is a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly anime, manga, or video games.

Etymology

''Otaku'' is derived from a Japanese term for another's house or family ( ''otaku''), which is also used as an honorific second-person pronoun. The modern slang form, which is distinguished from the older usage by being written only in hiragana (おたく) or katakana (オタク or, less frequently, ヲタク), or rarely in rōmaji, appeared in the 1980s. In the anime Macross, first aired in 1982, the term was used by Lynn Minmay as an honorific term. It appears to have been coined by the humorist and essayist Akio Nakamori in his 1983 series , printed in the lolicon magazine ''Manga Burikko''. Animators like Haruhiko Mikimoto and Shōji Kawamori used the term among themselves as an honorific second-person pronoun since the late 1970s.

Another source for the term comes from the works of science fiction author Motoko Arai. In his book ''Wrong about Japan'', Peter Carey interviews the novelist, artist and Gundam chronicler Yuka Minakawa. She reveals that Arai used the word in her novels as a second-person pronoun, and the readers adopted the term for themselves.

In Japan

In modern Japanese slang, the term ''otaku'' is most often equivalent to "geek". Most often that of computers. However, it can relate to a fan of any particular theme, topic, hobby or any form of entertainment.

The former Prime Minister of Japan Taro Aso also claimed himself to be an otaku, using this subculture to promote Japan in foreign affairs.

On the matter, in recent years "idol otaku" are naming themselves simply as as a way to differentiate from traditional otaku. The word was derived by dropping the last mora, leaving and then replacing with the identically sounding character , leaving the pronunciation unchanged.

When otaku are studied, female otaku are largely ignored. Reki-jo are female otaku interested in Japanese history.

In English

The term is a loanword from the Japanese language. In English, it is usually used to refer to an obsessive fan of anime/manga and/or Japanese culture generally, and to a lesser extent Japanese video games.

The term serves as a label similar to Trekkie or fanboy. However, use of the label can be a source of contention among some anime fans, particularly those who are aware of the negative connotations the term has in Japan. Unpleasant stereotypes about otaku prevail in worldwide fan communities, and some anime fans express concern about the effect these more extreme fans can have on the reputation of their hobby (not unlike sentiments in the comic book and science fiction fandoms).

The term ''otaku'' is close in connotation to the English ''nerd'', but the closest English-language analogue to ''otaku'' is probably the British English term ''anorak''. Both of these English-language terms have more emphatically negative connotations of poor social skills and obsessive interest in a topic that seems strange, niche or boring to others. It is not applied to a socially awkward intelligent person who appears fairly "normal," and merely has an interest in certain typically 'geekish' pursuits (video games, comic books, computers, etc.).

While ''otaku'' in English-speaking contexts is generally understood to mean ''geek'' or even ''fan'', this usage is not widely known in Japan and hence casual use of the term may confuse native Japanese speakers. Self-identification as an ''otaku'' may seem strange to them, and they may be offended if a non-Japanese speaker calls them an ''otaku''.

To indicate that one is talking about the Japanese definition rather than the English loanword, the spelling ''wotaku'' (ヲタク) is sometimes used. On Japanese forums such as 2channel, however, ''otaku'' (オタク) and ''wotaku'' (ヲタク) are used interchangeably, depending on the mood and personal style of the poster.

The term was popularized by William Gibson's 1996 novel ''Idoru'', which has several references to otaku.

Negativity

In Japan there has been some negativity towards otaku and otaku culture. Tsutomu Miyazaki became known as "The Otaku Murderer" in 1989. His bizarre murders fueled a moral panic against otaku.

In 2004, Kaoru Kobayashi kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and murdered a seven year old first-grade student. Japanese journalist Akihiro Ōtani suspected that Kobayashi's crime was committed by a member of the figure moe zoku even before his arrest.

Although Kobayashi was not an otaku, the degree of social hostility against otaku seemed to increase for a while, as suggested by increased targeting of otaku by law enforcement as possible suspects for sex crimes, and by calls from persons in local governments for stricter laws controlling the depiction of eroticism in materials which cater to some otaku (e.g. erotic manga and erotic videogames). Nobuto Hosaka criticised a lot of the hype.

Otakon

"Otakon" (short for "otaku convention") is a convention organized by Otakorp, Inc, a non-profit organization. Otakon is focused on anime, manga, East Asian culture, and its fandom. The second largest convention of this type in the US and the largest on the east coast, it began in State College, Pennsylvania, in 1994 and has been held in Baltimore, Maryland since 1999. Currently, the largest convention of its kind is Anime Expo which takes place in Los Angeles annually.

Otakorp Inc. gave permission to Konami to use the name "Otacon" in any of their ''Metal Gear'' video game series. "Otacon" is the codename of character Hal Emmerich, a scientist and self-professed otaku.

See also

References

External links

"I'm alone, but not lonely" – an early article about Japanese otaku, December 1990

The Politics of Otaku – a general commentary on the usage and meanings of "otaku" in Japan and internationally, September 2001

An Introduction to the Otaku Movement (academic paper in English).

Meet the Geek Elite, Wired Magazine, July 2006

Michael Manfé – Otakismus

Kitabayashi, Ken (2004) The ''Otaku'' Group from a Business Perspective: Revaluation of Enthusiastic Customers Nomura Research Institute

* Category:Japanese society Category:Japanese words and phrases Category:Japanese values Category:Anime and manga terminology Category:Fandom Category:Slang expressions Category:Pejorative terms for people Category:Japanese subcultures Category:Japanese culture Category:Japanese pop culture

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Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
name	Seth Godin
birth date	July 10, 1960
occupation	author, marketing guru
website	sethgodin.com }}

Seth Godin (born July 10, 1960) is an American entrepreneur, author and public speaker. Godin popularized the topic of permission marketing.

Background

Born in Mount Vernon, New York, Seth Godin graduated from Tufts University in 1979 with a degree in computer science and philosophy. Godin earned his MBA in marketing from Stanford Business School. From 1983 to 1986, he worked as a brand manager at Spinnaker Software. For a time Godin commuted every week between California and Boston both to do his new job and to complete his MBA.

After leaving Spinnaker Software in 1986, Godin used $20,000 in savings to found Seth Godin Productions, primarily a book packaging business, out of a studio apartment in New York City. It was in the same offices that Godin met Mark Hurst and founded Yoyodyne. After a few years Godin sold the book packaging business to his employees and focused his efforts on Yoyodyne, one of the first online marketing companies. It was with Yoyodyne that Godin came up with the concept of permission marketing. For a period of time, Godin served as a columnist for ''Fast Company''

Godin and his wife Helene now live in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York with their two sons.

Viewpoints

Godin believes that the end of the "TV-Industrial complex" means that marketers no longer have the power to command the attention of anyone they choose, whenever they choose. Second, in a marketplace in which consumers have more power, he thinks marketers must show more respect; this means no spam, no deceit and a bias for keeping promises. Finally, Godin asserts that the only way to spread the word about an idea is for that idea to earn the buzz by being remarkable. Godin refers to those who spread these ideas as "Sneezers", and to the spreading idea as an "IdeaVirus." He calls a remarkable product or service a purple cow. Yahoo! currently has a model of a purple cow in the lobby of its Sunnyvale campus.

Advertisements on television and radio are classified as 'interruption marketing' which interrupt the customer while they are doing something of their preference. Godin introduced the concept of "permission marketing" where the business provides something "anticipated, personal, and relevant".

Business ventures

Yoyodyne

In 1995, Godin launched Yoyodyne which used contests, online games, and scavenger hunts to market companies to participating users. In August, 1996, venture-capital firm Flatiron Partners invested $4 million in Yoyodyne in return for a 20% stake. The site gained significant traction, with over one million viewers visiting the site, and companies like America Online, American Express, H&R; Block, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Sony Music, Sprint, and Volvo using its services.

At Yoyodyne, Godin developed the principle of permission marketing and authored ''Permission Marketing: Turning strangers into friends and friends into customers''.

In 1998, Godin sold Yoyodyne to Yahoo! for $30 million and became Yahoo's vice president of direct marketing, a position he held until 2000.

Squidoo

In March 2006, Godin launched Squidoo, a community website allowing users to create pages (called "lenses") for subjects of interest. The site donates 5% of the profits to charity, and 50% to the lensmasters. Godin and Squidoo have been profiled on CNN and the Washington Post. The site was given top prize in SXSW's community/wiki category. As of July 2008, Squidoo is one of the 500 most visited sites in the world.

Other projects

ChangeThis

Godin developed the idea for ChangeThis, a website aimed at spreading ideas through PDF files. In the summer of 2004, Godin hired five interns—Amit Gupta, Catherine Hickey, Noah Weiss, Phoebe Espiritu and Michelle Sriwongtong—to build and develop the website. The website went live on August 14, 2004. Tom Peters, Chris Anderson, and Guy Kawasaki all had manifestos featured on ChangeThis. In July 2005, ChangeThis was turned over to 800-CEO-READ, the leading distributor of business literature in the United States.

Six month alternative MBA program

In December 2008, Godin announced in a blog post that he would be offering a six month alternative MBA program at his office in Hastings on Hudson, NY. 48,000 people looked at the post and 340 applied. He invited 27 applicants to his office for a group interview. They spent two hours interviewing one another. After co-mingling, they and Godin together wrote down the names of their favorite candidates. Three weeks later the chosen 9 showed up at Godin's office. This group graduated in July 2009.

Books

Godin is the author of 11 books; his ''Free Prize Inside'' was a Forbes Business Book of the Year in 2004, in its first two years of release, ''Purple Cow'' sold over 150,000 copies in more than 23 printings. ''The Dip'' was a Business Week and New York Times bestseller. And Godin has called his free ebook ''Unleashing the Ideavirus'' the most "popular ebook ever written". In the early 1990s he created a ten book series for children titled ''Worlds of Power'', which was written by various writers. In each the plot of a single video game was told in a novelized form.

Beginning with ''Permission Marketing'', Godin uses the concepts discussed in the books to promote the book. For ''Permission Marketing'', Godin gave 1/3 of the book away for free to anyone who sent an e-mail. For ''Unleashing the Ideavirus'', Godin released the entire eBook on the Internet for free, which led to eventual publishing deals in 41 countries and a public speaking career. For ''Purple Cow'', Godin created a milk carton container for the book which generated attention from work colleagues. For ''Tribes'', Godin launched an exclusive online community for the first 3000 people who pre-ordered the book. For Linchpin, Godin gave the book away for three weeks before its release for free to anyone willing to give $30 to the Acumen Fund for the $20 book, and raised $100,000 for the Acumen Fund.

Bibliography

''Book online'' - Detailing the idea of Viral marketing

Blog

Godin's blog, is ranked in the ''AdAge Power 150'' as the #1 marketing blog out of 976 tracked.

References

External links

Official site

Great New Interview with Seth Godin

Seth Godin on TED

An interview with Seth Godin on ''The Marketplace of Ideas''

Category:1960 births Category:Living people Category:American business writers Category:American business theorists Category:Business speakers Category:American bloggers Category:Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni Category:Tufts University alumni

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