People, before going to Japan...

[Zagato289]

Please try to learn as much as possible about the Japanese culture. Don't just learn about anime, video games, and cosplay, but also about the food, history, lifestyle, relationships, etc. You might not care about some of this stuff, but trust me it will help. Why am I telling you these? Well some people that I new who came back after a trip to Japan, where so shock about the Japanese culture: The only knowledge they had about Japan was anime and cosplaying. This is a good website that I found about Japanese culture: JREF - Japanese Culture Try to look for more places.

[sarasi]

I would add, read up on current events in Japan, particularly if you think you would like to live here some day. There are plenty of sites in English which have Japanese news. Far too many people seem to think that moving to Japan will solve all their problems, because all they know about it is from pop culture or samurai movies, none of which reflect the realities of daily life here very well.

[Tsuwabuki]

I would like to point out that if you watch a wide variety of anime you will actually have quite a good knowledge of Japanese culture. The key is that "wide variety" part.

I will fully admit that most of my knowledge of Japanese culture, and especially pop culture, came straight from fandom. I suffered no culture shock, and indeed surprise Japanese people regularly with my knowledge.

May I suggest you read The Anime Companion by my good friend, librarian Giles Poitras? It's an encyclopedia that explains what's Japanese in Japanese animation. Traditions, places, objects... The whole kit and caboodle.

As for people thinking this is a fantasy wonderland... That just strikes me as youth, and rather naive youth at that. I certainly never believed Japan was going to solve all of my problems, and I didn't think it didn't lack serious social and economic issues. But I moved here when I was 24, had a degree, and had already worked in the "real world" for a couple of years.

[Sangetsu]

I learned about Japan by visiting the country several times before I eventually moved here. What you read in books or on websites are other people's thoughts and opinions, and those may differ greatly from your own.

I would say that most people who come to Japan find it different than what they expected it to be in one way or another. In fact, many people find that they dislike Japan after staying here for a few months, and some people actually hate it.

[sarasi]

Originally Posted by Tsuwabuki

I would like to point out that if you watch a wide variety of anime you will actually have quite a good knowledge of Japanese culture. The key is that "wide variety" part.

This is a good point, but I think most people who are into anime and start dreaming of moving to Japan do not have the balanced perspective that you had. One example that sticks out in my mind was a poster here sometime last year who wrote assuming that ALTs were unusual in Japan because "she had never come across the concept in manga or anime". While you might learn a lot about various aspects of Japan from them, someone assuming that they accurately reflect every aspect of Japanese life is probably in for some surprises.

[Tsuwabuki]

Actually, I often wondered WHY ALTs don't show up. But then, I realised that most teachers don't show up. Maybe the homeroom teacher. Perhaps the PE teacher. Maybe one other teacher total shows up in most shows. But in urban schools there are more likely to be 15 or 20 teachers, or more. ALTs do not have enough face time even compared to other teachers, so we would, understandably, find ourselves "cut" from the in-between time that cannot be shown in stories.

That was probably off-topic. >_>