Apparently, and I only found out about this by passing the mall and seeing big signs that said “Otaku”, they had an Otaku street market at Temple Mall today (only a few days after the mall was damaged by a tornado, so I guess the gods of capitalism are smiling down on us today).

So I went to check it out. I imagine it was actually something similar to a very, very small anime convention. I’ve never been to an anime convention (and may never, for the very reasons outlined below), so I went.

Here’s my verdict: food was good. I had an okonomiyaki and some tayaki. I’ve never had okonomiyaki before and it was actually pretty tasty. Not something I’d buy for an everyday meal, but hey. They had lots of other food stalls that looked pretty good, too. So there’s that. As a street food fair? Top notch. Great stuff. A+, would eat again.

Everything else?

Well, let me put it this way. They were selling lots of anime related merchandise, some cute merchandise, some sweet merchandise, and the event had almost but not quite entirely nothing to do with Japanese culture. Maybe the closest nod to Japanese culture was a silly sumo-like ring and a Chinese calligrapher stall. And maybe those swords were, well, kind of Japanese. Ish.

And, well… I’m kinda starting to think that’s a feature, not a bug.

Which I kinda hate, tbh. I’m not being fair, I’m gatekeeping I guess, and I still hate it.

If you want to go to one of those events to dress up like your favorite anime character, buy anime merchandise like t-shirts and figurines (I bought a Bocchi one, and was looking for one from Hibike! Euphonium and couldn’t find one, so it’s not like I found nothing of value), have random anime openings blaring out of loudspeakers and some probably third-rate voice actor sitting there with no one talking to her, well… you’ve come to the right place.

(I’ll be fair: the voice actor may be talented. But she apparently did English dubs or whatever. I never listen to English dubs. So I wouldn’t know, and I don’t care. So, to me, she’s third rate. I mean, they’re not going to get first rate talent to sit in a booth at Temple Mall, will they? But maybe I’m wrong. I’ve been wrong before.)

If you want to practice your Japanese or get a taste of Japanese culture?

Forget it.

Just forget it.

Not gonna happen.

Not here, not anywhere else that has a bunch of anime related merchandise scattered throughout a mall, especially in Texas.

Their choice is probably good for business, tbh. Here’s the truth: No one goes to those events for actual Japanese culture anyway. They go there because they like anime and they like street food. And, well, they offer anime and street food. So maybe it was absolute truth in advertising and I just expect cultural respect that doesn’t exist. Fair. But it’s not for me.

The okonomiyaki was really good, though. And so was the Taiyaki. I particularly liked the chocolate flavor.

So there’s that.

Generally I like living in Texas. I actually do. You’ll hear idiots from blue states talking about how Texas is some third world hellhole, and it’s not. It’s generally a really nice place to live, if you don’t count having to dodge tornados like dodgeballs every spring and our absolute reliance on air conditioning in the summer. But sensitivity to, and curiosity about, other cultures?

None of that here. It’s lucky if we know what “tsunami” means.

And that was on full display at Temple Mall today.