“I am an otaku”: 62% of teenagers, 23% of people in seventies

An online survey has found some surprising results about identification with otaku, proving that we have come so far since the days of Tsutomu Miyazaki.

137,734 people were asked, “Do you consider yourself somehow an otaku?”

Yes: 42.2%
No: 57.8%

That’s a lot of supposed otaku!

Here’s the breakdown per generation:

Teenagers: 62.0%
Twenties: 55.6%
Thirties: 46.4%
Forties: 44.8%
Fifties: 36.7%
Sixties: 26.9%
Seventies: 23.1%
Eighties: 23.3%

Of course, these days the definition of “otaku” is wider, and can apply to soccer fanatic or just about any passionate fans of some subculture or hobby. “Otaku” has truly now come to mean being kuwashii (knowledgeable) in a subject.