of high quality doujinshi, manga, anime, light novels, visual novels, and eroge. These are the roots, so to speak, of the otaku lifestyle.

The roots of the otaku lifestyle need to be spread across the globe for a sustainable future. I am personally interested in this occurring because pretty much everything that I care about entertainment-wise has some kind of influence from Japan.

In terms of problems facing such a spread that I know of, there are several.

The first is that the Japanese art quality is considerably higher than the rest of the world's. There needs to be some sort of learning "framework" transplanted from Japan to the rest of the world to bring up the rest of the world's art quality. The world's overall lack of art skill is a significant roadblock that needs to be addressed.

The second is cultural. People need to get over their absurd fear of sexuality, goddammit. 2D hentai never hurt anyone, and censoring it is retarded. Get rid of the Japan censorship law while you're at it, that thing's dumb.

The third is copyright. The current copyright rules in a lot of places is retarded; there needs to be greater protection for fan-created content to provide a monetary incentive for artists and people to get good at art, produce doujinshi, and overall raise the global art quality through the roof. DMCAing fan-content is retarded, improve the copyright laws please.

The fourth is, you guys need to actually spread this shit around the globe. Take this through Twitter, Facebook, whatever you guys are using to communicate in this day and age. TELL EVERYONE. I'm asking you guys for help because I'm a hermit who has basically no contacts and has no idea where to post this. So I decided to post this here. There needs to be a discussion about this.

tl;dr make the world's art quality better by getting a "framework" for improving art quality from Japan, tell the world to get over its stupid fear of sexuality, and improve rights for fan-created content by improving the stupid copyright laws. And TELL EVERYONE about this. Retweet, etc. There needs to be a discussion about this.

 

https://pastebin.com/3n5bEdDX

[Akimoto Masato]

this sounds like a revolution your trying to start here. long live the revolution

[Dreamysyu]

6 hours ago, Akimoto Masato said:

this sounds like a revolution your trying to start here. long live the revolution

[littleshogun]

Good luck to the OP there in regard of the effort I suppose, and hope the best for that. Oh, and I think you could share it to Reddit by yourself if you want my advice here.

PS - If you my opinion, then I would say it was more trouble than it's worth because it mean that you're gonna go through very long way if you're want to change the law, and even then it might be not accepted especially when you're want the laws from two countries to be changed. That's all that I could say for now because it might be too controversial if I bring all of the discussion in regard of copyright and censorship here, and I think the most you could do for now is that had overseas artist to adapt Japanese art in which most of OELVN maker tried to adapt the art as of now.

tldr - It's more hassle than worth if you want to get what you wish, and I think it's okay as of now if we talk about Japanese otaku culture here.

Edited October 19, 2017 by littleshogun

[Okarin]

Do you mean there aren't already otaku all over the globe? 

The difference is the industry, not the art. In the West we have conventions, and I can't speak because I've only went to very minor and local ones, but they seem pretty weak, at least they let you gather goods like there's no tomorrow (is there, again?). But Japanese conventions are off the charts: there the amateur artists get visibility, and they seem to be huge events.

I agree we should overcome fear of sexuality, but not in 2D, in 3D! I can't decide if I want to be an otaku or a normalfag. What about a combination? Meh, I just take refuge in this culture because I can't do it any other way at the moment.

[Akimoto Masato]

16 hours ago, Dreamysyu said:

Yes

[Akshay]

I've never managed to convert someone to an otaku online.....

IRL, I actually managed to show some normalfags the joy of anime. It feels really good when they enjoy it. 

Spoiler

 

[Okarin]

If they're looking for something new, why not? Even though most people of enough age know of anime, and know if they like it or not.

Also most normies stick to Western regular shows. But if that's what they like, then fine.

[r0xm2n]

Agreeing with pretty much everything TC is saying.

Best way to change the laws imo is to get majority to not respect the laws in the first place. Sidestepping their rules is far easier anyways.

Pretty much, that's what I'm waiting for. Mass civil disobedience (at least when it comes to certain laws and issues). Note there's a difference between that and anarchy (that's not what I'm looking for).

[pik3rob]

On 10/17/2017 at 5:38 PM, XChaosX said:

2D hentai never hurt anyone, and censoring it is retarded

But I like the way the Japanese censor their hentai.

[Benji Price]

I don't see how a decensored d*ck can make a difference anyway. Laws are laws, and I don't really see a near future without it. 

[Akshay]

On 10/21/2017 at 10:28 AM, pik3rob said:

But I like the way the Japanese censor their hentai.

[pik3rob]

Censored dicks look better since you don't have the same gross veiny details. Same with all the weird details of a vagina. Those things look like some kind of deformed deep sea creature.

[Narcosis]

FYI, Otaku subculture needs to be gassed, not spread.

[Okarin]

On 25/10/2017 at 12:33 AM, Narcosis said:

FYI, Otaku subculture needs to be gassed, not spread.

I always find this so confusing. Is there really a significant difference between die-hard otaku and "mild" otaku? (I like to be clean, and take showers, and go outside, and exercise, but I like a lot of the regular otaku stuff, where do we draw the line?)

[Narcosis]

Otaku is a distinctively japanese pejorative. Call yourself a fan if you want. Do not ever use the word otaku, tho.

Western fandom always had huge issues with that word. We're well known for being unable to differentiate between the negative value it carries and misuse it at every single opportunity. There's nothing to be proud of by being an otaku.

[Kenshin_sama]

2 hours ago, Narcosis said:

Otaku is a distinctively japanese pejorative. Call yourself a fan if you want. Do not ever use the word otaku, tho.

Western fandom always had huge issues with that word. We're well known for being unable to differentiate between the negative value it carries and misuse it at every single opportunity. There's nothing to be proud of by being an otaku.

More like you'd want to avoid using it in Japanese conversation. Just as there are differences in how English speakers refer to anime and manga, there are also differences in how we refer to otaku. In Japanese, otaku is mainly used to describe someone who obsesses over a hobby to the point that it interferes with his or her daily life, but there's no clear definition in English.

The problem isn't so much that we don't know the negative connotation associated with the word, but that it hasn't been set in stone.

Personally, I would prefer otaku to have a positive meaning in English, because the world is negative enough as it is, and a lot of people seem to like it.

[PapaRabbi]

13 minutes ago, Kenshin_sama said:

More like you'd want to avoid using it in Japanese conversation. Just as there are differences in how English speakers refer to anime and manga, there are also differences in how we refer to otaku. In Japanese, otaku is mainly used to describe someone who obsesses over a hobby to the point that it interferes with his or her daily life, but there's no clear definition in English.

The problem isn't so much that we don't know the negative connotation associated with the word, but that it hasn't been set in stone.

Personally, I would prefer otaku to have a positive meaning in English, because the world is negative enough as it is, and a lot of people seem to like it.

As I understand it, the word otaku has the same stigma attached to it as the word weeb, only it isn't specific to anime. It can apply to any hobby or interest, but it has a negative connotation regardless. Is that correct or am I wrong?

[Kenshin_sama]

Just now, PapaRabbi said:

As I understand it, the word otaku has the same stigma attached to it as the word weeb, only it isn't specific to anime. It can apply to any hobby or interest, but it has a negative connotation regardless. Is that correct or am I wrong?

You're neither right nor wrong, lol. It all depends on where you are and the people you talk to. Try reading the article I linked (it's from Merriam-Webster); it sheds a lot of light on the situation.

[Okarin]

9 hours ago, Narcosis said:

Otaku is a distinctively japanese pejorative. Call yourself a fan if you want. Do not ever use the word otaku, tho.

Western fandom always had huge issues with that word. We're well known for being unable to differentiate between the negative value it carries and misuse it at every single opportunity. There's nothing to be proud of by being an otaku.

I don't really care for semantics here. My point is, if I like mostly the same things as those disgusting people, I'm like them in more than one way. Where do the similarities end? That's never clear.

[Narcosis]

If you borrow and adapt a foreign word, you better use it in it's original meaning.

In my opinion, we shouldn't even use the word "otaku" at all; it's a word specific to Japanese culture. We have our own words, that are not only a lot more simplistic, but carry their meaning better - fan, hobbyist. Use these instead. We have our own language, there's no need to use foreign words to describe what's already described by our own.

[Kenshin_sama]

1 hour ago, Narcosis said:

If you borrow and adapt a foreign word, you better use it in it's original meaning.

I guess I'll start calling SpongeBob an anime then.

[pik3rob]

On 10/30/2017 at 8:48 AM, Narcosis said:

In my opinion, we shouldn't even use the word "otaku" at all; it's a word specific to Japanese culture. We have our own words, that are not only a lot more simplistic, but carry their meaning better - fan, hobbyist. Use these instead. We have our own language, there's no need to use foreign words to describe what's already described by our own.

To be fair, we've warped foreign words all the time. It's why we call manga manga and anime anime in the west. We've used the foreign word to show that we're fans of things from that culture. Otaku has a broader meaning in Japan, but Otaku to us means a person with a heavy interest in Japanese culture. That's just how these things go. 

[Beichuuka]

I mean, Japanese itself burrows a lot of words from foreign languages, and they don't always get used in their original capacity, either.

I don't see why you would have such a problem with the word here.

[Okarin]

I'm not sure we should regard Japanese otaku with condescendence, but that's quite another topic, honestly.