Forum - View topic

INTEREST: Is Love Really Difficult for Otaku? Part 2: Women's Responses

Something tells me the survey was conducted in Akihabara or at an anime-related even, so I doubt it. Consequently, the survey sample would be biased if that was the case.

Yeah, I posted about that in the Men's Response thread. One study from 2008 found a rate of 181 kids in 10,000 with Pervasive Developmental Disorders in the city of Toyota. I take it with a grain of salt, because it's a *really* high number in a very limited study, but if there's some truth to it, it could help explain the aspects of relationships the respondents struggle with:
https://www.focusforhealth.org/autism-rates-across-the-developed-world/

Wrangler wrote:

Interesting see what their responses were. I wonder if there fringe fans and people who are hiding that never spoke or took the survey. Japan pretty harsh (even in the US) about hobbies that maybe viewed as child-like or immature.

Something tells me the survey was conducted in Akihabara or at an anime-related even, so I doubt it. Consequently, the survey sample would be biased if that was the case.

Also, whether an otaku or not, asking people whether love is hard would likely render comparable results. Relationships are a pretty complicated matter. As evident in the responses, not everybody is actively looking.

Agent355 wrote:

It's a chicken-and-egg thing. People who have a hard time connecting socially (for a variety of reasons, including Japan's relatively high rate of reported Autism with relatively few supports for people on the high end of the spectrum), are more likely to center their hobbies in their lives over more difficult relationships. It makes a lot of sense. Social and activities groups for young adults who need more friends, platonic and romantic, will help them a lot. Sometimes you need the right, supportive environment and the assurance that no one will make fun of you for being "different" in whatever ways you perceive yourself to be different.

Few supports? It might be the case outside major cities, but from what I've seen, local governments do a lot for disabilities support. I mean, Japan invented tactile paving. I don't have autism, but diagnosed with bipolar disorder as a child, I can attest to how ineffective services can be here in the United States, and don't appear to have improved after all these years.

I've heard that recently, Japan has made a lot of strides for physical accessability, but in terms of mental health accommodation, Justin's fairly recent Answerman column on "Why Don't Anime Characters go to Therapy?" begs to differ. I have ADHD and I've heard that it's basically not acknowledged in Japan, and the medications are illegal. And although I understand why stimulant medication would be ripe for abuse in a country like Japan (and bans on it are hardly exclusive to Japan), on the other hand it breaks my heart thinking of kids having to go through what I did on top of having such an immense pressure to study.

With previous surveys on Anime! Anime!, I'm pretty sure all the answers were provided via a form online not in person.

Interesting see what their responses were. I wonder if there fringe fans and people who are hiding that never spoke or took the survey. Japan pretty harsh (even in the US) about hobbies that maybe viewed as child-like or immature.

Having this all been said, my girl knows I like various things including anime. She thinks it's cartoonish, but she likes me who i am that what matters.

Problem is i think maybe that women in this survey have deal balancing things.

To be honest i thought it would be more a male issue than female, but who am i to know this?