"Densha Otoko," which tells the story of shy otaku dweeb's attempts at wooing
the heart of a beautiful young woman, has been a huge hit, selling over 1
million copies in book form, spawning a movie that has already attracted over 1
million theatergoers, a top-rating TV series and a call girl service. It has
also sparked a huge increase in sales among places related to the story, like
Benoist, a Tokyo tea room that has seen sales triple since it featured in
"Densha Otoko" and Hermes cups, which was the product that gave its name to the
book's heroine.
"Densha Otoko" and its tale of innocent love follows on from the huge following
attained from "Winter Sonata," the maudlin South Korean TV program that spawned
a huge market that has drummed up an estimated 250 billion yen in Japan and
South Korea over the past couple of years.
According to the Hamagin Research Institute Ltd., Japan's "moe sangyo," the
term given to describe the otaku-dominated market, is about 88 billion yen.
"Unlike markets for necessities, the 'moe' business derives from sales of
products that people don't really have to have. There are a lot of people out
there plowing large sums into hobbies, and there's still plenty of room for
them to spend even more," Hamagin's Shinichi Shinano tells Sunday Mainichi.
Economist Takashi Kadokawa agrees.
"One private think tank has estimated that Japan's otaku population is about
2.8 million. If only half of them fell in love, the economic effects would be
enormous, with dating alone likely to generate about 330 billion yen," Kadokawa
says. "That sum alone would raise the GDP by 0.1 percent. If the otaku ended up
getting married, it could also go a long way to solve problems created by
Japan's low birthrate and aging society."
Kadokawa adds that otaku have already made a tremendous contribution in the
market for not-so-pure love by bolstering the deriheru call girl business,
which is said to generate an underground market of some 1 trillion yen.
"Since regulations were placed on the adult entertainment business in 1984, the
trend has been for the soapland market to get smaller. Now, the flesh trade's
most popular businesses have shifted toward deriheru call girls instead of the
highly regulated brothels and other types of massage parlor," Kadokawa says.
"These businesses are also attracting large numbers of lonely, elderly clients,
who pay the workers for a chance to have a bit of conversation more so than for
anything physical. With Japan becoming an older society, this sector is likely
to grow even more as time goes on."
What is it about love that makes people prepared to shell out their hard-earned
cash? Manga artist Mayumi Kurata thinks she knows.
"I wouldn't say it applies to everybody, but you get a certain warmth when you
open the purse strings and buy something like clothes," Kurata tells Sunday
Mainichi.
Copyright 1999-2005, Mainchi Daily. Used with permission. All rights
reserved. Ryann Connell is a Staff Writer and Senoir Desk Editor for the
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