[samurai007]

I too went there before anime and manga was as common and popular as it is today... Ranma and a few others were the only ones around. I didn't choose Japan for that reason, though it was a plus. I wanted a chance to live and work in an overseas country. I looked at Peace Corp, teaching in Korea and Taiwan, and several other options and decided JET and Japan were the best choice, so that's where I went. I knew no Japanese at all when I got there, and like the girl in your anecdote, I knew that I would never learn enough to be truly fluent and comfortable there. Plus, I'm just too independent to fit into Japan's group-based culture. So I saw it as a temporary adventure, a limited time to make the most of, seeing and doing as much as possible before heading home. Staying permanently never entered my mind.