I started AustinOtaku.com as a way to allay my own restlessness, living in the heart of Texas, far away from Tokyo or any of the three Japantowns (nihonmachi) in the U.S.. It’s one of the annoyances of adulthood that you have to settle into a job and worry about...
I attended my first mixer and lecture with the Japan-America Society of Greater Austin tonight as a member. It was a great opportunity to meet some of the Japanese and Japanese-Americans living in Austin as well as several other Japan enthusiasts. The meeting was held...
If I set my mind on something, I generally stick to it until I accomplish my goal. So, with my desire to learn the Japanese language, I did three things this week to overcome my own lack of initiative in my spare time to learn the language: I joined the Japan-America...
The third trait of a “wapanese” person (“the term used to describe a person of non-japanese descent … who is incredibly obsessed with Japanese things”), according to the Urban Dictionary, is that they “Halfheartedly [study the]...
The more I dig into the otaku and Japanophile culture here in Austin, the more I feel like a novice. Despite a couple of decades of reading Japanese literature and watching Japanese cinema, I find so many more people who know so much more than I do. Such was the case...