Resumen de The Japanese Amateur Textual Production Scene: Activities and Participation
Alvaro David Hernández Hernández
Animation, manga (Japanese comic books), and video games are some of the most popular media in Japan. The huge community of fans and amateur creators that concentrate twice a year at the massive event called Comic Market is one expression of this popularity. In this paper I focus on the Japanese culture of amateur manga, anime or other derivative texts, and present analysis of the way in which members relate to media texts and other members, in order to reveal two different orientations towards action within this culture: one that centers on individual activities, and the other on collective participation. To do this, I focus first on the Japanese amateur culture that is often called dōjin culture to find two basic perspectives. One regards this culture as forming communities or based on social interaction, and the other denies commonality in the relationships between members and stresses individual drive. Then, I focus on a similar distinction that shapes the main discourses concerning Japanese subculture and otaku, both categories within which dōjin culture can be categorized. Here I pay particular attention to two different orientations towards the value of media texts, which provide a reference for understanding the aforementioned opposition between commonality and individuality. In my conclusions, I suggest that this amateur culture can be regarded as an institution of textual appropriation, shaped by two orientations: activities and participation.
