THE INFLUENCE OF “OTAKU” ON MICRO

ECONOMIES

SILS

SEMINAR ON HISTORY

1M170525-4 Suzuka Yamada

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Index

Abstract .................................................................. 2

Ⅰ. Introduction .......................................................... 3

Background ............................................................. 3

Ⅱ. Definitions ........................................................... 7

Ⅲ. Methods and Purposes ................................................. 13

Methods ............................................................... 13

Purposes .............................................................. 13

Ⅳ. Case Studies ......................................................... 15

1. Apparel brand ........................................................ 15

2. Beverage company ..................................................... 17

3. Sightseeing spot ..................................................... 20

Ⅴ. Survey ............................................................... 25

Ⅵ. Analysis ............................................................. 32

Ⅶ. Conclusion ........................................................... 38

Ⅷ. Bibliography ......................................................... 40

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Abstract

I conducted a research about how much impact otaku have given to the micro economy.

Otaku tend to collect the goods of their favorite things as much as possible, whatever their hobbies

are. Sometimes, this purchase activity by otaku reaches the products that are apart from official ones,

whether publishing, or events. I studied the relationship between sales of such things or places and

otaku by case studies and my own survey. This thesis aims at finding out how much and how far

otaku have stimulated the microeconomy.

I decided to discuss this topic when I felt the great power of taking action and to purchase

that various kinds of otaku have, through some experiences in my daily life. First, I would like to

talk about how I faced that experience, with the introduction of my background as Otaku.

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I. Introduction

Background

I love hundreds of idol groups of both girls and boys, from Japan, Korea, and China. I can

completely recognize myself as an ‘idol otaku’ rather than a fan in that I do not only enjoy listening

to and watching their performances but I also try to collect as much knowledge of them as possible.

In addition, I do not hesitate at all to purchase goods or concerts of my favorite idols. I have been in

this situation since I knew a Korean girls idol group, ‘Girls’ Generation,’ ten years ago. I was really

into them and they led me to find other Korean idols as well. Since then, I was always listening to

K-POP, watching Korean music show on TV, covering their choreography, and going to their

concerts. I even started studying Korean language by myself. K-POP was a big part of my life at that

time. I already recognized myself as Korean idol otaku as young as twelve years old. I spent so much

time enjoying K-POP that I had hardly listened to or even known Japanese songs.

However, a few years ago, I happened to open a new door: I suddenly fell into Japanese

idol groups. When I was surfing Youtube, I found a variety show of them, which was too funny for

idol, by chance. After watching it, I could not help watching other movies of them and finally, I

joined the fan club of a Japanese men’s idol group. I found that lots of Japanese idols had gap

between performance and usual life, which made me crazy about them. In this way, I started

supporting not only Korean, but also Japanese idols. Now, I am otaku of hundreds of Asian idols.

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In my daily life as otaku, I have faced a phenomenon that particular products getting sold

out because of the influence of idols, several times. The products which were sold out are not official

goods, CDs, publishings, or products they officially promote or related to, but the ones that have

nothing to do with them directly. For example, the products are not the magazines that an idol group

have printed, but the book that a member of an idol said she or he liked it. I have faced this kind of

phenomenon with a snack. Last summer, a snack for kids that has been sold since 35 years ago was

suddenly sold out. There was no event or promotion about it these days. According to an article on

the website of its company, people working there were so surprised to get lots of sudden inquiries

about it even though it is such a long-seller one. It was because an idol group uploaded a movie, in

which one of the members was eating it. He was not supposed to promote it at all, but he just loved it.

In the message that the company got from his fans, the fan said, ‘I often buy this snack because I am

happy to taste the same thing that my favorite person eats. Though this message might not be

organized well, I would like to say thank you so I sent this email.’ (Kyoushin company, 2020.08) An

idol and his fans made a long-seller snack, which originally had nothing to do with him, as popular

as being difficult to get and famous.

I have another case for example as well. Sometimes members of idol groups appear at

official photo or movies wearing their own clothes, not costumes that stylists prepared. Then, the

detail of their own cloths are soon gets figured out every time. Some enthusiastic fans always find

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out them by their features, brand, logo, shapes, or colors making the most use of internet. Depending

on their information, some fans try to get the same thing from websites. Therefore, the phenomenon

that exactly the same clothes as an idol’s own one soon gets sold out after the release of information

about them often happens. Many of the idols wear clothes from famous brands, but one of the

members from my most favorite group often wears clothes from a not famous brand. Since its items

are not expensive, many of the fans try to get the same one that he put on from its brand, so those

clothes are soon sold out. This is the surprising case that an unknown brand became as famous as

many products being sold out among fans because of an idol. On its official twitter, they said they

were thankful to him for making them famous, increasing its sales much more than before. I

introduced two representative examples of otaku’s purchasing activities that are influenced by their

favorite idol, but I still have a lot of other cases.

Having faced this kind of phenomenon many times through my life as otaku, I thought

otaku’s characteristics interesting. In addition, I have been wondering if enthusiastic fans and otaku

are having more or less big impact on economies by consuming products even that are apart from the

official goods. They have made various kinds of products other than snacks, clothes sold out as well.

Furthermore, there are different ranges of otaku other than idol, like anime, videogames, stage actors,

and sports and so on. Considering this characteristic and purchasing power from each otaku of all

sections, the impact that is given to various business can be huge. Therefore, I would like to see if

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other kinds of otaku also do this and how big the impact of otaku’s consuming activities are. Though

their impact on the economy may be huge, the whole economy is too large for me to study.

Therefore, I limited the theme to be ‘the impact on “micro” economy that is given by otaku.’ Micro

economy makes the range of the object of research and analysis as narrow as budget of individual

consumer and each company. In this thesis, I would conduct research about the relationship between

consuming activity by otaku and micro economy, analyzing change in the sales of several

companies.

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II. Definitions

In this thesis, some Japanese terms that cannot be replaced with English words would

often appear. Moreover, they are not used in the ways exactly what is written on dictionary, so I

defined them making the most use of my vocabulary. Here is a list of definition of such terms and

how they developed to the meaning used today.

1. オタク / Otaku

People who are interested in and familiar with a particular hobby. In 1980s, when the word

was first used, it only meant teenagers and twenties men who love anime, manga, computers,

and mechanics. It was pejorative in those days, so it was sometimes replaced with ‘geek’ or

‘nerd.’ There were even stereotyped images of their appearance. Akio Nakamori, a Japanese

critic of idols, describes it in his column. According to his article from Otaku no

kenkyu[research about otaku], otaku used to mean:

people who are at comike(*1), not good at sport, not outstand at all in classroom, and

who are not interested in fashion. People who are about to be run over by Blue

train(*2) when they try to shoot it. People who are pleased collecting Sci-Fi. These

people used to be called “Nekura(*3)” or “Mania” before, but we are going to call

them otaku. They call each other “otaku” and they are not sociable. In addition, their

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ability as male is lacked, so they cannot positively approach women. It is natural that

they do not have girlfriend. Therefore, they escape into the world of two

dimension.’(Manga burikko, 1983)

*1. Comike: Comic Market, the biggest event in the world of selling fan fictions.

Especially anime and manga otaku gather wearing costume of their favorite characters.

*2. Blue train: a nickname of sleeper express. They are completely abolished 5 years

ago.

*3. Nekura: Ne is root and Kura is short for Kurai, which means dark. Nekura is the

pejorative that means the person is dark, not outgoing from their root.

This is too rude, but not wrong in some ways. The mass media accelerated implanting this

image to people. The movie ‘電車男(Densha Otoko, Train Man)’ in 2005, in which otaku is

described just the way of the stereotyped figure above. It intensely impressed Japanese

people what otaku is like. For fifteen years after the movie, the visual image of otaku that

mass media show has not changed. Though this stereotype is still remaining, otaku is

becoming broader in recent years. Today otaku means anyone who are enthusiastic about

particular hobby, not only machines, anime, idol, or vehicles but also anything like cloth and

bread. In addition, no matter how old they are, if male or female, what characteristic, or what

appearance they are like.

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Otaku and Fans

There does not seem to be any distinct border between fan and otaku, so it is difficult to

define the difference. In my opinion as otaku, the level of enthusiasm to the hobby can be one

of the distinctions. Otaku is more enthusiastic and crazier about a particular thing. They have

much deeper knowledge about it, not just a shallow understanding. Moreover, they do not

hesitate to purchase for it at all. On the other hand, fans support comparatively more

moderately than them, do not collect every goods or knowledge. Except from some

enthusiastic people, the attitude of ‘fans’ are broader and shallower than otaku. In addition,

while otaku means anyone who is familiar with something, ‘fan’ is especially used for people

who support particular ‘pop culture’. People who love anime, manga, film, musician or idol

can be both fan and otaku, but those who love, for instance, railways, any academic subject,

electric equipment, or vehicles, things that are not ‘popular culture’ are not supposed to be

called fan.

2. 推し(Oshi)

A person or a character that a fan supports or loves the most. The most favorite. ‘Bias,’

which means the most favorite member in a group, is close to it but a bit different in that the

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range of Oshi is not limited to a group. Oshi is the noun from the verb ‘推す(Osu),’ which

means to recommend, push or to nominate someone or something. Therefore, it implicitly

includes fan and otakus’ mind that they do not only like and want to support the person or

characters, but also they would like them to be known, loved by other people. Oshi is beyond

people’s mind that they love or support him or her.

It was used as a technical term among idol otaku in the 2000s when they refer to their most

favorite members of a group. They first said in the shape of‘推しメン (Oshi men),’which

stands for Oshi members, not men. The word got known to general people in the late 2000s,

when a girls’ idol group ‘AKB48’ became popular. The number of AKB48 fans increased a lot

at that time, so the culture that fans call their favorite member Oshi also spread at the same

time. Today, Oshi is used among everyone, when they mention their most favorite person,

character, or even thing in the world.

The ways Oshi is used

There are many otaku words that was developed from Oshi. For example, ‘2 推し(2 Oshi)’

means the second favorite. ‘箱推し(Hako oshi)’ means that there is no particular oshi but

the fan supports the whole group or the whole work. ‘Hako’ means a box, which is associated

with ‘the whole.’ Therefore, rather otaku cannot decide their oshi because they love the whole

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thing. More and more people use the word oshi not only for people or characters, but even for

food or animal, everything. For example, these days people who love ramen call their favorite

ones ‘推し麺 (Oshi men, Oshi noodle),’ and cat lovers call their favorite ones in cat cafe ‘推

し猫 (Oshi neko, Oshi cat).’

3. オタ活 (Otakatsu)

‘Ota’ stands for Otaku, and ‘Katsu’ is ‘Katsudou,’ which means activity in Japanese for short.

Therefore, it means activities of Otaku. For example, participating in event, concert, having

fun watching movies of oshi with otaku friends, and any activities that are concerned with

their oshi are included. What they do for otakatsu differs depending on the kind of otaku, but I

think any kind of them can call their activity Otakatsu.

The theme of this thesis is about the consuming activity by otaku, in which things they

purchase are not related to their oshi in person unlike official goods or event. However, I think

I can call the activity of consuming these things otakatsu as well because otaku do this

activity inspired by their oshi. Therefore, I include it in Otakatsu as well in this thesis.

4. 聖地巡礼 (Seichi Junrei)

The term is originally used in religion. Seichi is the sacred place and Junrei is pilgrimage.

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Therefore, it means to pilgrim and worship at religiously sacred places. It also has the

meaning of otaku version, in which fans wander about the places where movies, photo on

magazines, or music videos are shot, or became a model of scenes in anime and manga. The

word implicitly expresses that those places are sacred for fans. Seichi Junrei is actively done

among anime fans, so it can be replaced with the word ‘anime tourism.’ It plays an important

role in tourism of Japan. Not only Japanese fans but also fans from overseas visit Japan to see

the model place of their favorite anime. For example, a station of Enoshima train, which

appears in the comic ‘Slum Dunk,’ is often filled with tourists from overseas.

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III. Methods and Purposes

Methods

I conducted research from both micro economy side and the consumer side, using the

budget of some companies and people who are otaku or enthusiastic fan. There are two methods for

my research: case study and the survey. For case study, I researched an apparel brand, a beverage

brand as a representative of grocery, and a city which appears in a popular anime as that of a

sightseeing spot. I chose these three because these are the top three sections of what people have

ever purchased influenced by their oshi, according to the result of the survey that I have conducted

by myself. In the case studies, which are from company side, the way of the investigation is to

analyze the change in sales before and after the products or place get spread to fans because of oshi,

or to compare to other products that have similar condition but not influenced by famous person or

characters. As to the survey, which is from consumer side, I conducted it online by making a

questionnaire. I asked the respondents about their Otakatsu ever and expense for it in the

questionnaire.

Purposes

There are two main purposes of this research. The first one is, to see if otaku have

stimulated micro economies with the actual numbers from the data. The other one is to find how

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much, in what sections, and to what extent they have given impact because of their oshi. In addition

to the result of the current situations, I would also like to know the potential impacts that otaku can

have in the near future. To make it clear, I included in the questionnaire the question aiming at

guessing the potential purchasing power each otaku possesses.

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IV. Case Studies

Case study 1: Apparel brand

I chose ‘ASCLO,’ a Korean brand, for case study of fashion. It sells simple, stylish but not

expensive clothes for men. This is the brand I referred to in introduction of the thesis above: the one

that became famous among fans because a popular idol often appears in photo or movie wearing its

clothes. I think this is one of the representative cases of otaku purchasing influenced by oshi.

It was impossible to know the actual sales and income of this brand. Therefore, I studied

the best sellers from all the items to know how the idol and his fans are concerned to its sales. On its

official website, there is a section that shows weekly best items for each category. I researched if

there are and how much items that the idol put on ranked in.

There are six categories of the outfits in the weekly bests: outer, tops, knit, shirt, bottom,

and accessories. Seven items are put in each category. The most popular ones are shown its rank 1,

but other six items are just lined up, not ranked in order. From this brand, the idol has ever appeared

on media putting on nine different items from outer, knit, shirt, T-shirt, pants, as far as it is known. I

counted how many of them are lined up in the weekly best. Here is the result below.

Table 1. how the idol’s clothes are popular

The number of items The total number of The date the idol put the

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ranked in the item item on

Outer 1 509 Nov. 2020

Knit 2 269 Nov.2029, N/A

Shirt 2 238 Dec.2019, Oct.2019

Data from ASCLO online

[Note]

- This result is from the weekly ranking on 25th

November 2020, so the category ‘T-shirt’ was not

on the ranking.

- An outer and one of the knits were ranked as the top 1 of each category.

Five of the items that the idol has put on out of nine were ranked in the final week of

November. In that he has put on three T-shirt, which was not on the categories of best items because

of the seasonal reason, all of the same items with him except for a pair of pants were ranked in.

Moreover, two of them were the top one in each category. There have been many customers of this

brand who are not his fans at all. In addition, most of the items that he has put on even once are the

most popular items though there are a few or several hundred of items in each category. Considering

this result, it is possible to say that he and his fans contributed a lot to increase the sales of this brand.

To my suggestion, only the pair of pants was not ranked in because most of his fans are women.

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They can wear tops even if they are larger, but it is difficult to fashionably wear bottoms that do not

fit them. In addition, surprisingly, most items that are ranked in first appeared in public around one

year ago. It is difficult to suggest that these items suddenly sold these days, so they might have been

stably sold in a long term since he put them on.

I would like to consider the reason why these items from this brand had such sales though

the idol is still not so famous and the main otaku of him are teenager or twenties women. First, the

items from ASCLO are not expensive. The price of the most items except for outers are around

5,000 yen, so even young fans with little income can purchase. When other members from the same

group wear high-brand clothes, they are hardly sold out. It seems that price is one of the most

important factors for many otaku to decide if they buy products. Second, items are simple, so they

are suitable for daily use. There are no particular symbol, logo or feature on the items in positive

meaning. Moreover, though this brand is for men, many items suit women as well. Therefore, from

these reasons, otaku can wear them whenever or wherever they are without being noticed that she or

he is otaku.

Case study 2: Beverage company

Second, I studied ‘Sapporo Beer’ as one of the cases of food or grocery. This company has

sometimes conducted campaign of donation with the sales of their original beer. They sell beer of

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limited edition package in a particular area for limited periods of time: usually a month. One yen

from the sales per one can of beer has ever been donated to region hit by great disaster, medical

institutions, heritage to protect, and so on. I chose Sapporo beer because it has an episode that sales

of such limited cans rose because of a popular person two years ago.

A legendary Korean idol had a concert in Sapporo dome in October 2018. In the very last

part of the concert, one of the members drunk a can of beer on the stage in front of audience over

50,000, which made the whole dome excited. It was ‘Sapporo classic beer,’ a limited edition sold

only in Sapporo city for a month in October 2018. One yen from the sales of each can was supposed

to be donated to Iburi area in Hokkaido, where a big earthquake occurred one month before. Some

fans who attended at this concert figured out the name and the brand of the beer he drunk there, soon

after the concert. Once the detail of the beer became clear, it soon spread among fans. Many of the

enthusiastic fans of him, or this unit rushed to get it. Even fans who were not at the concert or living

outside Sapporo tried to get it online. When its selling term was finished, a person who works

Sapporo beer thanked to his fans for cooperating with the donation on the twitter.

Judging from this episode, it is almost sure that their fans contributed a lot to its sales. I

picked up other kinds of Sapporo beer of limited edition to compare that have similar condition with

‘Classic beer’ in their term of selling and the amount of money to be donated per each can. I

compared each of their sales to see how much the sales is different with influence of an idol.

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Table 2. The kinds of charity beers and their amount of donated money

Where to donate Donation amount(yen) Area, Year

SORACHI 1984

kanpai funding can

Medical institutions in

Hokkaido

206,250 May 2020

Lager beer Akahoshi funding 2,563,330 Kinki, 2018

Classic beer Iburi in Hokkaido 5,767,079 October, 2018

Sakura beer Heritagae of former beer

factory in Kyushu

200,000(estimated) April, 2020

Data from Sapporo Beer official website

[Note]

- All beers but ‘Lager beer’ were sold only for a month. Lager beer was sold for a year.

- From every kind of beer, one yen per one can is donated

- Akahoshi funding is an organization to support baseball and produce more wheelchair.

- No data of sales of the ‘Sakura beer’ was found as for now.

Although ‘Classic beer’ was sold only in Hokkaido, its sales are at least twice more than

others. Since other cans of beer were not spread by famous person or characters like Classic Beer,

we can see how much the power of influence by popular idol is strong. At the same time, the power

of purchasing that lay in his fans is great as well in this case.

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It seems that the age of fans clearly has something to do with the sales. This idol unit from

Korea is a legendary existence now but was once explosively popular. The number of people who

join in its official fanclub is over 500,000 in 2020. Even if putting this number aside, the average age

of their fans in Japan is comparatively higher. I guess this is why ‘beer’ was succeeded in increasing

its sales. Since this beer was for donation, it did not only raised sales of the company, but also it

helped the revival of Iburi area. In this case, the influential power of a popular idol and the

purchasing power of otaku were well used to contribute to save the area struck by disasters.

Case Study 3: Sightseeing spot

I chose Furukawa in Hida city, Gifu prefecture for a case study of tourism, the third top

section of otaku’s purchase. Furukawa is famous among fans for being a model city of one of the

most popular anime films in Japan, Your Name, released in 2016. Because some symbolic places of

the city appear exactly as they are in the film, Furukawa and other areas in Hida city got much more

tourists of Seichi Junrei after the movie was released. I chose this city for case study of sightseeing

spot because I think it is the representative case of the number of tourists getting increased because

of Seichi Junrei, or anime tourism.

The method of study is to observe the change in the number of tourists in Furukawa per

year before and after the release of the movie. Unfortunately, it was impossible for me to find out the

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accurate data of sales or tourists’ expense in Hida city. Therefore, I used the data of average expense

of a tourist per each area in Japan, which was announced by Japan Tourism Agency (JTA). I

calculated the number of tourists and the average expense per tourist in the area where Hida is

included to guess the approximate number of total sales in the city. Therefore, the data of sales is not

the accurate, but the estimated one.

From Hida city official website

Table 4. Average unit price of trip in Chubu area

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Unit price 58425 54204 55647 58416 61122

Japan Travel Agency official website

0

200000

400000

600000

800000

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Table 3.

Change in the number of tourists in Furukawa,

Hida

the number of tourists

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[Note]

- On the second table, Chubu area includes Gifu prefecture (Furukawa, Hida city is here), Aichi

prefecture, Shizuoka prefecture, and Yamanashi prefecture.

- Unit price of trip includes expense for tour, stay, food, transportation, and other shopping of both

one day trip and accommodation trip.

Next, the graph below is the estimated data I calculated. The total expense in Furukawa is

estimated in this way: unit price of a tourist in Chubu area multiplied by the number of tourists each

year.

The sales increased especially in 2017 and it almost continued in 2018, two years after the

movie was released. In 2016, the estimate of total sales increased 4 million yen. From 2016 to 2017,

30914 28350

32760

40658 38375

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Table 5. total sales of tourism in

Furukawa

estimated expense[thousand yen]

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the increase was almost 8 million yen in total. We can see that even unit price of a trip to Furukawa

increased because of the movie from the second table. I guess that transportation fee is big part of it

because the goal for the trip of Seichi Junrei tourists is to go to see the model places. Therefore, they

make the most use of transportation to go around as many places as possible. In addition, specialties

in the area like food or place other than Seichi can also be what are purchased during trip by them.

They visit Furukawa to see Seichi of Your Name, but since they came there all the way, they would

love to enjoy specialties there. For example, ‘Hida beef’ , a branded and expensive beef, is one of the

specialties in Hida city. In this case, Seichi Junrei tourists might have consumed these things as well

taking the opportunity of trip.

Your Name gave positive impact on tourism of the rural area. In addition to transportation

fee, it might even have made the sales of specialties of the city that have nothing to do with the film

increase. There are thousands of other popular anime as well in Japan, which make tourism more

thriving. It is possible to say that Seichi Junrei or anime tourism is one of the most important

industries in Japan now.

Studying apparel brand, beverage company, and tourism of a city, I found it clear that their

sales increased as much as several million yen in each section after unconsciously promoted by

famous people or work. The unconscious promotion by them can sometimes be as influential as

official advertisement. However, their influential power cannot be great without lots of otaku rushing

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to purchase the things or places. Since otaku have loyalty to their oshi and ability to gather

information and to take action, sales in various sections have increased. I would like to discuss the

consuming activity by otaku and their motivation at that time later.

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V. Survey

I have researched the change in the micro economy of three sections from company and

city, which is the business aspect. Next, I would like to discuss it from otaku or consumer side. I

conducted my own survey online concerned with otakatsu and its cost. The main target is people

who recognize themselves as otaku, have any particular hobby, or who enthusiastically support some

culture. The tool is an online questionnaire I organized by myself. Then I asked my family, friends,

their relatives, and followers of my social media account to answer it. 82 people including both

Japanese and abroad otaku or fans answered in total. Of course, I am one of the respondents as an

idol otaku as well. Here are the graphs of breakdown of respondents below.

35%

65%

TABLE 2-1. GENDER

Male Female

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note

- In the third graph, ‘others’ include healthy activities, fashion, voice actor, music, YouTuber, and

comedians.

5%

84%

1% 5%

4% 1%

TABLE 2-2. AGE

10~ 20~ 30~ 40~ 50~ 60~

8%

49%

1%

10%

3% 3%

6%

10%

10%

TABLE 2-3.

CATEGORY OF THE HOBBY THEY LOVE

anime, character idol drama

sports videogames acor

drama plays films others

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Though most respondents are in their twenties, I tried to have respondents of as many

generations as I could so that there would be various answers. As to category of their hobby, various

kinds of otaku were gathered. I was surprised to see the result that half of respondents are idol otaku.

I have somehow assumed that the most popular hobby among otaku is anime or other virtual

characters. After idol otaku, sports, film, and drama otaku follow in the same number, which mean

that many people support actually existing person than non-human works or things. Moreover, it was

also surprising that none of the respondent was otaku of electrics, computers, appliances, vehicles, or

other equipment. The public image of the word otaku has made us associate with these categories.

This result proves that this prejudice is no longer real today at least people around me. It seems that

otaku began to separate from ‘geek,’ which used to be connected altogether, and there are more and

more range of the object of otaku today. I have never expected the categories of ‘Healthy activities’

‘comedians’ ‘Youtuber’ for otaku. The range of otaku seems to be limitless today, if they

enthusiastically love it. To various kinds respondents, I asked several questions about their Otakatsu

ever.

Q1. Have you ever purchased anything that, directly, has nothing to do with your Oshi because of

them?

- Anything but official products can be included. I am sure from the case study that many otaku

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are willing to purchase something for their Oshi. In addition, I recognize myself as such kind

otaku. Therefore, this question is to see if most otaku can be that energetic for their Oshi.

Q2. Categorize what you have purchased.

- The purpose of this question isto find how far and to what extent they have stimulated the sales

of micro economy departing from their Oshi.

Q3. How much did it cost at most?

- This one is to measure the contribution to economy by otaku from the side of budget of each

otaku.

Q4. How much can you spend for it at most?

- From this question, I would like to see the potential purchasing power that lays in otaku. Only

the current data can be seen from case study or research, so this question is one of the most

important meanings of this survey.

Here are the results of this questionnaire.

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Note

- ‘Others’ include smartphone case, accessories, and musical instruments.

- Sometimes food is included in sightseeing because it can be an expense of trip.

71%

29%

Q1 IF YOU HAVE EVER PURCHASED

ANYTHING

YES NO

25%

22%

19%

16%

15%

3%

Q2 CATEGORY OF YOUR PURCHASE

Cloths Food Sightseeing Book Cosmetics Others

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Note

- Here, the cost is not total of ever purchase but that of one product.

I have three new discoveries about otakatsu cost that surprised me from this survey.

First, 70 percent of otaku including me have purchased something apart from official ones

10%

36%

37%

7%

3% 0% 7%

Q3 HOW MUCH DID IT COST AT MOST [JP

YEN]

~1,000 ~5,000 ~10,000 ~20,000 ~30,000 ~40,000 50,000~

5% 12%

40% 15%

3% 2% 5%

18%

Q4 HOW MUCH CAN YOU SPEND AT

MOST?

~1,000 ~5,000

~10,000 ~20,000

~30,000 ~40,000

50,000~ no matter how much it costs

31

influenced by their oshi. From this chart, it is possible to considered that this is one of some common

characteristics that lay in various otakus’ mind. It is interesting that different kinds of otaku have one

similar characteristic no matter what they love.

Second, the categories of what they have purchased are almost evenly varied. Even though

clothes, food, and tourism are the top three sections, other sections like books and cosmetics follow

in a close rate. It seems that products they purchase do not vary a lot depending on what or who they

support.

Finally, otaku can afford to pay much more than I have expected. According to the current

data, most of them have spent at most several thousand yen. Because nearly 80 percent of the

respondents may be students, that price is a bit expensive for them, including me. Moreover,

surprisingly, the result of question 4 shows that the second top price that otaku can pay is ‘no matter

how much it costs.’ It is interesting that Otaku can pay even if it is expensive when it comes to oshi.

It is similar to ‘別腹 (Betsu Bara, separate stomach),’ which means that people always have room

for dessert even after getting full of the main course. Otaku always have money that can be spent for

their oshi.

These three new discoveries made me sure that otaku people are similar, having same

characteristics in common. Even if oshi differs depending on each otaku, many of them have big,

complex emotion to them more than ‘love’ or ‘desire to support.’

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VI. Analysis

From the results of both case studies and the questionnaire survey, it is clear now that

otaku do not hesitate to purchase the things that their oshi use even if they are more expensive than

5,000 yen. It is also clear that this action has made sales of various companies raised and budget of

cities richer. Otaku used to be a word of prejudice and still some people have negative images

toward them, but they play an important role in supporting business even that is far from their hobby.

Furthermore, it is also clear that they still have potential to be important consumers in various

sections of business. I would like to discuss why they do not hesitate at all to purchase several

thousand yen or even no matter how much it costs, analyzing some otaku’s common characteristics

and my own experience as otaku.

I think roughly dividing there are two motivations that lead otaku to consuming activities.

First one is that they would love to feel their Oshi closer. The other one is the emotion coming from

the loyalty to Oshi.

I would like to start discussion of the first motivation. In most cases, oshi is a far existence

like star in the sky for fans and otaku. For instance, a Hollywood star and a fan, globally famous

sport soccer player and an ordinary boy, and a virtual character and a human in the real world. One

of the rare and precious cases that we can feel them as the same citizen living in the same country or

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the world is when we have the same experience with them, by using the same cosmetics that oshi

used, eating the same dishes oshi had eaten in TV show, or seeing the same scenery, for example.

Anime fans can feel the virtual characters closer when they see the real place where their favorite

characters were in the movie. In this way, they might be feeling that they are in the same world

where oshi lives when they participate in Seichi Junrei. Otaku or fans of both real and virtual person

try to get closer to them by using the common things or visiting the same places as oshi. Through

these mediators, they try to go closer, heading to them by themselves. Otaku enjoy this activities

because they can feel their oshi much closer when they share the same feeling in their mind than

physically existing near them.

Seriously discussing, the term oshi is a bit different from just to be in love with the person,

but it includes or even go beyond that emotion. However, there actually are many otaku who have

such kind of emotion to their oshi, especially those who support a person or a character of the

opposite gender and close age. To analyze my emotion to my best oshi in the world, who is Japanese

boy idol, I love him as an idol and I am willing to support him as much as possible. While having

this emotion toward my oshi as a fan, I sometimes feel like I am really in love with him. I have done

a consuming activity that was motivated by this kind of emotion. For example, I have bought a cap

that is exactly the same as the one that he put on for daily fashion. I bought it because it is cute, easy

to apply to my daily fashion, and the most importantly, because I can enjoy the feeling as if my and

34

his coordinate are linked together. Being a couple with my oshi is nearly the last thing that can

happen in the real world, so I only enjoy the ‘feeling’ of its situation. One of my friends who support

the same idol group as mine also has done this kind of thing for the same reason. In my opinion as

one of otaku, many otaku and fans do not seriously hope to have date with their oshi no matter how

much they love them. Therefore, they enjoy the virtual situation by using the similar coordinate and

so on. In this way, the emotion to be in love with can be a motivation for otakatsu. Moreover, this

emotion can even influence their daily life, apart from otakatsu. In the interview to a videogame

otaku girl of Shin, otaku keizai[Neo otaku economy],’ she said, ‘I would like to be more beautiful so

that I can deserve my favorite boy character who appears in a videogame.’(P48, Youhei Harada,

2015) Judging from these episodes, it is possible to think that this emotion is included in this section

of motivation rather than loyalty. The hope to get as closer as possible to oshi, which sometimes

comes from the emotion of being love with, is one of the energies that stimulate otaku to consuming

activity.

The other motivation for otaku’s consuming activity is the loyalty to oshi. This emotion is

beyond love and hope to support, but more like faith of religion. Considering personalities of many

otaku friends around me and myself, I think Japanese fans and otaku are especially faithful. Of

course, otaku have some characteristics in common wherever they are from and whoever they

35

support. I feel the faith in Japanese otaku in that many of them buy as many official goods or audio

as possible, not illegally streaming in this era of technology. Many of Japanese fans of musicians,

artists or idols buy their CDs, sometimes several or tens of them, even when they can listen to them

online subscription. They do this not only because they would love to be surrounded with oshi goods,

but also because they want to give profit to them. The sales of CD is much more important to artists

than we think because it can be an index of them and sometimes it can decide if they deserve to be

on the mass media like TV show or magazines. As to goods other than CDs, it is said that buying

official goods can comparatively be more profitable to oshi. In my opinion as an otaku, we are happy

to pay to them because this is one of the ways that can show our love and appreciation for always

making us happy. We can give return of the joy and happiness that they always give us to them by

purchasing and finally giving the profit to them. There is a term ‘無限回収 Mugen Kaishuu),’

endless collecting, which means that an otaku collects tens or hundreds of one same goods or photos

of oshi. At first sight, it does not make sense at all and even wasting their money. Then, why does

some blind otaku do this meaningless action? The reason is stated in Shin, otaku keizai[Neo otaku

economy]:

The meaning of “Mugen Kaishuu” is the expression of love to a particular character and the

visualization of it. If you love the whole work, you can collect rubber straps of all the

characters from the work. Otaku of senior generation may think up this idea of purchasing.

36

However, it is today’s otaku that express their love to characters not by using money to cover

all the goods but by using it focusing on one spot. Furthermore, it is also an important

attitude expression to apply these goods to items that they put on every day. The love is

completed for the first time when they visualize their love so that other people can see.’ (P98

Yohei Harada, 2015)

To some otaku, this is one of the ways to express their emotions to oshi. Though there are various

kinds of otaku each of whom have different motivations, I think this faithfulness is one of the

common features that are shared by many otaku. I have the feeling that is similar to be in love with

as mentioned above, but I think I also have the emotion of respecting and worshipping too. The

motivation of loyalty or faith can also be applied to the activity of consuming even what is not paid

for their oshi.

This habit from the motivation of faith is close to believing in religion. For example, by

putting on the items that oshi have, otaku can feel stronger. Seichi Junrei is like worshipping sacred

places as the word says. I think this faithfulness to oshi and consuming behaviors coming from that

has something to do with the fact that many Japanese people do not believe any religion. According

to the survey how religious consciousness and actions of Japanese people have changed, only 36%

of respondents answered that they believe in religion. Among those who believe in religion, 53% of

them answered that they do not have faith in it. (NHK, 2018) More than half of Japanese people are

37

not religious, and actually, half of the people who are religious are being believers without their will.

It means that very few people in Japan seriously believe in some religion. On the other hand, there

are many otaku in population of Japan. Katsuto Matsushima, a researcher of Yano economical

laboratory says :

The result of the survey we conducted in September, 2017 shows that 19.9% of people of

both male and female, from 18 to 69 years old are otaku whatever they love. To summarize,

one out of five, 17 million people in population are otaku. …According to the expect of Yano

economical laboratory, ratio of otaku population in 2030 will go beyond 30% and it will

almost be 40%. In other words, more than one out of three people in the nation will be otaku.

…The ratio of otaku population over 40% means that more than 30 million people will be

otaku. This number is more than that of the latest foreign people visiting Japan each year.’

(Yano economical laboratory, 2018)

Japan has so many otaku now and the number of them is still increasing. Judging from these data, I

guess that one of the reasons of Japanese people not seriously believing in any religion may be that

many of them have kind of religion, oshi. Since they worship their oshi in otakatsu, they do not need

religion.

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VII. Conclusion

The case studies and survey revealed that the economic impact that otaku have given is

huge, and it covers various sections of business even they are far from the ones that are directly

related to their oshi. They increased the sales of tourism in a city in several million yen, made the

sales of products that their oshi once used distinguished twice as much as other ones, and made them

have been one of the most popular items in all the products for a year. In addition, I found that the

range of products bought are limitless as long as their oshi is concerned even if the connection is not

direct. Enthusiastic fans of Korean idol rushed to buy beer of limited edition and more than

thousands of anime fans visited a countryside city all the way. Their energy of being willing to take

these actions comes from two motivations. One is the happiness of feeling the existence of oshi

closer in their mind, and the other is the loyalty to oshi that make otaku want to express the love to

them. Moreover, more than half of the respondents of my survey answered that they do not hesitate

to pay several thousand yen for these activities, in which even half of them can pay no matter how

much it costs.

In the history, otaku have been prejudiced with negative images like ‘poor at

communicating,’ ‘not fashionable,’ or ‘being alone.’ Though these stereotypes are getting known not

necessarily correct, they still continue to impress people because of mass media. While being judged

only by their surface and made fun of by some people, otaku has played important role in supporting

39

business of various sections as consumers. In those activities, they have sometimes contributed to the

society, for instance by raising the money to be donated to an area destroyed by disaster. I hope the

day when the society realize that they deserve to be treated more politely comes. Since it is expected

that the population ratio of otaku will increase up to 40% in next ten years, their purchasing power

will also be bigger. Therefore, they will be more and more important not only for micro economy,

but also the whole economy of Japan.

Last but not least, I appreciate all the people who helped me writing this thesis. 82 people

answered my questionnaire. My mother told me episodes of some example cases of the topic.

Professor Law Graham gave me advice for completing. Thank you.

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VIII. Bibliography

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- Heisei 30nen Hokkaido iburitoubu jishin no shienkin wo Hokkaidochou ni kifu [We donated

Hokkaido agency for supporting Hokkaido Iburi east earthquake in 2018]. Sapporo Beer. 2018.

Web. https://www.sapporobeer.jp/news_release/0000009185/

- Hidashi kankoutoukei kouhyou siryou [Hida City published Statistics of tourism]. Hida City

official website. 2020. Web. https://www.city.hida.gifu.jp/soshiki/15/9310.html

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‘yell to northern medical!’ donation]. Sapporo Beer. 2020. Web.

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- Katsuto Matsushima. 2030 nen ‘otaku jinkou hiritsu 40%’ he!? [The population ratio of otaku’

will be up to 40% in 2030!?]. Yano economical laboratory. 2018. Web.

https://www.yano.co.jp/opinion/180801.html

- Kobayashi, Toshiyuki. Nihonjin no shukyouteki ishiki ya koudou ha dou kawattaka [How

religious consciousness and behaviors of Japanese people have changed]. NHK, 2019. Web.

https://www.nhk.or.jp/bunken/research/yoron/pdf/20190401_7.pdf

- Nakamori, Akio. Otaku no kenkyu [Research about otaku]. Manga Burikko, Byakuya publishing.

1983. Print.

- ‘Nonde ouen! Akahoshi campaign’ de 2,563,220 yen wo kifu [We donated 2,563,220 yen by

‘support by drinking! Akahoshi campaign’]. Sapporo Beer. 2019. Web.

https://www.sapporobeer.jp/news_release/0000010933/

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- Ryokou, kankou shouhi doukou chousa [Survey on consuming activities of trip and tourism].

Japan Tourism Agency. 2020. Web.

https://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/siryou/toukei/shouhidoukou.html#cp1

- Sapporo, Shinshouhin uriagedakano ichibu Kitakyushushini kifu [Sapporo donated part of the

sales of new product to Kitakyushuu area]. Nihon Keizai newspaper. 2020. Web.

https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO59655140X20C20A5LX0000

- Totsujo ‘Fruit no mori’ ni toiawase ga sattou shita riyuu [The reason why we suddenly got much

inquiries about ‘Fruit Forest’]. Kyoshin confectionery, August 17, 2020. Web.

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- Weekly Best. ASCLO. 2020, November 25. Web. https://asclojapan.com/