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Being a Touhou fan from a country that doesn't have any

UltimaShojo

UltimaShojo

An Ultimate Bastard...
It always bothers me that I am the only fan of the series (or any series that isn't mainstream popular) from my native country. It really feels alienating to be the only person from his native country that actually played Touhou and enjoys the series, not just having a surface level knowledge of the series. But due to anything that isn't part of our culture unable to penetrate through the minds of the people due to not having the chance to even think about them. Even with the diaspora who are living in the US or Western Europe, using the World Wide Web, they don't have the chance to find out about it. I only found one who knows about the series and that's probably because he's studying Computer Science, no one else. It saddens me really.
 
I can relate to that in some level. Could be because I dont live in a particularly big town, but so far I've never encountered anyone outside myself thats a touhou fan around here. I do know touhou fans outside myself certainly do exist over here considering this place isnt small but its pretty bumming I've never met anyone else thats into it.
 
That's why we have platforms such as this to connect with eachother, I think the important thing should be about trying to form a community, rather than popularizing something. Perhaps forming social groups on the site should be utilized to make regional/national communities for example, it's an idea.
 
the only place where touhou is really "mainstream" is japan. outside of it, its rare you're gonna find someone else who likes it. it does suck that online is probably gonna be the only way i can talk to other touhou fans
 
I can understand your mood, which is really uncomfortable.

You said you were from the Middle East. I had a chat with Pak长, a person who specializes in Touhou communities around the world.

It once wrote an article introducing the Touhou community in Muslim countries, and I translated a part of it here：

From what I know so far, Iran used to have a few (I can't be sure whether there are now) a few (at least I know a few) Touhou enthusiasts (both men and women). However, judging from the situation in recent years, Touhou and its Doujin subculture have not developed well in Iran, and there is little shadow of Touhou-related content.
But despite this, I managed to find a few active Iranian Touhou fans.
At present, there seems to be a relatively large fault in the Touhou community in the Middle East. I can find the mention of Touhou before 2012, and I can also find the one related to Touhou after 17 years, but there is relatively less relevant content during the middle period, although there are some reasons why I have not yet The law has investigated (I guess the locals don't know either), but I have learned some of the reasons. First of all, let's explain that the Middle East Touhou fans before 2012 were relatively small in terms of scale (may be less than 100, you should know that the population of the Middle East is more than 400 million).

After 2017, with the sale of Touhou's official games on steam and the release of other Doujin games. Touhou's popularity in Middle East continues to rise.
There are also Touhou fans in Egypt and Morocco, and given the continuous development of ACG culture in North Africa, Africa may be an important region for the future development of Touhou.
 
Oh yeah, I remember reading an article that probably came from him (though I skimmed later into the article). But I am more curious about the Eastern and Southern side of Africa!
 
Question: wouldn't a fictional world with gods be haram in the muslim community? I'm curious.
 
Animes like Bleach, Dragon Ball, Naruto, etc. etc. are popular and beloved by the people in the Middle East (especially where I am from); I don't think a fictional world that have Shintoist gods will cause trouble; as long it isn't an ecchi or offensively against Islamic beliefs.
 
UltimaShojo said:
Oh yeah, I remember reading an article that probably came from him (though I skimmed later into the article). But I am more curious about the Eastern and Southern side of Africa!
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I am from Sudan and we have a very tiny community here. Maybe 100 people max. From what I've seen it is more popular in the khaleej area (especially Iraq and Saudi Arabia) but still niche. I've seen a few people selling secondhand Cirno fumos in Riyadh lol
 
This is an interesting phenomenon. For a long time, people have relied on stereotypes to believe that ACG (Animation, Comics, and Games) is un-Islamic. However, we can see that there are a considerable number of ACG enthusiasts in Islamic countries.
 
I think i only know another Moroccan that's into touhou, they...draw big tits, what can i say?
It's funny if anything.
Akos said:
Question: wouldn't a fictional world with gods be haram in the muslim community? I'm curious.
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As long as you differentiate fiction from reality, and that fiction doesn't hurt the faith itself, it's fine really, people just...exaggerate, i swear.
guest29062005 said:
I am from Sudan and we have a very tiny community here. Maybe 100 people max. From what I've seen it is more popular in the khaleej area (especially Iraq and Saudi Arabia) but still niche. I've seen a few people selling secondhand Cirno fumos in Riyadh lol
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There is a pretty substantial fanbase in the middle east countries, i can't lie, but not they'll understand what i'm saying lol, we couldn't be further if we tried xD
 
It's funny and sad being a touhou fan in South korea; despite how the country is supposed to be the 4th most prominent fanbase (after jp, ch, and en), and how developed the otaku culture (to the point it has a specific label: subculture 서브컬쳐), whenever I talk to those within the fellow otaku space, they always bring down Touhou and talk about how it's this some outdated crap. So...outside those who already are touhou fans, it's very difficult to find those who are fans within the korean otaku space. (and it doesn't help that 상하이앨리스환악단 갤러리 barely talks about anything of substance)
 
I know of no hungarian touhou circles, however I did once see a Reisen and a Reimu cosplay on a con.
 
I’ve lived in a couple of big cities in the USA, but even here there doesn’t seem to be much of a collective fanbase outside of maybe California or Florida, (Wouldn't know cause I'm not from there.). There are lots of otaku types in the Northeast, but no real big scene for shmups or doujin culture aside from the parts of the FGC that share mutual interests. I’m not the type to go to conventions, though, so I could be missing out. Regardless, the fandom feels really decentralized, which is the price of a series that offers so many different things for people to enjoy.
 
Honestly, as someone born and raised in Canada, I know a bunch of people who are into Touhou here, especially since I live in a pretty major city with anime-related events happening here quite a lot, but I do really feel bad for people who don't have that. I've got a bunch of online friends from all over the world who are fans of Touhou as well, and they tell me about how there aren't many fans of it where they live too.
 
I feel like I have heard of at least 15 different South-East Asian fans online, but I have never seen anything related to Touhou in real life (excluding a few bootleg Fumo companies and that whack-a-mole game in a mall which I believe used a part of Reimu's theme for the music).
 
No Account Name Idea said:
I feel like I have heard of at least 15 different South-East Asian fans online, but I have never seen anything related to Touhou in real life (excluding a few bootleg Fumo companies and that whack-a-mole game in a mall which I believe used a part of Reimu's theme for the music).
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Speaking about South East Asian fans, here's a video from 2006 at the Philippines. Really cool how people played the games before the series got popular.

 
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