The  findings  of  the  Study

As it was mentioned before, the survey is based on a questionnaire given out to 30 participants who were divided into three age groups. It is a survey conducted in a relatively small scale due to the limitation of time and resources, the questionnaire was only distributed within general population, which means it is not delivered inside the Otaku community. It would be interesting to conduct a similar survey within the group who identifies itself as Otaku, and compare their online habits with the results of the general population in the future.

The questionnaire tries to find out (1) who is (and who is not) using the internet; (2) for what purposes people are using the internet;(3) how are they interacting with the Internet and how much time do they spend doing that; (4) how much Internet has changed people’s life; and (5) people’s knowledge about the concept of Otaku and their opinion about the possibility of becoming one.

It showed in the result that out of 30 participants aging from 21 to 50, 26 were accessing Internet on a daily basis while the other 4 would access to Internet at least once or twice a week. And their purpose of using Internet varied between checking Emails, watching movies, on social networks, shopping online, searching for information etc. The top three activities conducted online among the participants were online shopping, searching for information related to their hobbies and watching movies. From the feedback, 90% of the participants actually spent their time at home on Internet. Though definition of Otaku was envisioned differently by different participants, there were 14 people, which was more than expected, who admitted being an Otaku or “to some degree Otaku”. Almost all of the participants had heard of the concept of Otaku before. The most significant result of the survey was the fact that there was not such huge difference between the Otaku and non-Otaku regarding to the online habits. After the overview of how contemporary people were interacting with the Internet in postmodern society, more connection between Otaku and non-Otaku were found such as the intensive relationship between Internet and their hobbies. Also under the influence of postmodernity, the deconstructions of the relationships among their family and friends also resemble the Otaku community.

The patriarchal family has been deconstructed with the Internet entering every family. Parents are neither the only source of the information nor the authority center. Internet becomes the new knowledge resource. Children for the first time switch position with the parents when facing the challenge of new technology, becoming the more skilled ones. The relationships between friends are also altered

by the Internet after the social networking becomes more popular among the peers.

Most of the communication between friends is conducted in virtual world with no need to meet fact to fact. Somehow by making our life more convenience, the Internet also gives us less reason to maintain psychical contact. Postmodern human to some degree have been Otakulized both consciously and unconsciously. The Net-Gen today is having quite evolved ways of processing the information. They are no longer just passive receivers of information but active participants in the data processing. They do research; they are interested in new things and become early adopters of the new technology; they are critical thinkers; they recreate and adapt the new media into their own use. These characters are exactly the ones Lawrence Eng (2006) used to describe Otaku in his thesis.

Not able to avoid the impact of Internet, certain signs show that Otaku society has also gone through the influence of postmodernity. Though the findings of the thesis are consistent with Hiroki Azuma’s opinion about the possibility of very close connection between Otaku and postmodernity,  the author disagrees with the claims that Otaku is the need for filling up the empty hole after losing “grand narrative”.

Therefore it was argued that when Otaku was introduced to the public at the very beginning, they were outcast who never belonged to “grand narrative”. However in their own society, they had their own “Otaku grand narrative” which was shaken during the process of development within their own community. By losing its own key value, Otaku might have entered the post-Otaku era whether they are willing to accept or not. It was such development that brought the Otaku even closer to the general population, leading ordinary people into the post-Otaku world.

Many people feel defensive and resistant when hearing the word Otaku, which was illustrated by the results form the questionnaire. There were people choosing the answer “there is no way I am an Otaku” when being asked their opinion of Otaku.

Ironically, participants claiming to be Otaku and those who denied being Otaku actually to a certain extent did behave like Otaku used to. Among those who

thought that there was no chance for them to become an otaku, the facts show that they were already sliding into the post-Otaku world in the last 10 years since Internet started playing a big role in our lives.