pervygoat wrote:

It would suck if the more Japanese you know the less enjoyment of Japan you will have when you get there, I hope when I go to akihabara or mikupa , the experience will be the apex of all orgasms.

what are you expecting from akihabara?

that might change if you know japanese because then you might actually find stuff you want to buy, doujin and the like.
(there's also a vending machine with dr. pepper and dad's root beer somewhere there, lol)

my otaku phase ended when i saw japanese otaku, haha. but if you're already comfortable with that stuff then you can blend in the scene and make friends easily.

i did go to comiket. there was some weird stuff there, like anthropomorphizing tokyo tower and the eiffel tower into yaoi lovers.

I've been to Akihabara like ten times.  It gets old pretty quick.  It may for you too.

I mean, also, becoming fluent in Japanese takes somewhere between two and ten years, depending on your level of commitment.  From start to finish your interests and everyday life won't even be remotely the same. 

When I started learning Japanese I thought I would like to play RPGs in Japanese.  Now I'm fluent in Japanese and I've played exactly one RPG in Japanese, and really don't seen myself playing another.  I don't play any video games anymore, really, with the exception of when Valve adds Half Life or Portal installments.  My life changed.  When I have free time I study Japanese, go drinking, play guitar, study physics, and read.  When I have a vacation I travel.  Each of those is way more important to me than video games, so I just don't have time.

Last edited by Tzadeck (2012 March 04, 4:45 am)

kainzero wrote:

my otaku phase ended when i saw japanese otaku, haha. but if you're already comfortable with that stuff then you can blend in the scene and make friends easily.

If 2ch is an indicator of what otaku culture is like, then the average otaku is a foreigner-hating nationalist. Surely, there must be exceptions, but I think it's telling that I've yet to see a group of otaku here who've taken a foreigner into their ranks, among other behaviors. Despite sharing interests with Japanese otaku, I have doubts whether a foreigner can blend in and make friends with them effortlessly.

vileru wrote:

If 2ch is an indicator of what otaku culture is like, then the average otaku is a foreigner-hating nationalist. Surely, there must be exceptions, but I think it's telling that I've yet to see a group of otaku here who've taken a foreigner into their ranks, among other behaviors. Despite sharing interests with Japanese otaku, I have doubts whether a foreigner can blend in and make friends with them effortlessly.

2ch is really not indicative of anything, just like 4chan isn't indicative of American otaku.

one of my friends who speaks very little japanese made a ton of friends in japan. i'm not too keen on otaku culture but he was showing me all his pictures, the events he went to, all the stuff he picked up, talked to me about the parties he attended, etc.

but again, i have no idea what avenues he took; i know a lot of it started over the internet, niconico, twitter, etc. i don't think you'll touch down and just start talking to random otaku in akihabara.

pervygoat wrote:

Oh my god the way you say it makes it really exciteresting . There are some anime which have the computer games, I would like to buy and play them, because they are extensions to the anime. e.g. "what would happen if : so and so, blah and blahed".
I imagine it to be colorful with tons of lights because it is called the electricity (now technology) center of the earth by some guy on youtube who made it seem like heaven.

So all in all, I want to see their games, movies, music, all the good stuff.

everything you described is stuff that you buy and bring home. in fact, a lot of this stuff is already available on the internet. especially the games. there are very few games you can't download and play right now. i don't think there's anything exciting about "being" there, you just buy stuff. 

i found the atmosphere of akihabara to be the same as the big commercial areas of tokyo; huge flashing signs that tire on the eyes, people handing you stuff, etc. i've never been on a day when they closed down the streets though. they stopped doing that when some guy ran over everyone, but they reopened it fairly recently. my last vacation was during christmas/new year's and i don't think they did it then.

And what do you mean by "seeing otakus over there" , are they more worse, less worse? If you have time can you explain more?

And we have comicons near were I live but its always fat White americans (sorry for generalizing). I want to see decent looking cosplay.

one of the main differences is that they speak japanese. yes, that's obvious. but that also means they don't spend a lot of time thinking about another culture or speaking one or two phrases and pretending that they know the language.

another big difference is doujin and how deeply rooted their culture is. i know very little about that stuff so i can't really comment. at comiket you could see certain doujin circles with lines out the door; i'm not sure how they heard about it but yeah, doujin is really the difference. i went with my japanese friend and all he really looked at is heavy metal touhou music; we were there for 2/3 hours just doing that and i'm pretty sure we didn't get through half of it.

but comiket isn't akihabara...

cosplay is around the same level as most big cons here in the US. there's your crappy, what the hell is that guy doing cosplay and there's also really good ones.

i spent a lot of time in akihabara, not because i was into any of that stuff, but because i liked playing arcade games with my friend and my friend lives near there.

pervygoat wrote:

"And what do you mean by "seeing otakus over there" , are they more worse, less worse? If you have time can you explain more?"

This had cropped up in other threads but I don't know if its ever been a topic of its own. Japanese otaku are a breed of their own, especially when it comes to anime. To put it shortly, american anime otaku hunt and search for new anime to watch and are fans of older stuff; while Japanese otaku have the attention span of the current season usually when it comes to what they like. They also consume their anime either via DVR or NicoNico douga.

kainzero wrote:

found the atmosphere of akihabara to be the same as the big commercial areas of tokyo; huge flashing signs that tire on the eyes, people handing you stuff, etc. i've never been on a day when they closed down the streets though. they stopped doing that when some guy ran over everyone, but they reopened it fairly recently. my last vacation was during christmas/new year's and i don't think they did it then.

one of the main differences is that they speak japanese. yes, that's obvious. but that also means they don't spend a lot of time thinking about another culture or speaking one or two phrases and pretending that they know the language.

another big difference is doujin and how deeply rooted their culture is. i know very little about that stuff so i can't really comment. at comiket you could see certain doujin circles with lines out the door; i'm not sure how they heard about it but yeah, doujin is really the difference. i went with my japanese friend and all he really looked at is heavy metal touhou music; we were there for 2/3 hours just doing that and i'm pretty sure we didn't get through half of it.

The street closing started back up again last year in July I believe, its called 歩行者天国. They don't run it on every Sunday like they use to do but maybe once or twice a month I think they do. There must be a schedule up somewhere that shows when they are doing them.

The "doujin" culture is a unique part of the Japanese otaku culture. As to how they find all this stuff I don't know, a mixture of following links put in the catalog, the internet, and maybe stuff they see in stores. Comiket is massive though, its sad you really can't see it all when you go but then there is a lot that isn't worth seeing, and for me thats the 50% BL that consumes the event now.

pervygoat wrote:

I read all the comments, thanks guys

Hows the maid cafes over there? where the girls call you master and draw hearts with ketchup on your eggs?

The girls will certainly call you master and draw with ketchup on your eggs, haha.  So if that's what you want you'll find it... for 20 bucks an hour.

Last edited by Tzadeck (2012 March 04, 11:48 pm)

kusterdu wrote:

pervygoat wrote:

I read all the comments, thanks guys

Hows the maid cafes over there? where the girls call you master and draw hearts with ketchup on your eggs?

I thought the food was kind of gross.  Or maybe it was just the color of the food.  Overall I didn't think it was that great, but I like showing the repeat customer card to people.

LOL what? like a frequent patrionage thing? nice! , 20 bucks an hour , it adds up huh.

Last edited by pervygoat (2012 March 05, 12:14 am)

HonyakuJoshua wrote:

pervygoat wrote:

It would suck if the more Japanese you know the less enjoyment of Japan you will have when you get there, I hope when I go to akihabara or mikupa , the experience will be the apex of all orgasms.

There's half of me that wants to pretend I think paying for sex is awesome, but on the few occasions I have been tempted to do it the falseness has always put me off. I don't think it will be what you think it will be.

I've read through all of your posts, half of me want to believe what you say because it would mean you are the perfect genius who peaks in brawn, brains, and beauty. The other half of me say your the best troll ever, either way I love you. I'm a big fan.

There are also people who at music festivals camp out in the first row starting noon to be there when some band plays at 10pm, equipped with pee bottles and what not, but they're not the average festival goer.

I always assumed those guys were more of an extreme minority than the norm, though. Aren't they?

Bathrooms always have ridiculous lines.

Zgarbas wrote:

I always assumed those guys were more of an extreme minority than the norm, though. Aren't they?

i was just implying that the extreme minority for them towards anime is much more extreme than over here.