Your Gateway to Otaku Japan
Not in your guidebook. Anime pilgrimages, an otaku glossary, otaku shops, and Japanese culture explained.
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Pick an anime or manga and find what sits behind it: the history it borrows from, the real places it was set, and where to watch or read it.
Otaku Terms Dictionary
Key words and phrases to deepen your understanding — from gal slang to fandom shorthand. Tap a card to read the full entry.
Ikemen
Ikemen (イケメン) is a word for a man whose face or overall appearance is attractive. The Digital Daijisen, a Japanese dictionary, defines it as "a man whose face and figure are both beautiful; a cool-looking man." It is used as a noun for a person, as in "the ikemen in our class." Beyond appearance, it can describe someone whose actions or personality are cool. When praising someone's inner qualities, people also say seikaku ikemen ("personality ikemen"). Dictionary definitions treat it as a word for men, but there are examples of it being used for women. A woman with appealing traits seen as masculine is called an ikemen joshi ("ikemen girl"). The term is applied especially often to women who strike other women as cool. It also combines with words for occupations, as in ikemen haiyū ("ikemen actor").
Oshikatsu
Oshikatsu (推し活) is a general term for activities in which you spend time and money supporting your oshi (推し). The target can be an idol, an artist, an anime or game character, an athlete, and more. Buying merch, following streams and live shows, posting about them on social media: all of that counts. It is close to English ideas like stan and fandom, but oshikatsu is usually framed in a positive light. How much you know, or how long you have been a fan, does not matter. There are no fixed rules. Setting your own pace is part of what makes it work. For the word oshi itself, see the Oshi entry. The focus here is the support work that comes after you already have someone or something to cheer for.
Heisei Retro
Heisei retro (平成レトロ) is a trend of looking back fondly on the objects and design of the Heisei era and deliberately working them into daily life today. Heisei ran from 1989 to 2019, a little over thirty years. Heisei retro mostly covers the first half through the middle of that span, roughly the 1990s through the early 2000s. At the heart of the trend are teens and twentysomethings with little to no memory of the era itself. Everyday objects from before they were born, or before they were old enough to remember, catch their eye as unfamiliar, novel designs. For those who actually lived through the period, meanwhile, the very same objects evoke nostalgia. That contrast in how different generations see them makes them especially likely to spark conversation. It is usually described as one of the retro booms that followed Shōwa retro. English-language coverage uses the same name. Tamagotchi and purikura, the decorated photo sticker booths found in Japanese arcades, are often the way in for people who go on to take an interest in 1990s Japan.
Yume
In otaku contexts, yume ("dream") is an umbrella term for a genre of fan works that depict a relationship between a character from an anime, manga, or game and either the reader themselves or an original character the reader has in mind. For novels it's called yume shousetsu, in illustration yume-e, and in comics yume manga, with the whole category referred to collectively as yume-muke. The original character who stands as the protagonist is the yumenushi, also read yumeshu. Some are self-insert figures the writer or reader maps themselves onto, others are built as a third party kept separate from the author, and there is no fixed template for their appearance or personality. In the narrow sense the word means a story in which the reader can freely replace the protagonist's name. This name conversion mechanism is where the genre began, and many posting sites still support it. People who enjoy yume are called yumejoshi, or yumedanshi for men. Yumejo is also in use, as is dorīmā, from the English word "dreamer". Yume in English-Speaking Fandom The closest concepts in English are self-insert and reader-insert, alongside the widely used Y/N (Your Name) placeholder that stands in for the reader's name. In recent years yume and yumeship have joined them as loanwords, and both are now understood as terms for the relationship between a character and the reader.
Comiket
Comiket (コミケ) is the common name for the doujinshi convention "Comic Market." Doujinshi are self-published books by fans and individual creators. Held at Tokyo Big Sight in the Ariake district of Tokyo, it takes place twice a year, in mid-August in summer and at the end of December in winter. The organizers call it the largest doujinshi convention in Japan. The most recent ones held have grown to a scale that draws a combined 250,000 to 300,000 people over a two-day run. C106, held in the summer of 2025, recorded a combined 250,000, and C107, that winter, a combined 300,000. C106 also drew participants from 71 countries and regions abroad. At the heart of the venue is the sale of doujinshi by their creators, both individuals and the creator groups known as circles. Corporate booths related to anime and games line the hall, and cosplayers gather in a designated zone. Before the doors open, the waiting line stretches outside the building.
Coupling
Coupling (カップリング, kappuringu) is a word used in doujin and fan culture for the pairing of two characters in a romantic relationship. It means roughly what English-speaking fans call shipping. It applies to BL, which depicts romance between men, and to yuri (百合), which depicts romance between women. Male-female pairings work the same way. Shortened, it is written kapu (カプ) or CP. CP is widely used as a shared term among fans across East Asia, particularly in Chinese-speaking communities. An oshi-kapu (推しカプ) is a coupling you personally love and root for. On social media, people use it like "So-and-so and so-and-so are my oshi-kapu." A pairing that the original work presents as a couple is called an official coupling. The word coupling itself is not limited to unofficial interpretations. Even so, what sits at the center of fan activity is the fun of imagining and interpreting pairings that the original never shows. There are spin-off labels too. Pairing a character with themselves is called nijō (二乗), meaning "squared." A bond of friendship or partnership rather than romance is called konbi (コンビ), and to keep it apart from a romantic A×B, it is written A+B or A&B.
Recommended Destinations
Akihabara
This is the ultimate otaku mecca. It's packed with shops and themed cafes dedicated to anime, manga, and video games.
Kyoto
The heart of ancient Japan. This is Kyoto, where history lives in the beautiful streetscapes and culture.
Kanazawa
Historic snow country streets, fresh seafood, and hot springs meet urban convenience in this popular area.
