On July 8th TBS reported on anime fandom abroad by doing a story on the Japan Expo in France. The report is available here, and for those who cannot understand Japanese or don’t feel like watching it, I have written a small summary below:

The report focuses on the word “moe”, which is used by anime nerds(otaku) in Japan to describe their love of cute anime girls and other anime-related goods. It originally comes from moeru(萌える), which means　to burst into a bud/to sprout. Few people are sure how otaku came to use it as they do now…

The report starts by showing various long-haired/strange looking gaijin otaku walking around Akihbara. It doesn’t take an expert to see that a lot of foreigners in Japan are anime freaks.

The report moves onto Japan Expo, a huge convention held in France last week. The place seems to be crawling with otaku.

Of course, no anime convention is complete without dorky white girls dressed up like sailor moon! Various fans are asked to say their opinions on what “moe” means, saying generic stuffa about it meaning beautiful. The camera crew also really likes to make foreign otaku say “moe”.

After finding out that Italians think “moe” means beautiful, the report decides to look into the origins of “moe”. Apparently it dates back to a poem found in the Manyoshu (759AD).

Moving on, the report covers the explosion of otaku culture in Asia. The picture above is from a maid cafe in Korea! I guess some Koreans like Japan after all?

And let’s not forget the maid cafe in Thailand! (mentioned in an earlier post)

I guess they ran out of foreign countries with maid cafes, so they are back in Japan, where maids are branching out into other businesses. How about maid barber shops?

Maid massages, anyone?

How about paying a girl in a maid costume to tell you the future with her cute anime tarot cards?

A few foreigners talk about how great Japan’s otaku culture, with clips of foreign cosplayers thrown in between interviews. They also make this white guy say “moe” for the camera.

The report closes by having this Thai kickboxers say “Muay Thai”, which is written in katakana as “moe” + “tai”(The Japanese word for Thailand). How witty.

So, is anime fandom exploding in your home country?