[QUOTE=elmwood]
I’d like to add Japanophiles. The people I’ve met who are really into Japanese culture and language, anime, manga and the like tend to be the geekiest of the geeky; the most socially inept, doughiest or skinniest, borderline Asperger’s-ish geeks of them all. Despite their admiration for a culture that values cleanliness, Japanophiles also don’t seem to bathe too often, based on the funk that permanently wafts forth from the anime/manga section of the local Borders.
[/QUOTE]
Heh. I seem to have struck a rich vein of hatred for audiophiles.
As for Japanophiles, I spent about seven years living and working there, and nobody gives a shit about Japanese popular culture. Plenty of people come to learn the language, you meet quite a few who are there to practice their martial arts, but almost everyone sane combines it with having a life: you’re there to pick up a few bucks, polish your Nihongo a bit, see some of the country, meet the locals, have a couple of beers and maybe meet some girls. Learning Japanese in order to understand the intricacies of J-Pop or Lupin Sansei is rather like learning English in order to wank over old Porky Pig catoons and The Spice Girls.