[MA-SOC] Article on Femal Otaku

[Ms. Sakaki]

Alright, so the article below doesn't seem like it's from the most credible
of websites, but it is interesting. The interesting part is this quote:

"About 30 percent of all readers of Shonen Jump, Japan's biggest selling
weekly manga with a circulation of millions, are women."

According to the publishers of Shojo Beat, about 40% of the readers of the
American Shonen Jump magazine are girls (thus, the start-up of Shojo Beat in
America).

Here's the article:

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/news/20050915p2g00m0dm009000c.html

Gal geeks jump aboard 'hip to be square' boom

Japan's otaku are getting a feminine touch, according to Spa! (9/13).

That's not to say that the unwashed minions of geeks who've become Japan's
latest consumer power brokers have suddenly turned their attention to what
have until now been "yucky" girls.

Instead, it seems a huge section of the otaku market is in fact held up by
women who're jumping on the "hip to be square" bandwagon.

Much has been made in the Japanese media recently about the otaku business
and how, according to the Hamagin Research Institute Ltd.'s estimate that
the moe sangyo, or otaku business, contributes 88.8 billion yen to the
economy annually.

While some argue that Japan is caught up in an "Otaku Bubble" where the
value of the nerd business has become over-inflated, Hamagin's Shinichi
Shinano, who drew up the initial report on the sector says, thanks to gal
geeks, we ain't seen nothin' yet.

"This 88.8 billion market is only comprised of otaku publications, movies
and games. It didn't include related merchandise or contents directed at
women," Shinano tells Spa! "I don't know the exact figure, but I guess if
you added these markets on, the worth of the otaku business might even go
over 10 billion yen. You've got to note, though, that men's and women's are
always blending further together and that women buy a lot more merchandise
than guys. The female otaku market is certainly one worth watching for the
future."

Shinano may be right. About 30 percent of all readers of Shonen Jump,
Japan's biggest selling weekly manga with a circulation of millions, are
women. Gals also account for about 70 percent of attendees at Komike, the
huge biannual trade show of the amateur and semi-professional comics, manga,
anime and games that are collectively known as dojinshi.

"It was the game sector that first took notice of women and the spread is an
extension of that fact. With the declining birthrate, sellers have had no
choice but to expand out from the traditional market of males in their early
teens to late 20s. With the children of baby boomers now in their 30s,
there's already a million fewer 20-somethings than there was a generation
ago, and the decline is only going to become greater," Shinano says. "What's
more, women are said to bond stronger with the products they buy than men,
do, so chances are good that once they buy something they'll keep on buying.
If you can tap into the latent demand, there's certain to be a profitable
market under the surface."

Like men, Japanese women are marrying at a later age, if at all. Shinano
estimates that the number of single women in their 30s living in Tokyo and
the three neighboring prefectures will grow 42 percent from the existing
197,000 to 279,000 in five years time.

"These women have packed away about 200 billion yen in disposable income,"
Shinano tells Spa! "They'll use a lot of that for things like travel, but
there is certainly enough left over for them to help sustain the otaku
business." (By Ryann Connell)

September 15, 2005