That's a heads-up for those of you, reading this post now, who feel some measure of cultural Japanophobia. However, for those in that group who are also railfans, you may be interested (disturbed) by what follows.
Japanese popular culture has had two oft-maligned trends in recent years which I'm about to discuss: moe anthropomorphism and obsessive fandom (the otaku). I'm mainly going to discuss the former, and yes, I will get to the latter and railfans in good time.
If you ever needed a name for the trend of things Japanese to end up indisputably cute even when it's unnecessary, you'd be best served by the term 'moe anthropomorphism'. It's the trend of personifying inanimate objects as incredibly cute ladies, such as 'Mecha Musume' which features fighter aircraft. Also of note are the 'OS-tans', who are a group of characters first personifying Microsoft's operating systems, and later some programs and websites including Firefox and Wikipedia.
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| You know that header indicating a Wikipedia article needing cleaned up? Guess how and when it goes away. |
There are many examples in popular anime series, but one notable title consists entirely of this by way of nations; this would be the infamous Axis Powers Hetalia. I have no idea what it's like, but any nation-state entity you can think of seems to have been personified somewhere in its canon. An aside; Hetalia's personifications are all male.
And, apparently, Japan has its share of railfans. Guess what they do to their beloved trains?
You guessed it - they picture them as incredibly adorable girls. I picked this group to represent this phenomenon because the trains they personify are depicted alongside, and you can see the resemblance. I do recall a few American railfans attempting to personify the EMD F40PH, but I also recall being unimpressed with the result.
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