It is an interesting country. It has its flaws. And is flaws should be acknowledged. But it is an interesting country and culture that the good parts of can be appreciated. I don't think that the country having problems doesn't mean you can't appreciate, or even become passionate about, the positive. Every country has these problems. And it is almost impossible to learn every language and culture, you would become a jack of all trades and a master or none.



Emotions like passion and positivity and preference allow us to make choices as human being in a universe with infinite possibilities.



A few reasons why Japan is so a popular, and some of them are rather unfair and a result of things international power and Capitalism:



- Japan is a country the Western countries or the countries of Western Eurasia, took an interest in early on, such as in French Japonism



- This led to things like the romantization of Japanese historical figures like geisha, samurai, ninja, ronin, and so forth



- Japan is one of the world's cultures that hasn't been destroyed by conolization, while Japan is a globalized country, and some traditions are falling out of favor, Japan has a wealth of traditions that haven't been replaced by Christianity or Islam, and most Japanese folk traditions were not changed or supplanted in favor of Buddhism. And if you travel there, there is a lot to take in.



- China is more scary due to state control and red scare. People are more scared of the state in China than in Japan. Japan is a familiar Capitalistic liberal democracy for Westerners who also live in a Capitalist liberal democracy



- Japan is not a part of the "global south". They are a rich country with a high standard of living, and while that is unfair and a form of privilege, it means that many people are more drawn to their country than they would others.



- There is a constant popularization of the idea that Japan is a safe, low crime environment that is extremely safe and comfortable to visit, given you have the money. As well as friendly towards Westerners and business oriented. People's current stereotype of Japan is the conformist and hard studying student good at math, the businessman(because sexism), and cute girl or woman. Not a drug cartel, not a terrorist, not the KGB, not street gangs, but a tightly policed and conforming country. That is a lot easier to sell to tourism than a lot of countries and cultures.



- People like entertainment. People often say not to judge or understand Japan at all through their entertainment, or even to treat their entertainment as a part of their culture that is important in any way. But in the USA, Hollywood is arguably more of a national symbol than our flag. People can't even seem to write political or intellectual articles here without references American pop and movie celebrities. Our Corporations have an almost National Expansionist interest in making sure these people and producers stay in the public "mind share". That is to say, our entertainment and pop culture seems almost an intrinsic part of our culture itself. Pop culture is a big deal.



It doesn't take much time even looking on ResetERA and other sites to see how important pop culture is to American culture and how much our culture is defined by our pop culture. And Corporations are invested in keeping that true and will invest money on trying to have and maintain a global supremacy and hegemony in entertainment and representation. How much pop culture matters I don't think should be underestimated.



And Japan has a very prominent global pop culture that competes with America and Europe's pop culture. And a lot of people gravitated to that. They have anime, yes, but also manga, video games, electronics, cars, Jpop, rock bands, music in almost every genre and thousands of them, movies, live action shows, fashion movements like decora and lolita, modeling, and a thousand other or so ways to consume Japanese pop culture as a commodity. Japan has provided many people an alternative that is often appreciably different from the pop culture of their own country.



Japanese pop culture is one of the only pop cultures that has managed to do so well amongst the USA and Western Europe in Globalized Capitalism. Though South Korea is obviously up and coming with Kpop, online gaming, and dramas and movies.



Japan got an early hand in what is essentially the new movie industry. Video games. Video games are in many ways the successor to books, movies, TV, and even music as the modern form of entertainment. And Japan has played a heavy part in that history and heritage since at least Space Invaders. This is very important to the "cultural cachet" of Japan. I feel it is particular important to say this, because this is a video game forum.



Anime, manga, Japanese cinema, light novels, mascots, Jpop, idols, manzai, Visual Kei, Jcore, ect. all clearly help, as well.

The fact that Nintendo is important enough globally to have theme park rides and centers coming to California and Florida shows the kind of "soft cultural power" that Japan has that many countries/cultures like, say, South Africa, do not.



And people can often very naturally become very interested in the cultures behind the pop culture products they're "consuming". The same happens of other cultures, too. This is definitely true of South Korea to a lesser extent.





There is almost a "guns, germs, and steel" level of things contributing together to make Japan such a prominent and interesting culture to many people. And many Japanese corporations and companies are doing what they can to Capitalize and grow this success. Japanese corporations are making lots of and lots money off of the passion for and commodification of their culture. And so encourage doing so. And they have more money to compete in that sphere that many other countries and cultures do. Japanese companies, and least, have benefited from and helped to foster the "Japanophile" phenomenon.



It seems a bit reductive to say that it is just anime or video games doing it. There is a lot of history and big money behind the global passion for Japanese culture.