[saaxu]

It's the obsessed attitude that some people hate. If someone said they would like to try out teaching English through the JET program, most wouldn't have a problem. If someone said they plan on studying abroad in Japan during college, most wouldn't have a problem. But when people spout things like how they feel they belong in Japan without every visiting once, that annoys people.

I'll give you an example from personal experience. For a while I was a teacher's aid for a Japanese professor and in Japanese 101 there was a basically three different types of students: those that wanted to learn the language, those that were just there for the credit, and those obsessed with Japanese [superficial] culture. Coincidentally those students sat within those groups. By the end of the semester those that wanted to learn Japanese (primarily Korean international students, as they make up a large part of the school's demographic) received A's in the class. Those just there for credit received B's and C's. And finally those obsessed received a few B's, but mostly C's, and D's. There was only one person that flunked the class, I'll get to her later. Of those people, almost all of the people that wanted to learn or get credit continued on to Japanese 102, while only two of the twelve obsessed people continued. Most of the obsessed students struggled and made it apparent that they didn't take the class seriously although they did for the first few weeks. It's obvious that these people wanted to know the language without learning it, yet brag to others that they know a some Japanese.

The most extreme example was the only girl to flunk the class. When each semester starts the professor usually asks each student they reason they had for taking the course. Her's was that she dreams of moving to Japan to work as a writer for manga. She stated that she used Japanese with tourist that visit Disneyland where she worked, but couldn't give the professor an example of what she would say. She would also constantly listen to J-Pop before, after, and during group work in class stating that she was learning about colors from Utada Hikaru's song "Colors". When the instructor asked to translate a line of the song, she couldn't do it. The professor often put her on the spot because he himself couldn't stand students that say they love Japanese culture, but fail to make any real attempt of learning the language. She would also snack on Pocky and Ramune before class and get excited when people asked what she was eating.

Now she's an extreme example, but you do see these people. They try to make it as if they're basically Japanese at heart by liking Japanese food and entertainment. They fall in love with a fantasized version of Japan and they want to take the easy way to get there, feeling that they'll be accepted and gradually become like the rest of the Japanese population once they get there.