[steven]

To be fair, teachers will ask that question as much as any body else, if not more... I would suspect that teachers have met loads of ALTs. I've had a couple of people ask me if I was here because of anime and manga before, because I think that's the answer they were expecting.

It definitely depends on the way it is asked, by whom it is asked, and when and where it is asked. I've had people ask me mid conversation before, which is obviously rude. If the person shows a genuine interest then it's no big deal. I think that is the case most of the time.

Unfortunately, you sometimes get strange follow up questions. Like the, "what about your own country?"/"Don't they have that over there?" type questions. I think another thing that this boils down to is that a lot of Japanese people are really into western countries... so they may be holding those countries on a pedestal the same way a lot of foreigners do to Japan. If that is the case, then maybe some of the people literally are looking for some kind of justification.

I would agree that it isn't something to get offended about. However, I do think that it can be a rude question given the circumstance.