I'm writing a book right now where I say: my wife is a "Japanophile." So I'm directing my readers to this page. Because I'm in a rush, I've decided to copy the Wikipedia article on this topic and paste it right here, which I think is a good idea because I can annotate the article on the fly. Here it is.
Japanophilia is a strong interest in Japanese culture, people, and history.
[1] In Japanese, the term for Japanophile is "shinnichi" (
親日), with "
shin (
親)" equivalent to the English prefix 'pro-' and "
nichi (
日)", meaning "Japan" (as in the word for Japan "Nippon/Nihon" (
日本)). The term was first used as early as the 18th century, switching in scope over time. Its opposite is
Japanophobia. The study of Japan is
Japanology.
For the full article go to Wikipedia, search Japanophilia.20th century
In the first decade of the 20th century, several British writers lauded Japan. In 1904, for example, Beatrice Webb wrote that Japan was a "rising star of human self-control and enlightenment", praising the "innovating collectivism" of the Japanese, and the "uncanny" purposefulness and open-mindedness of its "enlightened professional elite." H. G. Wells similarly named the élite of his A Modern Utopia "samurai". In part, this was a result of the decline of British industrial productivity, with Japan and Germany rising comparatively. Germany was seen as a threat and a rival power, but Japan was seen as a potential ally. The British sought efficiency as the solution to issues of productivity, and after the publication of Alfred Stead's 1906 book Great Japan: A Study of National Efficiency, pundits in Britain looked to Japan for lessons. This interest, however, ended after World War I.[5]
General José Millán-Astray, the founder of the Spanish Legion, stated that the samurai warrior code Bushido exerted a great influence on him. Defining Bushido as "a perfect creed", Millán-Astray said that "the Spanish legionnaire is also a samurai and practices the Bushido essentials: Honor, Valor, Loyalty, Generosity, and Sacrifice", and added that Spain would become a great power like Japan by adhering to the code's principles.[6] He also made a Spanish translation of Inazo Nitobe's book Bushido: The Soul of Japan and a prologue to it.[7]
Kim Morrissy of the media company Crunchyroll wrote that the use of the word otaku (person with consuming interests) in anime fandom can be hindered by the belief of some Westerners that its use constitutes cultural appropriation and that it can only refer to a Japanese person.[12]
In a blog post on Anime News Network, Justin Sevakis argued that there is a difference between a weeaboo and someone who simply appreciates Japanese culture, saying that there is nothing wrong with loving Japanese culture, but that a person becomes a weeaboo when they start to be obnoxious, immature, and ignorant about the culture they love.[13] Matt Jardin from the Alaska Dispatch gave his opinion that weeaboos blindly prefer things from Japan while looking down on anything else, despite obvious merit.[14]
