So I’m majoring in Asian Studies at university, with Japanese language and Japanology being my speciality. I’m due to spend the next year in Sapporo, strengthening my Japanese language skills like crazy and doing research on ancient Japanese demographics, religion and ethnic minorities in preparation for my thesis in 4th year.

Many people often laugh at me and tell me that I only took Japanese at university because I watch anime. They assume that I’m one of these people that OP describes: basic white girl with kawaii clothes and accessories, acts and talks like an anime girl and has weeb stuff all over the room with Re:Zero or Fairy Tail merch everywhere. No, no, no. This is not me. In fact, I don’t own ANY anime merchandise! The only exception is a My Neighbour Totoro tote bag that I’ve had since high school and a set of charms of Teshima and Aoyagi from Yowamushi Pedal that I have attached to my phone case, and even they were made by an independent artist. It’s actually really offensive and borderline racist to assume that all Japanese girls are “kawaii”, move like they’re 5, like pastel sparkles and speak in a high pitched voice like a 13 year old because they don’t. Japanese is an expressive language sure, but the way anime characters talk is seriously not an accurate reflection of the language. I thought that would be obvious but it’s not for some people apparently.

Not saying that it’s wrong or anything, hell you do you boo, I ain’t here to criticise your interests or what you do in your spare time, but this is my opinion and my life situation and I’m sick of being associated with this group of weebs who go over the top. I never reached that level of weebiness, even when I was younger, and so I hate being labelled as one just because I mentioned I watched Zankyou no Terror or Kids on the Slope last week. I’m studying to become a serious professor of Japanology, and it pisses me off when people are like “what, is your whole class full of weebs who just want to learn Japanese so they can watch anime with no subtitles?”. Because no it’s not. Those guys drop out in week 3 when they realise they have to actually learn Japanese beyond “onii-chan\~!” and “b-baaaaaka! >:(”. Yeah, Anime was a gateway into the Japanese culture for most of us, but mostly we are here, paying like £10k a year because we want to learn a valuable asset (an east asian language), with most of us wanting to be teachers or translators. And most of us do still watch anime and read manga because we like to, or even to practise the language, but even so we aren’t “weebs”. Most people in my class are actually more interested in japanese history, politics and literature rather than the whole anime aspect. Some of us like to watch a Japanese animated show about a homeless god trying to make a living doing odd jobs, the same way some people enjoy Brooklyn Nine-Nine or Breaking Bad: for entertainment! I watched a lot of anime when I was 14 or 15, (even at age 20 I still revisit old shounen favourites or dig up some new underground slice of life series from Crunchyroll when I’m bored) but I quickly realised that there’s more to Japan than just anime and manga, and it’s all SO interesting! I mean, from a sociological point of view, the Japanese ideology of society and culture is so convoluted and fascinating and is wholly different from western cultures! And the artist in me cries at how beautiful their ukiyo-e artworks are and how majestic their architecture is! Oh and don’t even get me started on the geography of Japan… there is SO MUCH I could talk about, from migration and demographics to the volcanic landscape and huge range of climates you get from Hokkaido to Okinawa. There’s so much more to japan than just Tokyo and the maid cafes of Akibahara.

Yep, sorry, that’s all harsh i know and a bit nerdy bc I get really defensive about my degree and it makes me sound like an asshole sometimes so apologies, but I’m done now, and I’ll shut up about this forever, but yeah. Just,,,, don’t assume everyone who enjoys anime or studying Japanese culture is a white weeb with body pillows and a cat ear headset, who likes to speak in fake Japanese that they’ve picked up from one episode of Attack on Titan and is convinced that Mirai Nikki is the single most fantastic series out there. Sure, that’s all fine if that’s you, but please don’t generalise the rest of us. Respect the culture for its entirety, not just the few crumbs of mainstream media you pick up on TikTok. Feel free to agree, disagree, whatever, I’ve said what I wanted to, I probably wont engage with you, sorry for the essay, thanks and goodnight.