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Akiba-kei (Japanese: 秋葉系) or Akiba-chan (アキバちゃん) is a Japanese slang term for Akihabara style. Akihabara is a district in Chiyoda, Tokyo where many otaku—or obsessive fans of anime, manga, idol, and video games—gather.
Akiba-kei is a Japanese slang term meaning "Akihabara style". It dates back to the early 80s and refers to a subculture of otaku that spends a significant amount of time in and around the Akihabara area of Tokyo and is known for their strong interest in "fantasy worlds...anime, manga, maids, idols, and games". [1] Akiba-kei has also been characterized as being "interested in ruminating about domestic items and creating fan works based on these existing elements." [2]
The Akihabara area in central Tokyo is known as a marketplace of technology. It has ties to the Japanese video game industry, as well as to anime and manga publishers. [3]
Akiba-kei frequently open their own shops in Akihabara. Most of these shops are run by Akiba-kei in cosplay, who may claim that such attire is the rule for them rather than the exception. [4] The shops offer a wide variety of goods and services: some sell model or ornamental weaponry; [4] others are modeled after antique reading rooms; and still others sell quirky or innovative foodstuffs.
Within Japan's larger popular culture, Akiba-kei, for the most part, belong to an older generation well-versed in the history of Akihabara before it ever became a center of pop culture. Some of them, affectionately known as "Akiba historians", have worked in and around the Akihabara area for decades and witnessed firsthand the changes the area went through. In addition to running shops and participating in Akiba-kei culture, they may also be fonts of knowledge about Akihabara and its environs. [5]
In early 2008, a project was undertaken to attempt to merge some aspects of Akiba-kei culture with Shibuya-kei, Japan's "super-chic internationalist music, fashion, interior, and design movement" that began in Japan in the 1990s. In writing about this project, W. David Marx of Diamond Agency's culture blog observed:
Instead of fighting technological change, Akiba-kei otaku skillfully use the internet as a way to discuss and consecrate their favorite cultural items and disseminate new works to their community. This has only made the subculture stronger. In the end, the Akiba-kei subculture has won a top spot in the contemporary pop landscape because its culture has been least affected by the last decade's democratization of media and the decline in the culture markets. [2]
 | This article may be written from a fan's point of view, rather than a neutral point of view .(May 2021) |
Akiba-kei idols are Japanese idols representing Akihabara style. The activities of Akiba-kei idols were started by women influenced by the style of underground idols created by Aoi Mizuno.
In the 1990s, Akihabara was developing into a neighborhood centered on male otaku interests. However, there were a few women who liked Akihabara, including Haruko Momoi, "the Queen of Akihabara" and Mizuno. Mizuno, who made her debut before Haruko Momoi, started her activities as an underground idol by cosplaying as Shiori Fujisaki. Momoi is the first known Akiba-kei idol. Beginning her activities in 1996, Haruko Momoi is still very early in the life cycle of her activity. [6] The tarento Shoko Nakagawa is also an Akiba-kei idol in Japan, starting her activities in 2001. The female idol group AKB48, one of Japan's highest selling contemporary musical acts, runs its own theater in Akihabara, from which the group's name is derived. [7] Another female idol group Dempagumi.inc is composed entirely of performers claiming to be otaku of some genre. By the time of Dempagumi.inc, formed in 2009, the number of Akiba-kei idols had increased considerably.
With the spread of otaku culture, it is no longer necessary to distinguish this place by name, since Akiba-kei is becoming a dead language. Some artists who were called Akiba-kei idols in the past are performing works beyond the framework of Akiba-kei.
Akihabara is a neighborhood in the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo, Japan, generally considered to be the area surrounding Akihabara Station. Administratively, the area named Akihabara is actually found in the Sotokanda (外神田) and Kanda-Sakumachō districts in Chiyoda. There also exists an administrative district called Akihabara in the Taitō ward further north of Akihabara Station, but it is not the place people generally refer to as Akihabara.
Otaku is a Japanese word that describes people with consuming interests, particularly in anime, manga, video games, or computers. Its contemporary use originated with a 1983 essay by Akio Nakamori in Manga Burikko.
An idol is a type of entertainer marketed for image, attractiveness, and personality in Japanese pop culture. Idols are primarily singers with training in other performance skills such as acting, dancing, and modeling. Idols are commercialized through merchandise and endorsements by talent agencies, while maintaining a parasocial relationship with a financially loyal consumer fan base.
Haruko Momoi is a Japanese singer, songwriter and voice actress. She also produces an all-female pop group called Afilia Saga. She was born in Tokyo, Japan and is affectionately referred to as Halko by her fans, a nickname she gave herself which is inspired by HAL 9000, the computer in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Under17 was a Japanese musical duo formed in 2001 by Haruko Momoi and Masaya Koike. The group was known for producing music known colloquially as "moe songs", providing theme and insert songs to series such as Tenbatsu! Angel Rabbie, Popotan, and DearS.
Lolita fashion is a subculture from Japan that is highly influenced by Victorian clothing and styles from the Rococo period. A very distinctive property of Lolita fashion is the aesthetic of cuteness. This clothing subculture can be categorized into three main substyles: 'Gothic', 'Classic', and 'Sweet'. Many other substyles such as 'Sailor', 'Country', 'Hime' (princess), 'Guro' (grotesque), 'Qi' and 'Wa', 'Punk', 'Shiro' (white), 'Kuro' (black), and 'Steampunk' Lolita also exist. This style evolved into a widely followed subculture in Japan and other countries in the 1990s and 2000s and may have waned in Japan as of the 2010s as the fashion became more mainstream.
Maid cafés are a subcategory of cosplay restaurants found predominantly in Taiwan and Japan. In these cafés, waitresses, dressed in maid costumes, act as servants, and treat customers as masters as if they were in a private home, rather than as café patrons. The first permanent maid café, Cure Maid Café, was established in Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan, in March 2001, but maid cafés are becoming increasingly popular. The increased competition drove the cafes to employ more diversified themes, gimmicks and even unusual tactics to attract customers. They have also expanded overseas to several countries around the world.
Nipponbashi (日本橋) is a shopping district of Naniwa Ward, Osaka, Japan. The area is centered along Sakaisuji Avenue, extending from the Ebisu-chō Interchange of the Hanshin Expressway in the south, to Nansan-dōri in the north. Known colloquially as "Den-Den Town," Nipponbashi is known for its many shops which specialize in furniture, tools, and "otaku" interests such as electronics, anime, manga, and collectibles. Nipponbashi is often compared to Akihabara Electric Town, its equivalent in Tokyo.
Japanese popular culture includes Japanese cinema, cuisine, television programs, anime, manga, video games, music, and doujinshi, all of which retain older artistic and literary traditions; many of their themes and styles of presentation can be traced to traditional art forms. Contemporary forms of popular culture, much like the traditional forms, are not only forms of entertainment but also factors that distinguish contemporary Japan from the rest of the modern world. There is a large industry of music, films, and the products of a huge comic book industry, among other forms of entertainment. Game centers, bowling alleys, and karaoke parlors are well-known hangout places for teens while older people may play shogi or go in specialized parlors. Since the end of the US occupation of Japan in 1952, Japanese popular culture has been influenced by American media. However, rather than being dominated by American products, Japan localised these influences by appropriating and absorbing foreign influences into local media industries. Today, Japanese popular culture stands as one of the most prominent and influential popular cultures around the world.
Akihabara@DEEP is a 2004 novel by Ira Ishida which spawned a manga, television drama, and movie adaptation.
In Japan, an itasha is a car decorated with images of characters from anime, manga, or video games. The decorations usually involve paint schemes and stickers. The cars are seen prominently in places such as Akihabara (Tokyo), Nipponbashi (Osaka), or Ōsu (Nagoya), or Itasha-based events, such as Odaiba Itasha Tengoku.
The anime and manga fandom is a worldwide community of fans of anime and manga. Anime includes animated series, films and videos, while manga includes manga, graphic novels, drawings, and related artworks. The anime and manga fandom traces back to the 1970s, with numerous countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Japan, China, and Malaysia participating in it.
The Otaku Encyclopedia is a 2009 encyclopedia written by Patrick Galbraith and published by Kodansha which provides an overview of anime and manga topics, and interviews and profiles of important people in Japanese fandom.
Connichi is an annual, 3-day anime convention in Germany and one of the largest of its kind in the German-speaking world with over 24,000 visitors in 2013. It is held by the German anime association Animexx e.V.
A butler café is a subcategory of cosplay restaurant that originated in Japan. In these cafés, waiters dress as butlers and serve patrons in the manner of domestic servants attending to aristocracy. Butler cafés proliferated in reaction to the popularity of maid cafés and serve as an alternative category of cosplay restaurant intended to appeal to female otaku.
Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger is a Japanese tokusatsu comedy drama based on the Super Sentai Series. It is not part of the official line up in Toei Company's Super Sentai franchise, but is instead a self-parody geared towards adults as opposed to a general audience for the mainstream series. The show aired on BS Asahi starting April 6, 2012, and Tokyo MX starting April 9, 2012.
Akiba's Trip: The Animation is an anime adaptation of the Akiba's Trip video game series. It was animated by Gonzo and aired from January 4, 2017 to March 29, 2017.
Eimi Naruse is a Japanese singer, songwriter and voice actress who is a former member of Dempagumi.inc.
K-Books is a chain of used goods stores in Japan. It specializes in otaku- and hobbyist-related items, including anime goods, manga, dōjinshi, and voice actor and idol goods.
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