My opinion about "Weeaboos" professing their desire to "become Japanese"

(image used per cc 3.0 license; see title for attribution)

"Weeaboo", for those that don't know, is a term used to describe a non-Japanese person (usually non-racially Asian) who is obsessed with all things Japanese. It is usually used pejoratively, for the young and sheltered who can't differentiate between reality and fantasy and whose knowledge of Japan is often superficial and therefore flawed. However, like the older term "otaku" (which can be applied to either Japanese or non-Japanese), recently some Japanophiles have come to "own" the word on their own terms, commodizing the term and lessening the sting of stigma associated with it.

I was interviewed once on YouTube about my naturalization and asked about what motivates people to come to Japan. I joked:

• Those from the '50s and '60s came for their country (the military).
• Those from the '70s came for their god (missionaries).
• Those from the '80s came for the money (the bubble era).
• Those from the '90s came for the relationships (women).
• ... and those that came in the 21st century came for the animé (pop culture).

Being a Generation X person, some people interpreted that to mean I had a negative impression of millennial Japanophiles that come to Japan with a dream to immigrate.

Although I am not really passionate about video games or any of that stuff anymore (I'm now old and boring), I find "weeaboos" to be far less likely to be disillusioned than other stereotypical "Western foreigner groups" in Japan:

• those that came here for money / career (especially those in the software / internet industry)
• those that came here for relationships / sex

Perhaps this is because when the money, career, or relationship hits a speed-bump or stalls, and these people have based their happiness in Japan exclusively on these things, they become intolerably jaded, nasty, cynical, and snarky. However, if the local Japanese arts and culture (be it classical, like theater, or contemporary, like mass media) is what the foundation of your joy for Japan is, you're less likely to become bitter.

I prefer fraternizing with people who are near my same life stage (age, career development, marriage, raising children) who I know, obviously. But if I had to choose a random stranger foreigner stereotypical group at a bar to have a few drinks with, I'd choose the weeaboo (type 10) group every time. I probably wouldn't understand what they were talking about, and think their ideas about Japan were a little naïve, but it's better than listening to the Bitter Gaijin (type 7) rant, oblivious to his/her constant comparisons of Japan to their own country with respect to society and politics sound ethnocentric and sometimes bigoted. Thus, I find the young non-jaded enthusiasm ("Genki!") of the young to be refreshing compared to the alternative of snark, cynicism, and depression.

The exception to the above rule about weeaboo being less bitter, of course, is Tim Rogers.

Japan's Blu-ray region's compatible
with N&S America & SE Asia

Full disclosure: I'd say I enjoy Japanese pop culture far more than the average American or European. I learned Japanese from the manga and subtitled series うる星やつらUrusei Yatsura (English title: "Lum" or "The Return of Lum") — which was a hit in the mid and late eighties in Japan. In the early nineties, there was no commercial internet; animé from mail order or the local independent video rental store was the only real exposure you could get to the contemporary pop culture-based Japanese language. These days, though, my current middle-aged 2016 understanding of Japanese pop culture is limited to what I'm exposed to through my teenage daughter when she watches television or surfs the net; the only manga I read is during my commute home: 週刊モーニングShūkan Mōningu (Weekly "Morning") — in digital subscription form on my smartphone/tablet/browser, of course. Beyond that and what I'm exposed to through casual contact through Japanese news, however, my otaku-centric knowledge is limited.

Recommending Naturalization like Recommending Marriage

I do get mail and messages all the time from teenagers that do not fulfill three of the six requirements for Japanese naturalization: #1. don't be a minor (in Japan: 20 years old), #2. physically live in Japan five (5) years straight, and #3. have skill/career/assets that can provide for your life in Japan. In many of these mails, they often introduce themselves by expressing their profound interest in Japanese culture and their desire to immigrate to Japan permanently — despite the fact that they are often still in school, lack experience working and living in the real world in their own country much less the real world of Japan.

While I'm flattered that they want to do the same thing I did, I'm flattered in the same way I'm flattered when a teenager tells me they want to get married. Sure, I've been happily married for almost twenty years and it's the greatest thing that ever happened to me besides the birth of my daughter. However, I would never recommend that a teenager get married or have children. You simply need more life experience before you make a serious commitment like starting a family. Or changing your nationality.

I usually write back to these people pointing them to a post a wrote titled, "Are you encouraging people to naturalize?" In that post, I outline the life goals and milestones you should probably achieve first before you consider making the jump and changing to become legally Japanese. I believe that achieve those milestones prior to naturalizing to Japanese will minimize (but not eliminate) the chance that you'd ever regret it. Much like marrying too young. The email reply I write usually looks something like this:

From: me <…@turning-japanese.info>
To: Emi-chan ("Nathalie") Garoudensetsu <…@gmail.com>
Subj: Re: I love Japan so much. Please tell me how I can be Japanese right now.

> I turn 18 and will be an adult next month. I love everything about Japan. Especially the show Bleach. I have been saving enough money by working as a lifeguard to buy a one-way ticket to Japan after graduating from high school. I plan to apply for citizenship hopefully after I get married in a few years. I'd like to earn money teaching English while I study Japanese. Please advise.

Thanks for your interest. I'm flattered. You don't want to hear this now, but: stay in school, graduate, get a (real) job / go to Japan, have fun, settle down, grow up, get a better stable job, establish and grow roots (family), grow (slightly) old, then write me again in 15~20 years. Please read the post at http://www.turning-japanese.info/2011/12/are-you-recommending-or-encouraging.html for more details. Good luck! I'm rooting for you! Now kindly get off my lawn. ☺

The TL;DR summary of that above post and mail is that if you're from a prosperous stable rich country like America, Canada, France… while you probably don't have to be exactly like me and wait until you're married with children, lived in Japan for decades, and forty years old to naturalize. However, I would discourage anybody that's single/childless and in their twenties. Also, much like there are some people I would never encourage to marry or have kids despite their age/maturity/experience because it wouldn't be a right fit for their life expectations and they'd regret it, there are certain people whom I would never encourage to naturalize to Japan.