YouTube: What Japan Thinks of American Otaku

Found this by accident on YouTube: An 2006 episode of a Japanese TV show, Eigo de Shabera Night ("Have to speak English"), a quirky educational / culture show that plays on late-night TV.

In this clip, host Patrick Macias (editor of Otaku USA, author of several books about Japanese pop culture, including Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno and self-proclaimed "otaku about otaku") strolls around San Francisco's Japantown, and interviews American otaku, cosplayers and aspiring manga artists at the 2006 Japantown Anime Fair. He also visits VIZ Media's offices and gives us a behind-the-scenes peek at what it takes to translate Naruto manga sound effects for U.S. audiences.

The narration is pretty over the top, but hey, it's Japanese TV -- what do you expect? Check it out, and you'll find yourself saying, "Americans! They are so wacky!"