Mention the Japanese term ‘otaku’, and the image of a middle-aged anime fan or manga geek-boy might come to mind.
But a new cafe, Ataraxia Cafe, in Osaka’s Nipponbashi area wants to cater to Japan’s growing number of female otakus instead.
In Japan, ‘otaku’ is used to describe a fan or someone who specialises in a particular topic, theme or hobby. This unique Japanese subculture once had a negative connotation and was previously used to refer to an obsessive, withdrawn loner who had “taken leave of his senses”, according to Wired‘s 1993 debut issue. Read more…
