Otaku2 Interview: Okura Atsuhisa

08.07.2008 by Patrick W. Galbraith

Hoping to no less than “educate and enlighten” the world on Japanese culture, Manga University, the publishing arm of the Japanime company established in 1998, planned a series of “wholesome” introductory manga on Akihabara, otaku maids and moe to be penned by Okura Atsuhisa, 39, a Kodansha Award laureate known for his work in the November 2007 edition of Wired. Given the current situation in Akihabara post-Kato massacre, the idyllic vision in Moe USA is more nostalgic than ever. With the third and final volume of coming soon, we decided to sit down with Okura to get to the bottom of the global move to educate otaku on Akihabara.


Why did you begin drawing manga?

Okura Atsuhisa: I loved manga and I learned that I could make enough money drawing it. I was a 19-year-old living in Tokyo and was reading manga magazines like mad. There are these ads inside soliciting submissions. My friends told me it was a decent way to make a little money, like as a part-time job. I wanted to be an artist and improve and share my work with others, so I gave it a try. I began writing for Business Jump, which has a slightly more adult readership. The style is hard-edged like American comic books. I received the Kodansha Award when I was 24, but I think it took me until I was 28 to really be recognized as a pro.

You went from Business Jump to Moe USA? What inspired you to this project?

OA: Foreigners are most interested in maids and Akihabara. These are the keys words. But it seems that there is a big gap between expectation and reality. Seeing maids and going to a maid cafÈ are completely different. So, I thought that if I made the maids manga then maybe I could make it easier to understand. Manga is the ideal medium to make difficult subjects manageable. That is the basic appeal of manga and why in principle it is perfect for teaching. I just applied it to new subjects in need of explanation and directed towards people in need of that information. Moe, maids, Akihabara, otaku, these are difficult topics in and of themselves, but as characters in a simple narrative it is intuitive. Moe USA is just a simple introduction, but perhaps it will provide enough information to get people interested in going deeper or expel misconceptions.

You call Akihabara an ‘otaku paradise.’ Can you explain what you mean?

OA: Akihabara used to be the Electric Town where appliances were cheap and abundant. Parts stores began to appear along with increasingly rare items. Otaku also gathered to use these parts to build machines. When computers arrived, the otaku exploded. Things that met their interests began to arrive in the market, manga, anime, cosplay, maids, dolls, you name it, the transition to otaku holyland progressed. I first went to Akihabara when no one was called otaku. The word didn’t exist, but anime and doujinshi were booming so we were called the “anime group.” I wasn’t interested in doujinshi because I didn’t want to pursue only my own desires, but rather write something that could be published and shared with others. It has been years since I was last in Akihabara, which might be a good thing. I draw my images from a kind of fantasy databank I have composed of the images I remember. They are not precisely accurate to the space of Akihabara today, but anyone who sees an image I drew instantly recognizes that it is Akihabara. I find it fascinating how we all somehow share the same conceptual image of the place. It is a fantasy. I drew that fantasy in my manga, a symbolic Akihabara that everyone knows. I hope everyone can enjoy it.

Your portrayal of otaku as kind and communal is unique. Is there any particular reason you chose that image in your work?

OA: Otaku have a maniac personality, but many people would like to be a little more like the otaku in Moe USA, a little more cool and respected. Otaku have a very negative image in Japan, even today. A media otaku and a real otaku are different and most people avoid the latter. I wanted to draw an otaku character that was very cool and kind to challenge popular stereotypes. The main otaku, Tanaka, seems like a classic otaku, but once we get to know him he is completely different. There are many kinds of otaku from good to bad – it is deep in so many ways that I hesitate to generalize. But the more you talk to otaku the more you see them as humans and the more you like them. It is a common pattern that I demonstrated through Tanaka. Yes, he is social. Otaku are, too, if you think of their Internet communities. There is something called ofukai, or off parties, where otaku who meet online and share interests meet in real life and become friends. It is common in Akihabara.

Patty and Ruby, the main characters of Moe USA, are presented as “all-American” girls who live for cosplay and worship Akihabara and otaku. Do you find them representative of foreign fans?

OA: Well, in a way it is inevitable that I used foreign characters as this is written for a foreign audience and it makes it easier to identify with the characters and learn with them. The reader may have similar experiences as Patty and Ruby or want to. It couldn’t be a Japanese yearning for cosplay and learning about maids – Japanese girls have been aware of these things for a long time. I wanted this to be for people experiencing Akihabara for the first time who are interested in the manga’s topics but need more information. Like Patty and Ruby. More and more foreigners are visiting, coming or moving to Akihabara. They are well represented in the cosplay going on during weekends. I think foreigners do feel like Patty and Ruby, kind of star struck and confused. This is a real otaku and this is the real Akihabara! It is like a dream. Isn’t it the same for Japanese in New York City seeing Time’s Square? I remember when I went to Florida, my first thought was, “Wow, the streets are so wide and there are American flags fluttering in the breeze! This is America.” It was my image of the place right in front of me and I was moved.

Moe is a big part of your vision of Akihabara. Can you explain what it means to you?

OA: Moe means I like this more than anything else. When it is a feeling exceeding just liking something, then it is moe. Moe is blossoming. When the leaves on the mountainside suddenly bud, everything becomes a lovely shade of green. That is moe. I think if you try to think of moe as the same kind of thing, but as a feeling, then you understand. That feeling is all over Akihabara. Maybe people coming here moe for Akihabara?

Do you think otaku in Japan and overseas see moe the same way?

OA: No, it is dark and light. What I mean is that in Japan, moe is seen as a little shady and maybe scary, but it is bright and cheerful overseas. It is the same basic difference you see in understanding of Akihabara and otaku domestically and internationally. Foreigners do not feel embarrassed when they come to Akihabara and so they can do what they want to believing it is right. They are free and happy. I once saw an older man, maybe 70, snapping shots of a maid in Akihabara. He was delighted with moe and didn’t care how he appeared to others. For foreigners that is what cosplay and moe is, a carnival that allows them to express freely. Japanese have liked matsuri, or festivals, for a long time, but now foreigners are coming to understand those joys. It is still new and fun, where the freshness of the play is a bit jaded in Japan now. It is the same as that festival element of Akihabara, in a way. Foreigners are coming in from the outside not knowing and so it is fresh and fun. They see it the way they imagined it, the way I tried to draw it. It is the same for people coming to Akihabara with discrimination in their hearts seeing it in a negative way. The images we have of the place without knowing it are the way we inevitably see it. I hope to add some positive images to give Akihabara a chance.

What is the future of Akihabara?

OA: The flow is different now. Things are moving away from otaku towards IT buildings. The otaku won’t disappear, but Akihabara will change. It isn’t a town just for otaku anymore. But then again, it used to be the Electric Town and now maybe it will go back to that. The deep, shy otaku leave when everyone comes to Akihabara. They do not want to exposed. The bright and cheerful otaku will not disappear. Actually, I think they will come to be more understood and loved.

What do you see as happening to otaku in, and perhaps beyond, Akihabara?

OA: First, the cheerful, socialized otaku will increase, become better known and disperse beyond Akihabara. For example, it used to be uncool to like trains and the train museum in Akihabara was uncool. Now, the train museum in Omiya, Saitama is a popular date spot and tecchan, or train otaku, have relocated there. Omiya is the train holyland and otaku and normal people are enjoying it together. The hobby is cleaned up, moved out and mainstreamed and the otaku are thriving right along with it. I think Nakano Broadway is developing the same way for figure and toy otaku who gather there as an alternative to Akihabara. The otaku culture is too vast now to be contained in Akihabara, so it spreads and breaks up collecting popular support as it does. So, the bright, cheerful otaku will dominant Akihabara, the more serious groups will carve out spaces elsewhere, the culture will specialize and diversify and mainstream and popular support will grow. Of course the global impact will continue to be felt. Foreign fans are very savvy with the Net and they will use it to track and follow the otaku as they grow, change and move.

What is your part in all this? Is “Moe USA in Nakano” coming up?

OA: No, I will continue to write about Akihabara for now. The third volume, expected to be the last, is scheduled for winter 2008. I will finally have an assistant on that one! Anyway, when you think of otaku you still imagine Akihabara. It is deeply ingrained and won’t change in the popular imagination. I would like to introduce other places and cultures, but as long as no one knows or loves them the way they do Akihabara then no one will buy the manga and I can’t afford to keep drawing them. If people want to know more about otaku and moe, I can go so much deeper with the topics developed in Japan. But I am afraid that people might not be ready for the darker side of otaku yet. I can’t draw for myself, just the things I want to see or do. I draw for foreigners and so must look at Akihabara through their eyes.

Thank you for your time today. Is there anything you would like to say to readers?

OA: Well, I was watching 24, Heroes and other American TV shows when I was working on some of the stories in Moe USA Vol. 2, so I hope you will enjoy the way the stories develop and unfold. I am very inspired by American TV dramas! They have the best characters and stories. If I was able to incorporate that into moe a little I am happy.