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Napolean Dynamite in Japan!!!
Napolean Dynamite came out on video here in Japan. To my surprise, it wasn't titled, "Napolean Dynamite" though. It's called "Basu Otoko" or "Bus Otoko". This is actually a spin off of another word "densha otoko", or "train otoko". For reference, "Otoko' actually translates as "man" or "a man". Thus, in English, "train man" or in the case for Napolean Dynamite, "Bus man".

For those familiar with Japanese pop culture, the terms "densha otoko" and "bus otoko" are different names for the famed "otaku", which Wikipedia has explicitly defined as the following.

Otaku: Fat, unshaven, wearing glasses, a ponytail and fantasizing with an anime girl doll, a popular stereotype of an otaku.

So, think of "densha otoko" or "basu otoko" as train riding or bus riding otakus. Though there are various kinds of otaku, the definition above is the most common. There are also game otakus, anime otakus, etc....

The funny thing is that just recently a teevee series came out that more or less officially put the word "densha otoko" into the Japanese dictionary as another word for Otaku. The show was called Densha Otoko and was about this really geeky, yet cool Otaku guy and his daily attempts to talk to this cute girl that he often saw on the train. Then every night after he got home from work or wherever, he would log onto an online blog/chat and post his stories and attempts to become noticed by this cute girl. The show was hilarious during this scene because as everyone he was chatting with would respond to his posts, the TV show would quickly flash to the next responding person's bedroom or office. Click here for some screenshots of scenes from the show. The densha otoko eventually hooks up with the cute girl, but after much comical stress on his part. The show was quite entertaining and very popular all throughout Japan.

So I guess that a movie version of the show is going to be released next year. Here's a link with some previews of some scenes:

Densha Otoko movie

Not sure if it will be as successful as the teevee series.

In discussing the essence of the Otaku, I remember when I was a young teenager and riding the bus on a daily occasion. My friend Bryan D., who was also an experienced bus rider, came up with a really funny word. The word is a grampus and does not refer to mammals in the sea. A "grampus", as Bryan would put it so elegantly, described a situation on a very crowded bus where the only open seat happens to be the one next to yours. The bus stops and a lonely traveler gets on. This lonely traveler, a grampus, has become "the fat hairy, heavy-breathing person that sits next to you on the bus... or a whale." (Bryan D. 1993)

Now, granted, Napolean Dynamite is not a fat hairy, heavy-breathing person, but don't forget that he was only a high school student in the movie. Who knows what the future holds for him. So in a sense, the Napolean Dynamite title in Japan, translated back into English could potentially be "Grampus".

"Gosh!" That movie kicks ass!

Jake E.