What are your interests for Japan?

Believe it or not, the thing that got me interested in Japan was seeing a movie called You Only Live Twice, when it was first released. Yes, that was a long long time ago.
The culture seemed so different from where I lived then.

The first Japanese thing I remember enjoying was Speed Racer, but my parents wouldn't let me watch too many episodes because there was too much gratuitous violence. I rented a DVD of some Speed Racer episodes recently and was surprised at how tame it is compared to today's television programming.

But the thing that really got me hooked on Japan proper was Urusei Yatsura.

I am going to post again because i can't find my original post. So, with that in mind here we go.

Age 8 - 9.
Secret of mana, FF2 (america), and chrono trigger and lots of other squaresoft games.

12 years old sci fi late at night. 12am - 1am on saturday morning, they would show japanese anime. Robot Circus and Akira. They also showed other animes.

Age 13 -16: dragon ball z would come on in the mornings 6-7am. Funny seeing a kid wake up that early for cartoons. Funny how when you were younger you had to work at watching cartoons. Loved that show and still do. Best show ever. Final Fantasy 7 added to this mix. Squaresoft. I've dreamed of working for that company and wanted to even own stocks in their company; before they were big. Then career minded got into my head. I've watch Squaresoft grow from a tiny company, to reorganizing, merging, and buying themselves back, and growing back. I knew even as a kid how hard the Japanese language was. So, i set a goal for Square LA or Hawaii instead of Japan. Both looked awesome. Funny how as a kid i knew i wanted to work for this company.

Grew older and find i like Asian girls. Not only that, but i seem to get along with them better then any other nationality. Not the passive ones, but they just seem to be more real then others.

Age 17:
Wanted to go to the arts institute in San Fransisco for animation. Learn 3d studio max and it bothered me no school taught maya back then... But, kept looking on squares website for jobs.

Graduated high school and found women to be evil, no matter what race. Then i got into the Japanese sport car scene. So, awesome. I heart Nissan then upgraded to Subaru. lol.... the community is seems to be better is all

Ran around with my head cut off like a chicken...............

Now its Japanese sport bikes and the culture. I can't get enough sushi or udon. I get so fat when i eat udon though... But, beer seemed to be the missing maturing point in my life. Funny as that sounds; but its true.

So, i am going to say Squaresoft was my biggest influence of interest in Japan.

i really love the language it soo pretty and their writing soo im teaching myself in japanese language and writing

i also like thier horrow movie, and movie in general

I didn't really give why I like Japan much thought until now and come to find out I like everything... well at least of the stuff you listed. I also like their movies and actors better then I do hollywood... way better.

4 years old

I was 4 when my obsession with Japan started, it was due to the tv mini movie "Shogun" and I have been interested in Asian culturies from then on but Japan is the one I love the most.

Japanese language,my ultimate goal is becoming a translator

Anime, video games, martial arts, and of course the language as well.

those anime/gadget/culture and history of japan =) how i wish i were in japan. singapore is too boring. ={

Reasons I personally like Japan.
In no particular order of relevance.
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1. Language. Japanese is my number one of my three favorite language I don't speak fluently. The other two are Gaelic and Finnish. Japan is just such a beautiful language. Not only spoken language, but written language. I like Eastern writing better than Western writing. And Japan inproved upon the amazing Hanzi writing by creating kana to go with it. Kana(katakana and hiragana) not only make Japanese a bit easier to learn, but also make it more interesting. I do hope to learn every single hanzi before I die, but that will take a long time. Kana made for nice, quick to learn training wheels.
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2. Flora and Fauna. Very pretty country. My favorite countries by language oddly are the same ones by flora and fauna, Japan, Finland and Ireland. Arid desert areas FTL. Finland, Japan and Ireland are Tolkeinesque.
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3. Japan is a first world technologically advanced country. As far as HDI(Human Development Index) is concerned Japan and South Korea are the top two in Asia. I want Western comforts in my Asian culture.
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4. Religion. To me the most redeemable qualities in Abrahamic religion are the Pagan elements. Japan is a Pagan Buddhist country. But lots of countries have Buddhism do they not? I like Buddhism better than Abrahamic religion, but it's not my favorite non-Abhahamic faith. On the other hand Japan has Shinto, which is much more interesting that Buddhism to me. There are some concepts in Shinto I'm not as fond of, but overall far more fascinating to me than Buddhism. I do incorporate heavy amounts of Shinto and Finnic Paganism into my Shamanistic beliefs. I guess I'm a universalist because there's a bit of every faith that I have in my spirituality. But Shinto is definitely high up on the fascinating for me.
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5. Food. I love Asian food in general, but Japan has more food I like than any other Asian country. I haven't had sushi in a while because it's rather expensive, but the remembering of the taste of wasabi on my last salmon sushi I had leaves tingles down my spine. I've never been able to get ahold of any tea here in the US that tasted as good as the tea I had while in Japan. Udon, Sushi, Sukiyaki, Dango, Wanko Soba, Miso Soup, Onigiri, all amazing.
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6. As a citizen of Hot Springs Arkansas it's kinda my duty to like Hanamaki Japan. Hanamaki Japan is our Sister City. My homestay family who I care about dearly lives there. Oh God, I didn't need to get it back into my mind how I miss them. It's nearly been four years! four years! I'm going crazy! They were so nice it's beyond words. Much better individuals than I am.
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7. This may go along with the first world thing, as well as be rather stereotypical, but all my favorite arts/entertainment comes from Japan. It's a pain in the butt to get Japanese stuff abroad, with region codes, rarity in stores, lack of selection in even online sites like yesasia, everything always dubbed and changed so much that you just want to import everything, ect. But ordering online is a pain in the butt. In Japan it's all right in front of you. And oh hey the person I have MASSIVE celeb crush on is from Japan.
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8. May be redundant/similar to the media reason, but fashion. From the traditional fashion like the kimono and yukata, to the modern fashions like decora, lolita and all the other western fashions I like.

This text is admittedly copypaste of something I said at another forum. With reasons 9 and 10 cut off due to embarrassment.

My interest for Japan are, manga & anime, the language and the food.

I like manga & anime, it's fun to watch. it's very funny. I like also cuz it's draw very beautiful.

The food, is very delicious. My friends know how to make sushi, so with her b-day party we're going to make sushi :gohan:

And the language. Is soo cool, i'm going to learn it to.

and the music

I voted for almost everything. Love Japan.

i practically like everything!! XD especially anime, games, music, and language

anime, girls, language, culture, but above all...cars!!!

Well, as I was small; I watched anime, went to Judo and Karate... and somehow the interest has grown in the past years very much.

Today, I'm doing Kendo, drawnig manga and learning (a bit^^) japanese, and my goal is; somewhere in the near future visit Japan for 1-2 months.

I also like the jap. style (buldings, gardens, rooms,...) and I'm very interested in the history of Japan.

Of course all the technology things... I wonder with which things zhey come up next...
Also my favorite game-console (PS!!!) comes from there^^


The only thing i don't really like is Japanese Food (I hate fish ) and also J-Rock/J-Metal... because, Japanese is yet a beautiful lenguage for me, but not in Music/Songs -_-

I love almost everything about japan but most of all I love their food, anime, manga, fashion and language. There are many cute, interesting, strange things you can find here as well.

I love all things from Japan.. Anime, Kawaii things, oh.. and of course Japanese Sweets...Japan also has many wonderful cute design!! Food of course and language is very polite (Hard to learn though). Would love to visit again!!

Anime and Manga got me into Japan since i was small. I really love both. then after some basic research, the "shame and honor culture" made me want to experience Japan first hand. (booked a 21 day trip this August)
but I also like the hotsprings, nature, girls and the people in general.
I also read 1 of the replies, wich said we like things in Japan because we dislike stuff at home. I think thats very true. relligions and the culture itself is something I definitly dislike of the west.

The only problem is that i REALLY dislike fish, wich will be a problem i think -.-' dont think ill say 'Okawari!' in restaurants that often. but ill definitly try some. for instance Ramen, wanted to eat that since i first saw Naruto eating it at episode 2.

Hi,

I may be atypical here in that I did not have any special interest in manga, anime, or even martial arts when I started learning japanese.

I had the vague notion of an orderly and respectful country (which struck a chord to me as it is so different to my home country), and the idea that it was a rich and high tech country where I would certainly have work opportunities. All of this was more than 10 years ago.

Then, the reasons I stuck so long with Japan was the quite pleasant life there (refined food and art of living...), and some wonderful japanese friends (my family while in homestay) who helped me many times. Several years later, I also had an opportunity to work there, but it turned out working in Japan is a bigger challenge than what I imagined).

Ohayo!

Well, I really want to go to Japan because of anime/manga, and videogames.
My real Otaku spirit popped out, when i was watching Genshiken for the first time.
I was like i stepped in a whole new world!
Now i've already planned my trip to Japan [this summer], and i'm also learning as much as i can about the japanese culture and language.
I just can't wait! When i'm in Tokyo, i probably take the first train to Akihabara [this is the area where you can buy all kinds of animes, doujinshi's, manga's, posters and so on]. Akihabara is also known as *the* Otaku area, so i think it's a great experience to go there. It's fantastic!

I love Japan!

The culture here is amazing, such a unique fusion of ancient and modern customs. One custom I really like is sitting seiza. Its so Japanese.

i m intesting on japanes people because they are very fair

I'll describe to you a little bit of my personnality. I'm living in a little town of 3 000 people but I'm fascinated to big cities in particular when they are modern and overcrowded. I like Montreal, I like Toronto, I like New York and all big cities. In the background of my computers, I always put a big picture of different cities in the world. In Japan, there's a lot of modern big cities. There's Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and a lot of other cities. That's one of the reasons why I love Japan.

I also love Japan because of girls. Everybody has his own preferences about girls. Me, I like japanese girls because of their eyes, their face and all of that. I also like thin girls. Here in North America, a lot of girls are fat but in Japan, they are small and there's more thin girls (I'm not telling that there's no fat girl because it wouldn't be true to say that).

I like electronic and all this stuff. You know, Japan is the electronic country. All compagnies like Sony and Nintendo are from Japan. All our TVs are made by the Japanese compagny Sony. That's another reason why I love Japan.

There's also a question of politics. After the Hiroshima desaster, tell me if I'm wrong but I don't remember that Japan participated to wars. There's a Japanese army in Iraq but they are not there for war, they're only there for humanity help.

In conclusion, I have hundreeds of reasons why I love Japan. I wouldn't have enough of one day to write all my reasons. My mom and dad told me often that Japan isn't a good place to live because there's a lot of earthquakes and because it's overcrowded. They have their reasons and I have mines so I don't care of what they think about that because I'm like that and I'll never change.

I like japanese people, japanese history and culture, eletronics, there's so many things Japan has to offer, that I don't even know of, but basically that's it.

I'm Interested in everything about Japan, I love their culture,food, music, religion, language, Manga/Anime and everything else thats on the Poll