A Japanese publisher will hold a national qualifying exam for nerds on their knowledge of comics, video games and other obsessive hobbies in a bid to smash prejudice and nurture a geek elite.
Magazine Elfics is published every other month to offer information on the culture of the otaku — which translates loosely as “stay-at-home” and is usually applied to Japanese men fanatic about their all-consuming pastimes.
In its upcoming issue hitting bookstores on August 5, the magazine, published by Biblos, will come with an extra booklet carrying dozens of exam questions.
The publisher puts candidates on an honour system promising not to refer to outside materials when taking the test it bills as “a gateway for otaku elite”.
Would-be otakus will send their answer sheets to the publisher, which will score them — by computer — and announce about 100 successful candidates two months later, said Biblos editor Ryota Ishizuka.
A website designed to announce the exam recorded 10 000 hits since it was launched on June 27, he said.
Elfics said on the website that the otaku market is becoming a huge business that Japan can share with the world.
“However, how is society treating us?” it asked, arguing major magazines portray otakus like “rare animals”.
“It would not be too much to say the new century is an era of otakus. Yes, it’s time for us to stand up. To this end, we must … become otaku elites” armed with correct knowledge, it said.
Ishizuka said the otaku are “treated coldly” and often put in the same class as young people who have dropped out of schools and jobs.
“We hope this exam will help raise their status even just a bit,” he said, adding otakus needed a place to flaunt their knowledge.
A study last year by leading think tank Nomura Research found otakus formed a market of 290-billion yen ($2,6-billion) when putting together their interests in animation, comics, video games, pop celebrities and self-built computers. — AFP