Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Wanted: Goth Lolitas to Teach Otaku Nerds Engrishu

Goth Lolitas to Teach Otaku Nerds English

Geek ghetto Akihabara has become the site of Cosplish, Japan's first English conversation school featuring cosplaying foreigner teachers dressed in wacky costumes
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Cosplaying teachers are told to teach students how to use simple, "maximal broken English", while the school also plans to give instructions on "Otaku English," using mostly abbreviations, and "Anime English," which will focus on English instructions of famous lines from cartoons like Gundam.

Founder Akihiro Suzuki figured opposites would attract and started Cosplish.

"Otaku are known for their incredible customer loyalty, while schools are known for their trouble in getting customers to keep on coming back, so I figured a school for cosplayers would achieve the perfect blend," Suzuki tells Cyzo.

Goth Lolitas to Teach Otaku Nerds English

Suzuki has a background running maid cafes, another otaku staple. Initially, he considered dressing up foreign women as maids and getting them to give English lessons in a place he dreamed of calling Maid in English. But he decided his vision was too narrow.

"Even though the maid trade within the otaku business seems to be broad-reaching, it's actually quite narrow. It only caters to otaku who have a thing for the image of maids," he says. "I thought I'd go for something broader, which would appeal to a wider audience, which is why I decided on the cosplay idea."

Enrolling in Cosplish is simple, requiring only that students e-mail in a reservation to attend a class, with times listed on the company's official website. The monthly magazine warns that classes are often suddenly cancelled if not enough people book to take them, 20 being the required number of students needed for a class to go ahead.

"I want to start classes for kids some time in the future," Suzuki tells Cyzo. "And I'll make the teachers get dressed up in Pikachu suits."

Gotta admit, this perv's got both powerlevel and business sense. I'd be uber at moonspeak by now if we had some ninja and/or meido teaching... Heck, i'm so opening one of these in Shanghai when i retire.

Official Website of Cosplish

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