[Poll] Are you a closet fan?

[SomethingWild]

How open are you about your AKB48 fandom?

Do you talk about them to everybody? Just to close friends? Family? At school? At work? Where is the line?


I comfess that I was a closet fan at first. I did show the Skirt, Hirari PB to my Japanese teacher and she was like "are they 18 years old?" and I was like "...yeah sure."  But now I'm much more open about it. It helps I can show a sold out Yokohama Arena. It's like, so many people are a fan of this group, why would I be ashamed about it?

I show a lot of clips to my friends and to some of the people at my school. I am still cautious about it though. Some people judge and label you really quickly.

[hibachifinal]

i'm a big closet fan.

this here is my oshimen, care of IKEA.


my room doesn't have a proper full-on wardrobe space, so this kinda set up suits my needs, the black drawers match my bed's black-wood finish








on a serious note... i won't say i'm a 'closet' fan, its not something i consciously HIDE from everyone, i enjoy akb just like enjoying any other band/artist, openly, and to my comfort.
I'm not one for 'showing it off' either... i do about in my daily fandom in my pace. If there's a cool clip involving akb, i show it to interested parties.. If someone in school see's my laptop's wallpaper and asks who the girl is, i'd just tell them "she's from AKB48, a jpns pop group".. if someone in my facebook/twitter asks why i keep posting about these girls, then i'd tell them the same thing. If someone rides in my car and asks why i'm playing these pop songs, i'd tell them the same thing. I guess what i'm saying is... it's more of an "Don't tell unless asked" kinda deal for me. It's there, i'm not flaunting it, but its there.

now about the -moral- dilemma of being a 'fan' of (mostly) underaged girls... it can easily be excused since they are an entertainment group.. just don't show them pb's or mag spreads.

[Datalanche]

What ronin said. I find flaunting hobbies to people who don't care just as silly as hiding it like it's some big secret. I don't really bring it up to people if they are not in the otaku realm, though. I still vote no because I make no effort to hide it.

[winner]

Voted yes.

I'm totally geared to at least letting ppl know that AKB exists (as a trend in JPOP), even the ones that don't care about the group.
Then let them check out a song. If they're not interested, I'll stop.

I loved showing japanese stuff like episodes of Dragon Ball Z, vid games or 'A Club' magazines to classmates when I was in Oz when there was no internet and it was hard to find these sources.
And there's so much to talk about. JPOP, jdramas, anime, tech, games, food, living quality. Japan in itself is just a fun topic.

Maybe because I only look at them as performers, I normally don't even keep track of their age. So I normally talk about them like that.
Example. When I look at Mayuyu, all I see is a cool girl with a voice that stands out and surprises me every time I hear it (how her lines are all like 'pronounced').
It takes threads like this to remind me that she's still a kid.

[Rickker708]

although I do have my fare share of secrets, my love for Idol pop is not one of them. I learned a long tme ago that I should enjoy what I like and let others do the same.

[sousora]

I was thinking about this myself recently. I work in Japanese elementary and junior high schools, so stuff like "what music do you like?" comes up quite a lot. Do I answer AKB if they ask? I was asked by some of my nine year old kids the other day and I said I liked AKB and they went into spaz mode, because they too love AKB. So that kinda solved my problem. Even the JH kids have been singing Heavy Rotation in class, so it's not especially something to be ashamed of here, in Japan at least.

Am I a closet fan? Certainly not. No need to be.

[Anariel]

Voted no.

All my friends/ppl around me know about my likings. I say about it directly and don't have a shame. Say more, I try to spam them with akb staff that they should like it too.

[winner]

You guys need to look more carefully.

Although the thread subject is "Are you a closet fan?". The actual poll question you're answering is "Are you open about your AKB48 fandom?"

Sneaky BarrieV anti-question.

[jafeijai]

Barrie 

I guess what i'm saying is... it's more of an "Don't tell unless asked" kinda deal for me. It's there, i'm not flaunting it, but its there.

Seconded here.

[SomethingWild]

...sorry 

I could change the question and reset the poll... or remove the poll all together, because I dig how you all explained how you handle your akb fandom