If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t be nearly as flabbergasted as I was. Let me explain.

One of my Japanese friends has a co-worker (20 years old) who is a 2-D visual culture otaku. Yes — because there are many types of otaku, it is necessary to be specific, as the term/identity/whatever it is to you is thrown about too haphazardly in the States. Due to the fact that I take on more of a “undercover-otaku” status — I have a pressing need to survive in society, but can become as hyper-obsessive about 2-D visual culture, resin models, dating sim games (the ones with actual meritable storylines), etc. as any other fan — the mention of his friend awakened this side of me. I then proceeded to utterly convince him (animated motions included) that he MUST watch at least a bit of Suzumiya Haruhi No Yuutsu, as he had never heard of it before and doesn’t partake in the visual culture. I did manage to get him to watch Episode 0 of the series, but that isn’t the moral of the story. That’s just how I was first indirectly introduced to his co-worker due to my own otaku tendencies.

His co-worker is what I like to call a “NB-boy” (I love coining new terms), or a “Nipponbashi-boy,” which is defined in a similar right as “A-boy” (Akihabara-boy) — a male who spends much of their funds on various paraphenelia and/or electronics in Akihabara, the most famous locale for otaku in Japan. I was told he goes to Nipponbashi nearly every weekend! Since Osaka is quite well-known as well, Nipponbashi/Den-Den Town (electronics district) wiould be most fond place for otaku too far away from Tokyo. For all of you who don’t know, Tokyo is FAR from Osaka — you either need an overnight bus, or pay over 15,000yen to ride the Shinkansen (bullet train) for 2 hours. You do the math.

After this said co-worker spent a enormous sum of yen on a brand new, black car, he decided to buy stickers of characters from Suzumiya Haruhi No Yuutsu. More specifically, Nagato Yuki and Asahina Mikuru. Now, when my friend told me this, I thought he just meant small stickers you put on your window, but the way he described it was something of a much larger magnitude…

The guy forever branded his car with full-body car stickers of Mikuru (pic #1) & Yuki! So beautiful! I was just like…”Kyaa! Unbelievable! I want to do that now! Where can I buy them!?” My car isn’t black, and I definitely wouldn’t want to waste such high-quality stickers on a 10+ year old car model. From what I heard from my friend, this co-worker received much criticism for this action by his fellow workers. Even the boss said, ‘I want to take a bat and smash his car.’ My friend mentioned that it was said in jest, but this co-worker of his has made it known that he is a 2-D visual culture otaku, and is clearly the unpopular one on the job.

I have a few more hearsay details about this particular otaku that should be taken seriously among those in the States. I was informed that he wanted to go to a seiyuu [voice acting] school, but his parents became furious at this and made him refrain from doing so. As a person who wants to learn Japanese fluently in order to somehow become a seiyuu, I can empathize with the guy even though I have not met him yet. To become a seiyuu in Japan, you typically must come from a well-to-do seiyuu school and gradually cultivate a distinct reputation that will promise you gigs. If you want to see a very accurate, yet slightly stereotypical and idealistic representation of the lifestyle of a seiyuu, get your hands on REC. For this 12-episode series, with each episode only being 10 minutes long, I loved every bit of it.

The co-worker also is said to use a nasal tone when responding that can be correlated to that of what a seiyuu-in-training might utilize. He is often teased for doing so. I used to do something along those lines when I first came to Japan: Holding out the last syllable of “ohayoo gozaimazu” like many anime characters are known to do. Most people in Osaka do not do that, and is more common among females who are in high spirits or store employees who are greeting you using keigo [very formal Japanese conjugation]. I now only do that when I am greeting more than one person or someone who does it to me. Case in point: That’s a cutesy thing done in anime, and not necessary to do in every day life. However, it’s better not to develop the habit, especially if you really do not speak Japanese.

Though I personally can’t wait to meet the co-worker, if my gaijin eyes point about otaku in Osaka wasn’t enough to convince you of the stigma against otaku that still permeates Japanese society, I would hope that these truths would.