Otaku From USA

Gavin Purcell spots a Japanese television show that looks at Western tourists as they "geek out" on Manga, Anime and little plastic dolls. He says:

Essentially, Otaku is Japanese for ‘geek’ or ‘nerd’, specifcally someone deeply versed/obsessed in the worlds of Anime (Japanese Animation) or Manga (Japanese Comic Books). Mostly, Otaku are seen as being so obsessed with their made-up worlds that they can’t live in the real one. Kind of like people I know stuck in World of Warcraft. The term even spawned an awesome TV show that I’ll blog about some point in the future called Densha Otoko.

In a strange twist of events, the term has caught on here in the States as a label of pride for geeks of all types, specifically those into Japanese culture.

Cory at BoingBoing futher comments:

There’s lots of video about how cool and odd Japanese teenagers are, but it’s nice to see the lens reversed here, Japanese media looking at America’s fascination with Japanese media.

TV in Japan: Otaku From USA