Otaku Group?

Ever heard of a group of separatists? Or maybe an organization of individualists? Quite impossible right? The brand itself would sound very self contradicting, yet as UP students, an organization in UP Cebu made something out of the ordinary, their organization is made up of people who in the first look seems to be normal, but deep inside them, they are not, for they are “Otakus”. The organization I am meaning is the UP Nichibunken, how they started and what their aim is; they’re the only ones who know. It might be better to check them out and hang out with them, so that’s what I did.
Just like the UP Diliman nihilist circle, one of the most controversial organizations in the Diliman College, the founders of Nichibunken made an organization which is as controversial as the latter. For both of them were into Japanese culture and anime fandom, it came up to their minds to make a group consisting of people who are in the same ground as they are standing, students who can’t help themselves but like anything that came from Japan. That was why, on November 19, 2008, the concept of the proposed organization was laid down. The concepts and rules that the organization is made of was starting to emerge. The founders started gathering members. The people they picked are in to the mode of various levels of “Japanimania”.
But is their organization something useful? Or are they just as the same as the other orgs who come and end after a few semester? Well, even if they somehow claim themselves as otakus, they clearly believe that they are still useful citizens; irony to what otaku really means in japan, for the word means, nerd, isolationist and fandom centered. The negative connotation of the Japanese word is being neutralized by the activities of the group, for they not only are into anime, J Pop, and mangas, but they are also into cultural Japanese festivals and customs. Hence standing to what their full name which is; Zenkindai Tokindai Nihon Shakai ni Okeru Bunka no Kenkyuu Bu, which literally means Society for Japanese Classic and Modern Culture Studies. This means, by their very name, they are not only a bunch of Japanese product addicts, but also socially conscious on how the culture of Japan be of use to the society they are a part of.
Not all weird named organizations are nuisance, that is what people should learn. For even an organization like UP Nichibunken, proves to be useful in the society, maybe we should not judge these kind of groups, for it is not righteous to judge them by their skin, but critique them by their foot steps.


UP Nichibunken LOGO