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Hello!
In the last part of this series, we looked at European countries that use the Japanese word OTAKU, which is making its way into the world♪
As we assumed, Europe is far away in distance and culture, so the people there don’t use the word as we do in Asia~
This time, let’s take a look at some of the countries in North and South America, where the word of the world’s weirdest townis getting around!
Mexico
There’s a building called AKIBA in Mexico?!
It’s said that there is a building called “AKIBA Building” in Mexico City, the capital of Mexico.
It’s FRIKI PLAZA.
It’s just…really too Akihabara. (Isn’t that Radio Kaikan?)
リア女
Akihabara is copied!
FRIKI VS OTAKU
In Spanish, the official language of the country, the word for OTAKU is FRIKI.
FRIKI
OTAKU
By the way,
according to a Mexican friend of mine, I’ve been told that OTAKU is also commonly understood in Mexico…
So.
I compared FRIKI and OTAKU on Google Trends, and found that…
リア女
OTAKU is used more often!
United States
The U.S., a county where many different cultures come together
The U.S. is an immigrant nation where more than half of the population is made up of immigrants,
and there are many cultures imported not only from the same culture sphere but also from completely different cultures.
So, you can see that American people are open-minded to fields that they do not know.
It’s no wonder there are so many otakus out there~♪
GEEK or NERD
In the U.S., the following words are used to describe OTAKU.
GEEK
NERD
The difference of the two words is that
GEEK has an image of a smart otaku who is also interested in IT and technology, while NERD has an image of an indoor enthusiast who likes to study and enjoys subculture.
Let’s show you some interesting indicators!
This is a pmi index that analyzes the words used together with GEEK and NERD on Twitter.
It’s true that the orange color (GEEK) appears with technology-related words such as technology, tech, unix, webcomic, and ebooks.
The blue one (NERD) comes up with study, gpa, book, and mathematics…
リア女
But I have an image of they using both of the words~
Brazil
Saint Seiya is the national anim of Brazil?!
It’s also well known in Japan that Saint Seiya is very popular in Brazil.
At the time when “Saint Seiya” was aired,
Brazil was experiencing political and economic instability and corruption.
It was then that the hero of justice, Saint Seiya, appeared.
リア女
The country not using the word OTAKU
Portuguese is the official language of Brazil, and it’s also the country of Saint Seiya(?), so I thought OTAKU in the country might be…
However the fact is, like Italy and the U.S., otaku is called NERD in Brail.
NERD
Summary
Recently, many cultures are spreading through TV and the Internet.
In this series of articles, I’ve tried to find out how widespread the Japanese word OTAKU is around the world.
From there, I learned that otaku culture is spreading all over the world in many different ways lol
I hope that OTAKU and otaku culture will continue to spread throughout the world in more ways♪
END
リア女
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