[anrakushi]

fortunately I'm old enough to be out of the atmosphere where i have to witness most anime loving people. people tend to be exposed to such people in educational institutions. in fact this forum is not my only exposure to such people.

This doesn't apply to everyone who likes anime, so please don't get offended people reading this.. but... anime loving people tend to have this image of Japan that it is like some kind of paradise, an anime lovers heaven. while akihabara may be such a place the rest of japan is certainly not. anime/manga otaku are seen as the geeks they are in japan also, women don't like otaku's there anymore than they do in whatever country you live in. japan is most likely a complete contrast to the image many anime lovers seem to have (from my experience)

I agree with SSJup81 that they make those people who are generally interested in Asian and in particular Japan look bad. The students at the university i went to in Japan asked why are so many of the foreigners so weird? referring to those that were into anime so much.

i have an immense interest in Asia, I study it's culture, history, languages, even politics. I don't liked to be referred to as an asian lover if i'm put into the same basket as anime lovers who have little idea about asia.

As for ordering in a restaurant in the language of the place, I don't see a problem with that. As long as the person doesn't do so in an over confident boastful manner there is nothing wrong with trying to put the language to use. What is bad is that many non-asians are unable to identify the difference between vietnamese, chinese, japanese and koreans so when they go to say a Japanese restaurant they might have a chinese waitress who doesn't speak Japanese. many people say xiexie (thank you) to the staff at chinese restaurants but the staff can be vietnamese and so on.


this is indeed about the geeky love of Japan. but aside from the otakus, i feel no asian should be bothered by people who have a genuine interest in their culture and i think frankly, they should be happy if they know more about asian than they do, it is great they have this interest. it is strange that if a white person is seen as being really asian many people feel that is bad but if an asian person is really white that is fine. i don't like that attitude that some people hold.