[ThirdSight]

Yeah, a while back my views on Japan were a bit skewed. I've grown up a bit on anime and manga, and while I did know the country wasn't like "in the cartoons", I did have an idealized view on the country. Not only was I completly wrong, but completly ashamed of myself for thinking like that.

As far as generally distorted goes, I like the points that Paul touches on. Yeah, anyone from anywhere else is going to see normalcy as different. Sociology and psychology are a bit closer than we'd think, and our surroundings influence how we view the rest of the world. Someone from the laid back, no worries, no hustle and bustle countryside might not fully understand the inner workings of city living. On a more relevant note, our [insert country]ized lifestyle causes us to view Japan differently, strange, or awesome. Setting's important, but if you don't have character development, it's a boring story, no matter where you set the thing.