literally means "budding business," and refers to the current boom in entertainment industries relating to otaku

Otaku

is a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly anime, manga or video games.- Etymology :Otaku is derived from a Japanese term for another's house or family , which is also used as an honorific second-person pronoun...

- primarily anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

, manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

, and video games. The word "moe" literally means "budding" or "sprouting," but has come in otaku culture to refer to a crush, fetish, or infatuation with a specific character or subject, usually involving cute young girls or young boys. Moe can be used as an adjective, noun, or an exclamation, similar to "kawaii

Cuteness in Japanese culture

Since the 1970s, cuteness, in Japanese the noun , has become a prominent aspect of Japanese popular culture, entertainment, clothing, food, toys, personal appearance, behavior, and mannerisms...

."

External links

• Anime, manga fuel oddball 'otaku' biz boom (article from MSN-Mainichi Daily News)