Ahe, some people in my earlier Japanese classes would have you believe otherwise. ^_~ There was this absolutely scary divide between the otaku crowd and the people with more 'normal' interests in Japan. Actually, somehow I found myself lumped in with the second group rather than the first, as my Japanese was quite good, and I'm not very outspoken about
anything, nevermind my interest in Japanese pop culture.
Still, I hated the way that they looked down on the other half of the class. It made me feel kind of sick. So whenever I was asked if I had taught in Japan, or whether I had visited, or anything like that, I'd just answer, "No, I learned Japanese entirely by playing videogames!" Completely true? No. Completely fun? Yes.

I used to get the dirtiest looks...