Sexy Jihad

The Washington post has written an article on Tokyo’s infamous Akihabara district, where Japanese geeks can be themselves. Excerpt:

TOKYO At his favorite neighborhood cafe, Shunsuke Yamagata, a college student who proudly calls himself a nerd, smiled shyly behind his horn-rimmed glasses at waitresses hurrying about in black Minnie Mouse shoes and lacy, racy mini-dresses inspired by Japanese comics.

The place is a dream come true for Yamagata, whose passion is collecting comics and cartoons. He giggled with glee when his servers addressed him in the squeaky little character voices they use to delight their fantasy-loving clientele.

For Yamagata, 20, it was just another night out with the pocket-protector crowd in Tokyo’s neon-splashed Akihabara district, where “costume cafes” are the latest of hundreds of new businesses catering to Japan’s otaku , or nerds. A subculture of social misfits obsessed with electronic role-playing games, manga comics and Japanese animation, they began gathering in Akihabara in the late 1990s, lured by the district’s proliferation of electronics retailers and stores selling everything you would need to build your own computer.

Maligned and shunned by mainstream society, here they stayed, their tastes and habits transforming the area also known as Electric Town into what sociologists are calling an urban first — a ghetto of geeks.

On streets once packed with housewives or couples shopping for refrigerators and microwave ovens, hundreds of thousands of nerds — mostly men between about 18 and 45 — now wander through the area’s multi-story comic warehouses and elaborate game arcades. Eyeglass adjustment kiosks compete for space with shops selling nondescript dress shirts and thick leather shoes.

While I definatley are of the opinion that some of these Otaku aren’t in touch with reality, I’m sure geeks all over the world wish they had something like this next to where they live.

Being of the same age group of see people I do see some of their points on how normal life is dull and pointless. I think this will become more and more of a problem worldwide, as a considerable amount of geeky people begin to see how little life has to offer them.

BTW Before people start making assumptions, I am NOT a trechcoat wearing, thick spectacle needing 30 year old loner with my walls filled from floor to ceiling with Hentai……

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