What made YOU so interested in Japan?
 

Basically what the title of the thread says.

I know that most people around my age (I'm 20) or younger got interested in Japan because of anime, video games and\or manga. I'm curious what got the older folks interested in Japan and what made them go there.

As for me I'm not into anime and stuff like that...but I am a huge football(soccer) fan and since 2002 the Japanese national team has been one of favorite national teams(BTW they were really good in 2010 never would I have thought they'd beat Cameroon). And that was what initially sparked my interest in Japan. Now that I'm older I think that teaching (I'm studying to be a teacher atm) in Japan would be a great way to rack up some teaching and life experience. It would be something that would be out of my comfort zone and it would be something completely different for me and that is what attracts me to Japan. What about you?

Edit: Oh and Japanese rap is not bad at all!! Has a nice flow to it :p That's something else out of football that I think is kewl in Japan...Pardon my ignorance I know VERY little about their culture...

The People with their wonderful mentality and kindness!!

Just a beautiful World!

i got interested in japan by anime.Then you learn about other japanese stuff and it's just the coolist place.

Well I like anime,but basically,I grew up as a Power Rangers fan then one day I found out about Super Sentai and how Power Rangers uses footage from it but changes the story. I don't know if you know,Go-Onger was "Yayyy! We're mental we are!" whereas Power Rangers RPM was in a post-apocalyptic future. But then I was interested in something else for a couple of years,but then SPD got me back into Power Rangers and then I started to follow Boukenger,and then I got into Kamen Rider in 2007.

First of all I wanted to make a tokusatsu in the UK and then I realised,that's just not realistic. I'm unlikely to get a job in it in Japan,but I'd say it's impossible to get round British people. Power Rangers isn't even ours. I am still going to make a no-budget tokusatsu film where I live however.

I suppose my initial interest traces itself back to the Nintendo Entertainment System. For those of you who are too young to even know or care what that is, it was Nintendo's first home video game console to come to the US and it pretty much saved the video game industry in the US at the time.

Im not that into anime but i do like it.
I can say what made me interested in Japan are the buildings, its just plain amaizing, the old fashion houses and their actual buildings.
Their language is so facinating.
Their Science
Their Electronics
Almost everything is fasinating about Japan or at least thats my point of view.

Living in Japan made me pretty interested in it...

I mean I liked Mario before I came here but I didn't think differently of the place until I arrived.

Now that I'm here, it's a great place to be!

The incredible amounts of powder snow that fall each year in Hokkaido are what initially got me interested. Over 7 years of living there got me interested in a few other things about the place.

Teenage mutant hero turtles

Anime, manga, sci-fi novels, samurai stories and books, movies, landscape, beautiful and clean