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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. It is a prominent gathering place for dedicated fans of anime, video games and idols.
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 and operate most of them in cosplay attire. Such attire is considered by some Akiba-kei to be the rule rather than the exception. [4] The shops may sell model or ornamental weaponry, [4] quirky or innovative foodstuffs, or serve as antique reading rooms. Mogra—a nightclub specializing in music associated with anime and video game subcultures—is also located in Akihabara. [5]
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. [6]
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. This came to be known as Akishibu-kei. 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. [7] 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. [8] 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 Akihabara is found in the Sotokanda (外神田) and Kanda-Sakumachō districts of Chiyoda.
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.
Gyarupronounced[ɡʲa̠ꜜɾɯ̟ᵝ], is a Japanese fashion subculture. The term gyaru is a Japanese transliteration of the English slang word gal.
Japanese street fashion refers to a number of styles of contemporary modern clothing in Japan. Created from a mix of both local and foreign fashion brands, Japanese street fashions tend to have their own distinctive style, with some considered to be extreme and imaginative, with similarities to the haute couture styles seen on European catwalks.
The Tokyo Anime Center (東京アニメセンター) is a facility that was created to market anime to residents of Japan and foreign visitors. The facility hosts events such as live radio interviews with creators, voice actors, and merchandising fairs. It once included the AKIBA 3DTheater. It dubs itself "the definitive spot for anime and anime-related entertainment."
Maid cafés are a subcategory of cosplay restaurants found predominantly in Japan and Taiwan. 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.
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 and has an international reach.
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.
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.
"Babymetal / Kiba of Akiba" is a joint single by Japanese heavy metal band Babymetal and otailish death pop band Kiba of Akiba. The single was first released in Japan on March 7, 2012 to promote the album Sakura Gakuin 2011 Nendo: Friends.
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.
Akishibu-kei is a loosely defined trend from the 2000s that involved an increase of Shibuya-kei influence in anime soundtracks. The term is a portmanteau of "Shibuya-kei" and "Akiba-kei". Both were 1990s cultural movements associated with musical and otaku interests, respectively, and Akishibu-kei was thought to have represented a merging of the two.
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