As part of my daily trials and tribulations of being an Otaku Life Coach, one of the things that I notice is people who start watching anime and Japanese drama and listening to JPOP sometimes start getting a little too into it. While the world of anime is indeed very interesting, it should be remembered that it’s not what things are actually like in Japan. So while you run around the internet saying how great everything in Japan is (even if you’ve never gone or have only gone on vacation) there are some things that should be remembered about real Japan. As a foreigner, you can never become a citizen. You can get a permanent resident alien card after a long time, but that still won’t allow you to vote. As a foreigner it’s also important that you keep your alien card on you at all times since Japan doesn’t have the notion of presumption of innocence so you can be stopped at any time by the police and asked to present your alien card and if you don’t have it you can be arrested. There are also reports that Japanese police are giving random drug tests to foreigners in Shibuya and Rappongi (source: http://boingboing.net/2009/07/01/japanese-cops-hassli.html) Not to categorize everything in Japan as being bad, since there are a lot of things about the country that are very good, but as someone who views the country primarily through the lens of anime, drama, and music, you need to realize that you’re not getting an accurate picture.
Akin to that, I have decided to create the Weaboo Therapy Foundation for the treatment of such disorders as “everything would be better if I had been born in Japan” and “I wish I were in Japan” as well as the notorious condition of constantly saying “in Japan they…” You may not realize if you, or someone you love is a weaboo, so there are several easy tests:
- do people not talk to you anymore because you won’t shutup about Japan?
- will you not shut up about Japan?
If you said yes to either of these, then you are likely a weaboo and you should immediately seek help at the WTF. Our treatment options are cutting edge and range from shouting at you to shut the hell up, or showing you pictures of fat Japanese schoolgirls. We will also help you by taking the profits we make from curing you and using them to take a vacation in Japan where we will eat lots of fantastic food, see great tourist attractions, and buy awesome souvenirs (but we will come back and tell you that it was quite horrible.)