Are otaku and collectors one and the same?

In Canada, I've met quite a few collectors. One of my friends is an avid Evangelion figure collector, who explicitly saves all the money he can for his expansive collection. Another collects old games, specifically targeting second-hand game stores to collect the rarer games at lower prices. As a child myself, I collected Pokémon cards, and ended up with well over 700 (not including energies).

Even looking at more famous examples, Jay Leno comes to mind; he is an American comedian worth gazillions of dollars, and collects cars of all kinds.

Jay Leno stands among just a fragment of his massive car collection. [Source: Corbis Images]

However, when I came to Japan, I expected that collectors would not be easy to find. Because of how harshly Japanese culture looks at otaku, I expected them to be "in the closet". That is to say, they would hide their collection hobby, and keep it to themselves, even if they were participating members of society. As a good example, in a previous blog post, we featured an otaku who had purchased 5,500 copies of a new album (which works out to around 8,250,000円 or $81,100 USD). While not exactly a collector, these are the types of extremes I expected collectors to go to in Japan.

However, I was wrong.

While in Japan, I participated in a home stay wherein I had a chance to spend 48 hours with a Japanese family. One of the members of the family, a 12-year-old boy, was an avid Battle Spirits card game player, and had collected what I estimate to be well over 2,000 cards. He also turned out to be the Kanto Prefecture Battle Spirits champion. But he was far from keeping it to himself; he was very proud of his awesome collection and had a ton of friends to play with! I was even given the chance to meet some of his Battle Spirits buddies, who also seemed to be very outgoing.

Though I didn't take any pictures myself, this is a typical Battle Spirits tournament environment. [Source: Exteen]

I also took a second trip to Akihabara and Nanako Broadway recently, with a smaller group, and spent more time intimately checking out some of the stores. While I was looking for figures of Hunter x Hunter, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Sword Art Online (yeah, I guess I'm a bit of a collector myself), I realized that everyone around me was sort of a collector, too. In each shop, there was someone looking for a neat collectable or rare item, be it from Star Wars or Sailor Moon, or just a replica of a real-life assault weapon.

But again, those who were shopping in these stores (myself included!) were just normal people fulfilling an inner desire, just like a connoisseur would enjoy eating a delicious 5-star meal.

It's interesting at this point to make a curious distinction: The term otaku is an odd one that does not have a consistent meaning. In the West, we are more than happy to call an anime lover an otaku; in Japan, if you say otaku, there is an immediate connotation of being a hikikomori, as we've previously explored.

However, in reality, having spoken to otaku, heard the word used by students and even teachers, and observed the behavior of people in otaku hotspots such as Akihabara and Nakano Broadway, I've come to realize that the term actually lies somewhere in between.

Though not as well-known as Akihabara, Nakano Broadway has a lot of anime and other media for sale and is a very popular destination.

In reality, even in Japan, "otaku" appears to be akin to the English term "geek", which also has no concrete meaning due to its varying use over time. That said, it's usually used to describe a person who has very unusual tastes and often goes to great lengths to enjoy such tastes, such as collecting, attending conventions, or immersing themselves (excessively) in their favorite media.

Just like geeks, not all otaku are hikikomori, and with the exception of a few (such as the aforementioned idol otaku), most just seem to be regular people who go a little further than most with immersing themselves in their favorite media.

So, are otaku and collectors one and the same? Well, no, not really. Not all otaku are collectors, and not all collectors go to the same extent as otaku. But I'd say that it's safe to assume that many otaku also become collectors in order to enjoy their favorite media to the maximum. In the end, this leads to a great overlap between these categories, and blurs even more the line of what an otaku truly is.