Summary of Research Findings

This consumer survey was conducted in July 2023 to 10,000 men and women between the ages of 15 and 69 living in Japan and estimated the number of otaku population by each genre based on the survey results, i.e., the number of those who recognized themselves as “Otaku” and the number of those responded that they were recognized from the third party as “Otaku”. The number of Otaku population for “Manga comics” was approximately 6,740 thousand, the largest number among 30 genres in this survey, followed by “Anime or Cartoon Films” at 6,570 thousand, “Popular Idols”at 4,290 thousand, “Household Games, Consumer Games” at 3,180 thousand, and “Smartphone Games” at 2,880 thousand.

For the question on the annual spending for otaku activities by those who recognize themselves as otaku of specific genres, the largest number of responses was “10,000 to less than 50,000 yen”, and the average annual spending across entire 30 genres was 44,154 yen (including those who responded 0 yen). Because of small numbers of responses (n), the values for some genres may be for reference only.

Noteworthy Topics

Otaku for “Popular Idols” Tend to Spend More Time and Money Than Other Genres

When asked about the hours spent for otaku activities within a week to each of Otaku by genre defined for this research, the longest hours spent among 30 genres were popular-idol otaku, as 25.3% of them spent more than 10 hours a week and annual spending more than 50,000 yen.

The population of popular-idol otaku consisted mostly of young women, with 80% occupied by women and over 70% by female in their teens to 30s. Considering that the largest number of responses for occupation was “Student”, accounting for about 25%, it was understandable that they found themselves relatively easy to spend time on otaku activities. There even were those who spent more than 20 hours, occupying close to 20%.

While a little less than 30% of popular-idol otaku, relatively high ratio, responded that they spent over 100,000 yen annually, their average annual household income was little different from that of otaku of other genres. It indicated that they tended to spend more on otaku activities from disposable income when compared to otaku population of other genres.

* This consumer survey prepared 3 segments to choose from for otaku activity hours per week i.e., Less than 2 hours; 2 hours to less than 10 hours; and 10 hours or more, and another 3 segments for annual spending for otaku activities, i.e., Less than 5,000 yen; 5,000 yen to less than 50,000 yen; and 50,000 yen or more. The responses for each item were cross tabulated, and were analyzed for what relationships lie in.

Research Outline