Ask John: What Does ‘Wotaku’ Mean?

Question:
Recently I’ve heard of the term “wotaku” (‘wo’ being pronounced as ‘o’) being used in Japan as the “new” otaku, without the negative connotations. Can you shed any light on this?

Answer:
I need to explain up front that the term “wotaku” (ƒ’ƒ^ƒN) was not one I’d heard of prior to receiving this question. And presently I’m still not certain of its meaning. So I’m primarily addressing this question to share what I’ve learned, and encourage wider awareness of the fact that different spellings and meanings of the term “otaku” exist.

Since Japanese is a phonetic language, the characters for “o” and “wo” are not interchangable, but are pronounced almost identically. This circumstance, in conjunction with the fact that Japanese language utilizes three different written character sets, excluding English, (hiragana, katakana, kanji), has allowed creative Japanese writers to develop several distinct ways of writing the pronoun “otaku.” It’s written in hiragana (‚¨‚½‚­), katakana (ƒIƒ^ƒN), and written in katakana with the character “wo” replacing the normal “o” (ƒ’ƒ^ƒN). Furthermore, Japanese novelist and yaoi/shounen ai critic Nakajima Azusa has introduced her own, unique spelling of “otaku” that uses a hiragana “o” and katakana “taku” (‚¨ƒ^ƒN).

By doing a bit of online research, I first found the English language explanation that “wotaku” is merely an alternate version of “otaku” used at the personal discretion of the writer. This English language explanation implied that there was no innate difference in implied meaning between “otaku” and “wotaku.”

After a bit more research I discovered that Japanese celebrity idol & actress Nakagawa Shouko explained during an October 4, 2006 appearance on the TBS network’s educational program “Kojin Jugyou” that “otaku” spelled in hiragana represented the first generation of Japan’s obsessive-compulsive fans who adopted the term in the 1980s. “Otaku” spelled in katakana then represents the second generation of Japanese obsessive fans from the 1990s. And “wotaku” identifies the current third generation of otaku from the 2000s.

I’ve also now been informed by a knowledgable American otaku friend now living in Japan that the term “wotaku” is used in contemporary Japan to specifically identify the traditional Japanese introverted, socially-maladjusted, obsessive-compulsive fanatic. Plausibly, the spelling “wotaku” eliminates confusion with the hiragana and katakana spellings of “otaku” that are used as the pronoun “you,” and as the adopted American word proudly referring to any devoted anime fan.