CNN Travel: Geek's Guide To Tokyo

Above, Godzilla in Shinjuku. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

For those who consider themselves otaku, a trip to Japan, particularly Tokyo, is something they probably already made or is on their bucket list.

Tokyo is the mecca for "geekdom" of all genres of fandom and CNN Travel has posted, "Geek's Guide To Tokyo: Where Otaku Culture Thrives".

It begins with:

Tokyo (CNN) — Otaku, which means "your house" in Japanese, was a term used to (snidely) describe people with obsessive hobbies. To wit: An otaku was seen as a shut-in. 

While originally used to negatively characterize people with interests in anime and manga comics, the label, first coined by essayist Akio Nakamori in the 1980s, has grown to include a wide variety of fandoms and is no longer used with disdain. 

There's a warm community for cos-players, online gamers, railfans (otaku preoccupied with trains), music lovers and countless other subcultures. A growing number of people in Japan now self-identify as otaku -- and it's a judgment-free zone. 

Nowhere is the thriving otaku culture more on display than the futuristic Japanese capital of Tokyo, where several whole neighborhoods tend to a diverse range of desires and obsessions. 

Geeks, rejoice!

The "King of the Monsters" is given a good mention in the article.

To read more, go here.