[MA-SOC] Maid Cafe Redux (Revenge of Japanese Nerds) (Warning: Long Response)

[James Leung Man-Fai]

I think all of entertainment is being divided into very fine slices of the greater entertainment sector.  More people are specializing their finite entertainment time into more specific and concentrated forms.  Media companies are responding to this shift in consumer habits.
     In previous decades, the entertainment medium had very few channels to reach consumers.  There were only 3 major networks and a couple of local broadcast networks.  The radio had a limited number of licenses and channels.  The hard print newspaper was the only portable medium.  The pre-packaged entertainment life styles of early decades were a necessity for broadcasters.  They needed to reach the widest audience with the fewest avenues of approach.  Almost everyone watched the same hit shows, listen to the same radio stations, and read the same papers.
 
 Technology has changed this limited nature of media and entertainment.  Cable and satellite TV systems provide 200 to 300 channels of programming.  They also include digital record/playback and on-demand.  Radio is adopting new forms such as podcasts, satellite radio, and local independent broadcaster.  The internet is user-friendly (WWW), and anyone can use it for marketing and promotion (myspace and youtube).  The explosion of the personal devices industry is another major development.  People are carrying cell phones, blackberries, laptops, pda, mp3 players, handheld video games, Bluetooth devices, and multi-purpose devices.
     This rapid expansion and integration of new media devices and media outlets has changed the very nature of media and entertainment.  If you believe that mass media shapes society, then these new technological developments also directly affects society.
     These new developments have shattered mass media entertainment into a thousand little pieces.  This new system of decentralized media has trained people to be extremely selective in their media choices.  Consumers are not only movie fans, music fans, or television fans.  They have become emo-rock fans, indie movie fans, foreign movie fans, indie rock fans, blues-rock fans, WoW role-playing, FR role-playing, WWE wrestling, fight clubs, j-drama, Hong Kong movie fans, Bollywood fans, shonen fighting fans, magical girl fans, harem fans, shonen-ai, yuri, yaoi, and many others.
       Although, there are still large mass media vehicles like Hollywood, Oprah,  New York Times, and the Tonight Show.  They have stagnant or steady growth in viewer-ship.  In other words, they have very established and stable viewer base.  The real growth is in the fragmented pieces.  Media companies have started to cater to these splinter groups and their interests.  In the anime/manga industry, the major players dominate over the established mainstream market (such as Aniplex, Studio Ghibli, and Toei).  All of the new companies and studios are forced to cater to the fragmented pieces in order to survive.
The pie is not shrinking, but it’s changing shape.  The larger pie is being sliced into smaller pieces.  There are still industry giants, but the real growth and opportunity lies in the growing number of niche markets.  The growing niche markets are slowly establishing a significant presence in the entertainment sector.  Entertainment and media companies can’t afford to ignore these growing number of niche consumers. 



 --
James Leung Man-Fai
http://raiwebs.com
The ANTINEET




Mandisa Washington <mandisaw at earthlink.net> wrote: Hmm, found this article from last year's Mainichi Daily News (kind of like
the NY Daily News, from the other articles...) that gives perhaps a clearer
explanation of the term "moe sangyou": "Anime, manga fuel oddball 'otaku'
biz boom"
(http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/archive/news/2005/07/20050714p2g00m0dm
014000c.html)

When you take these articles into consideration with some of the other
reports on Japanese & American youth social culture of the past couple
years (incl. fandom), there seem to be similar, but more exascerbated,
socioeconomic changes there as here, i.e. growing business dependence on
and awareness of niche markets, gender-separated younger generation,
fewer/older marriages w/ or w/o kids, and an aging population. 

The articles that mention maid cafes kind of give the impression that this
is a shrewd gimmick designed to distinguish one restaurant from another in
a competitive market. Same thing as the hotel that now caters to the
train-otaku crowd. Over here, the travel, leisure, and hospitality
industries are focusing on fans, singles, and casual/short-range travelers,
since their usual bread-and-butter of family vacationers and business
travelers is shrinking. Movies & TV shows here and there are bending over
backwards to discover and provide material that obsessive/dedicated fans
want, including long-term, guaranteed-return projects like cross-market
franchises. Heck, they'll even turn something into a franchise that wasn't
designed to be: a single book - "DaVinci code", a forum chat - "Densha
Otoko", any comic book or video game character...

When times get hard, industries start soliciting the attention (and
purchasing power) of formerly ignored or marginalized market sectors. As
fans, we get to reap the benefits of that increased attention, but as
citizens, it's a little bit worrisome. I mean, it's great that the fannish
slice is growing, but if the companies are focusing on those slices more,
doesn't it mean that the pie must be shrinking?

Sigh,
Mandisa

> [Original Message]
> From: Maikeru
> Date: 2006 November 29 Wednesday
> Subj: Re: [MA-SOC] Maid Cafe Redux
>      (Revenge of Japanese Nerds)
> Hello Everyone:
>  
>  Anyone ever hear of the term, "Moe Sangyou"?  I first
> read of Moe Sangyou, around two years ago.  This article seems
> more about Moe Sangyou.  
> --- Ralph Young  wrote:
> > 
> > By curious synchronicity, our recent discussion of maid/butler cafes
has been echoed
> > by a National Public Radio story "Revenge of Japanese Nerds", readable
here:
> > 
> > http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6456136


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