Nakayasu, 33, is a professional collector. He buys items for his collection and sells them like a business, but also works a part-time job in a call center. He collects toys from Japanese anime and live action special affects (tokusatsu) TV shows, soundtrack CDs, printed materials and video games. At the time of this photograph, he had been collecting for eight years and had amassed a collection worth about $20,000. He has 200 toys alone. Photo: Androniki Christodoulou

Uchimura Amika, known as Lita to friends, is a 28-year-old housewife and graphic designer in Osaka. She used to be the lead vocalist in a band, and has the tattoos to prove it. Now her room is filled with manga, books on Japanese monsters and hundreds of character figurines. Most are just for display, but some make their way into the hands of Uchimura’s six-year-old daughter. Photo: Androniki Christodoulou

Takano Toshiyuki, 24, is a university student majoring in information technology. He is interested in machine learning and spends a great deal of time playing bishojo games, where players simulate relationships with beautiful girls. Photo: Androniki Christodoulou

Ono Norihiro, born in 1965 in Aichi Prefecture, is one of Japan's leading experts on Russian science fiction. He was part of the first wave of otaku and helped build bridges between fans in Japan and the former Soviet Union. He is proficient in four languages. In addition to books, he collects old calculators, martial arts weapons and strange musical and technological instruments. Photo: Androniki Christodoulou

Shiraki, 36, is a web designer who collects manga and figurines from the seminal Japanese anime series Mobile Suit Gundam. He started collecting manga in elementary school and got into figurines only about six years before this photo was taken. At the time, he had more than 1,000 manga of all kinds and about 300 figurines. He said that he spends about 50,000 yen a month on figurines and another 50,000 yen a month on manga. He reads manga for about three hours every day at home and for one hour while commuting on the train. Photo: Androniki Christodoulou

John Hathway, 30, is the alias of a well-known Japanese creator of dojinshi, or publications produced outside official channels. A craftsman who built his first Tesla coil at age 13, Hathway is funding radical scientific endeavors with the income made from his art, born of a precision computer process that takes months. He hopes to capture the spirit of Japan as he experiences it in his daily life. He focuses on urban landscapes because they are largely ignored despite their prevalence, and applies pink to traditional imagery to capture the discord of the cutesy anime aesthetic. In almost all of his images, at the center of a chaotic world stands a young girl. Photo: Androniki Christodoulou

Aki, 20, is a seiyu (voice actor/actress) enthusiast and a fujoshi, or a “rotten girl” who reads manga about male-male romance. While studying to be a nurse, she also works part time in a cosplay café in Akihabara. She lives with her parents and older brother in Chiba Prefecture outside Tokyo. Photo: Androniki Christodoulou

Akihabara, Japan, is the most well-known otaku neighborhood in the world. Photo: Androniki Christodoulou

Akihabara, Japan, is the most well-known otaku neighborhood in the world. Photo: Androniki Christodoulou

Ikebukuro, a section of northern Tokyo know for its otaku stores. Photo: Androniki Christodoulou

Nakano Fujoshi Sisters in concert. Photo: Androniki Christodoulou

Mandarake, an otaku store in Nakano. Photo: Androniki Christodoulou

Cosplayer in Nippombashi, Osaka. Photo: Androniki Christodoulou

Cosplayers at a festival in Nippombashi, Osaka. Photo: Androniki Christodoulou