Stereotyping Japanese Nerds 101
Having trouble visually detecting or just stereotyping otaku? Fret no more, as a Japanese online poll asked folks what they felt the clearest visual markers of Japanese nerdery are. The answers won’t surprise you:
MALE OTAKU
Rank / Feature / Score
1 Anime print T shirt 100
2 Anime print paper bag 92.5
3 Bum bag/fanny pack 77.4
4 Wearing a bandana around the head in a hachimaki style 77.1
5 Bag plastered with anime-related patches, stickers 74.0
6 Unnecessarily long hair 69.0
7 Rucksack hung off one shoulder 66.0
8 Big thick glasses 58.7
9 Shirt, T shirt tucked into trousers 57.0
10 Acid wash jeans 50.6
The ladies get the business too, after the jump:
FEMALE OTAKU
Rank / Feature / Score
1 Anime print paper bag 100
2 Anime print T shirt 83.9
3 Gothic-lolita fashion 73.9
4 Bag plastered with anime-related patches, stickers 73.6
5 Big thick glasses 67.3
6 Messy hair, braided hair 63.4
7 Excessively long skirt 48.8
8 Pink or green hair 44.2
9 Huge black leather boots 43.1
10 Excessively long fringe 42.9
The poll actually goes to 30 embarrassing/distinguishing markers for both sexes, which you can check out here. (What Japan Thinks via Kotaku)
About The Author
Robert Bricken is one of the original co-founders of the site formerly known as Topless Robot, and its first editor-in-chief, serving from 2008-12. He brought the site to prominence with “nerd news, humor and self-loathing” as its motto, raising it from total internet obscurity to a readership in the millions, with help from his savage “FAQ” movie reviews and Fan Fiction Fridays. Under his tenure Topless Robot was covered by Gawker, Wired, Defamer, New York magazine, ABC News, and others, and his articles have been praised by Roger Ebert, Avengers actor Clark Gregg, comedian and The Daily Show correspondent John Hodgman, the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Rifftrax, and others. He is currently the managing editor of io9.com. Despite decades as both an amateur and professional nerd, he continues to be completely unprepared for either the zombie apocalypse or the robot uprising.