1.
Otaku
–
Otaku is a Japanese term for people with obsessive interests, commonly the anime and manga fandom. Its contemporary usage originated with Akio Nakamoris 1983 essay in Manga Burikko, Otaku may be used as a pejorative, its negativity stems from the stereotypical view of otaku and the medias reporting on Tsutomu Miyazaki, The Otaku Murderer, in 1989. According to studies published in 2013, the term has become less negative, Otaku subculture is a central theme of various anime and manga works, documentaries and academic research. The subculture began in the 1980s as changing social mentalities and the nurturing of otaku traits by Japanese schools combined with the resignation of such individuals to become social outcasts. The subcultures birth coincided with the boom, after the release of works such as Mobile Suit Gundam before it branched into Comic Market. The definition of otaku subsequently became more complex, and numerous classifications of otaku emerged, in 2005, the Nomura Research Institute divided otaku into twelve groups and estimated the size and market impact of each of these groups. Other institutions have split it further or focus on an otaku interest. These publications classify distinct groups including anime, manga, camera, automobile, idol, the economic impact of otaku has been estimated to be as high as ¥2 trillion. Otaku is derived from a Japanese term for another persons house or family and this word is often used metaphorically, as an honorific second-person pronoun. In this usage, its literal translation is you, for example, in the anime Macross, first aired in 1982, the character Lynn Minmay uses the term this way. His 1983 series An Investigation of Otaku, printed in the lolicon magazine Manga Burikko, animators Haruhiko Mikimoto and Shōji Kawamori had used the term between themselves as an honorific second-person pronoun since the late 1970s. Supposedly, some used it past the point in their relationships where others would have moved on to a less formal style. Because this misuse indicated social awkwardness, Nakamori chose the word itself to label the fans, morikawa Kaichirō, an author and lecturer at Meiji University, identified this as the origin of its contemporary usage. However, a different claim points to a 1981 Variety magazine essay, in 1989, the case of Tsutomu Miyazaki, The Otaku Murderer, brought the fandom, very negatively, to national attention. Later that year, the contemporary knowledge magazine Bessatsu Takarajima dedicated its 104th issue to the topic of otaku and it was called Otaku no Hon and delved into the subculture of otaku with 19 articles by otaku insiders, among them Akio Nakamori. This publication has been claimed by scholar Rudyard Pesimo to have popularized the term, in modern Japanese slang, the term otaku is mostly equivalent to geek or nerd, but in a more derogatory manner than used in the West. However, it can relate to any fan of any theme, topic. When these people are referred to as otaku, they are judged for their behaviors -, the word entered English as a loanword from the Japanese language
2.
Akihabara
–
Akihabara is a common name for the area around Akihabara Station in the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo, Japan. The area called Akihabara mainly belongs to Sotokanda district, Akihabara gained the nickname Akihabara Electric Town shortly after World War II for being a major shopping center for household electronic goods and the post-war black market. Nowadays, Akihabara is considered by many to be a cultural center and a shopping district for video games, anime, manga. Icons from popular anime and manga are displayed prominently on the shops in the area, the main area of Akihabara is located on a street just west of Akihabara Station, where most of the major shops are situated. Most of the shops are just west of the station, and the anime and manga shops. As mentioned above, the area called Akihabara now ranges over some districts in Chiyoda ward, Sotokanda, Kanda-Hanaokachō, the administrative district called Akihabara exists in Taitō ward and borders on Sotokanda at the middle of Akihabara and Okachimachi stations, but its half is occupied by JR tracks. The area that is now Akihabara was once near a city gate of Edo and this made the region a home to many craftsmen and tradesmen, as well as some low class samurai. The locals nicknamed the shrine Akiba after the deity that could fire. After Akihabara Station was built in 1888, the shrine was moved to the Taitō ward where it resides today. Since its opening in 1890, Akihabara Station became a freight transit point. Then, in the 1920s, the station saw a large volume of passengers after opening for public transport, and after World War II, the black market thrived in the absence of a strong government. This disconnection of Akihabara from government authority has allowed the district to grow as a market city and this new specialization brought in a new type of consumer, computer nerds or otaku. The market in Akihabara naturally latched onto their new customer base that was focused on anime, manga, on Sunday 8 June 2008 at 12,33 JST, a man drove into a crowd with a truck, then stabbed at least 17 people using a dagger. Seven died and ten were injured, Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department arrested Tomohiro Katō,25, on suspicion of attempted murder, and arrested him again weeks later on suspicion of murder. Kato was eventually sentenced to death by the Tokyo District Court in 2011, the influence of otaku culture has shaped Akihabaras businesses and buildings to reflect the interests of otaku and gained the district worldwide fame for its distinctive imagery. Akihabara tries to create an atmosphere as close as possible to the game and anime worlds of customers interest, the streets of Akihabara are covered with anime and manga icons, and cosplayers line the sidewalks handing out advertisements, especially for maid cafés. The idol group AKB48, one of Japans highest selling contemporary musical acts, runs its own theater in Akihabara, the design of many of the buildings serves to create the sort of atmosphere that draws in otaku. Akihabaras role as a market has also allowed a large amount of amateur work to find a passionate audience in the otaku who frequent the area
3.
Chiptune
–
Chiptune, also known as chip music or 8-bit music, is synthesized electronic music which is made for programmable sound generator sound chips used in vintage computers, consoles, and arcade machines. The term also refers to tracker format music which sounds similar to older PSG-created music and music that combines PSG sounds with modern musical styles. By the early 1980s, personal computers became less expensive and more accessible than they had previously been and this led to a proliferation of outdated personal computers and game consoles that had been abandoned by consumers as they upgraded to newer machines. They were in low demand by consumers as a whole, and not difficult to find, while it has been a mostly underground genre, chiptune has had periods of moderate popularity in the 1980s and 21st century, and has influenced the development of electronic dance music. The terms chip music and chiptune refer to music made by the sound chips found within early gaming systems, a waveform generator is a fundamental module in a sound synthesis system. A waveform generator usually produces a basic geometrical waveform with a fixed or variable timbre, common waveform generator configurations usually included two or three simple waveforms and often a single pseudo-random-noise generator. Available waveforms often included pulse wave, square wave, triangle wave, two notable examples of systems employing this technology comprise the Game Boy and the Commodore 64. The Game Boy uses two pulse channels, a channel for 4-bit PCM playback, and a pseudo-random-noise generator, the Commodore 64, however, used the MOS Technology SID chip which offered 3 channels, each switchable between pulse, saw-tooth, triangle, and noise. Unlike the Game Boy, the channels on the Commodore 64 allowed full control over wave duty cycles. The SID was a technically advanced chip, offering many other features including ring modulation. Due to limited number of voices in those primitive chips, one of the challenges is to produce rich polyphonic music with them. The usual method to emulate it is via quick arpeggios, which is one of the most relevant features of chiptune music, the earliest precursors to chip music can be found in the early history of computer music. In 1951, the computers CSIRAC and Ferranti Mark 1 were used to perform real-time synthesized digital music in public. One of the earliest commercial computer music albums came from the First Philadelphia Computer Music Festival, held August 25,1978, the First Philadelphia Computer Music Festival recordings were published by Creative Computing in 1979. The Global TV program Science International credited a PDP-11/10 for the music, Chiptune music began to appear with the video game music produced during the golden age of video arcade games. An early example was the tune in Tomohiro Nishikados arcade game Gun Fight. The first video game to feature continuous background music was Rally-X. It was also one of the earliest games to use a converter to produce sampled sounds
4.
Moe (slang)
–
Moe is a Japanese slang loanword that refers to feelings of strong affection mainly towards characters in anime, manga, and video games. Moe, however, has gained usage to refer to feelings of affection towards any subject. Moe can lead to feelings and desires, however, thinking too heavily about it is considered outside the scope. The word Moe originated in the late 1980s and early 1990s in Japan and is of uncertain origin, Moe characters have expanded through Japanese media, and have contributed positively to the Japanese economy. Contests both online, and in the world exist for Moe-type things including one run by one of the Japanese game rating boards. Various notable commentators such as Tamaki Saitō, Hiroki Azuma, and Kazuya Tsurumaki have also given their take on Moe, and its meaning. Moe used in slang refers to feelings of affection, adoration, devotion, characters that elicit feelings of moe are called moe characters. The word has evolved to be used regarding all kinds of topics. Included in the meaning of the word is the idea that deep feelings felt towards a particular subject is used in cases where a simple like is not enough to express the feeling. It can be considered a kind of pseudo-romance, but it is not always seen to be the same as romance, the terms origin and etymology are unknown. Psychologist Tamaki Saitō identifies it as coming from the Japanese word for budding, along the same line of thought, Kitabayashi has identified it to be a pun with the Japanese ichidan verb for to sprout moeru and its homonym to burn moeru, which mean to burn. Galbraith states that the term came from 2channel in the 1990s, discussing female characters who were hybrids of the Lolicon and this describes exactly Hotaru Tomoe, and coincides with her height of popularity in 2channel, giving strength to the theory that the term stemmed from her name. Another reason why the term could have originated from Hotaru Tomoe is her background story, comiket organiser Ichikawa Koichi has described Lum Invader of Urusei Yatsura as being both the source of moe and the first tsundere. The character of Clarisse from Hayao Miyazakis The Castle of Cagliostro has also cited as a potential ancestral example. According to Hiroki Azuma, as Rei Ayanami became a prominent character among fans. The industry has created many characters which share her traits of pale skin, blue hair. Moe characters have expanded within the Japanese media market, in 2004, the market for moe media such as printed media, video, and games was worth 88 billion yen, roughly one-third of the estimated 290 billion yen otaku market in Japan. In 2009, Brad Rice, editor-in-chief of Japanator, said that moe has literally become an economic force saying that more products use some element of moe in order to sell better
