The translation of otaku and transnational construction of East Asian masculinity

Abstract

This article explores the process by which the Japanese cultural term Otaku has been adopted into the Chinese linguistic system as the neologism Zhainan, along with the creation of other related terms. It attempts to explore how the term has become widespread within popular culture by online communities and the young groups in mainland China in recent years, and how it has acquired localized cultural meanings associated with masculinity. The article argues that international and intercultural encounters of the triangle (Japan-Taiwan-Mainland China) promote a cultural translation that stimulates localized interpretations of masculinity within modern China. The aims of this article are threefold: to investigate the process of the linguistic and cultural translation of the term within a transnational context; to examine how the translation stimulates Chinese conceptualizations of masculinity; and to offer an overall enlargement of our understandings of masculinity in East Asia. This article may contribute to Asian notions about masculinity by highlighting differences in divergent regions.