Talk:Japanophilia

Unintentional comedy

"Various cultures and peoples have gone through various periods of Japanophilia, for various reasons, throughout history. " I'd delete this piece of fatuous tripe myself, but that would require me logging in and it's not worth the keystrokes. However, substitute anything you like in place of Japanophilia, and amazingly, it will also be true. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.249.71.254 (talk) 23:28, 25 December 2009 (UTC)

rename it to say weaboo217.24.21.126 (talk) 13:58, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

What the hell are you talking about? 24.19.92.89 (talk) 10:06, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

It's a slur popular on the Internet. 76.202.118.220 (talk) 03:39, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

Learn2internet weeaboo.

Did someone say weaboo? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.168.152.130 (talk) 13:18, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

The word "Weeabo" directs to this article, so some kind of explanation how and why it does that would be in place. I don't have a clue and came to this article trying to find out. --EzelMannen (talk) 10:36, 23 August 2009 (UTC) I agree. Call it weeaboo. MOAR WEABU TEARS. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 210.132.74.129 (talk) 01:50, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

Dubious

Article moved, Japanophile → Japanophilia

I oppose the move. Japanophilia is a dubious name for the article. Japanophile is more commonly used. Also, the cited dictionary source ("Webster Unabridged, 2002") has an entry for "Japanophile" but has no mention of "Japanophilia". "Japanophile" gets more Google counts, and is used more often, qualifying it as the article name per WP:NC. Please discuss and get consensus first, before making such a move.--Endroit (talk) 23:27, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

• Well I don't know that the issue should be of frequency of use. This seems to be a grammatical problem to me. Do we name the article after the "condition" (Japanophilia), or the people who fall into that category (Japanophiles)? Looking at other articles in Category:Cultural Enthusiasm it seems to be a mixed bag, but Category:Phobias lists only the condition. Since a "philia" is the opposite of a phobia, and the phobia articles are named consistently, I think that all of the Cultural Enthusiasm articles should be named "-philia" as well (with redirects from "phile"). -Amake (talk) 23:48, 8 January 2008 (UTC)
  • The people with the condition ("-phile") is the more significant phenomenom, hence it gets more Google counts. Right now, the only other "-philia" I see there in Category:Cultural Enthusiasm is Russophilia. Most of the other entries in Category:Cultural Enthusiasm seem to be "-phile" rather than "-philia". And this article was Japanophile, until it was unilaterally moved. So it would seem more standard to keep all these articles at "-phile" instead.--Endroit (talk) 00:01, 9 January 2008 (UTC)
    • "The people with the condition ("-phile") is the more significant phenomenom [sic], hence it gets more Google counts." — That's meaningless, since you can't have the phenomenon without the people. Frankly I don't feel that strongly one way or another, but if we're to take the phobia articles as a guide then clearly "-philia" is preferred. (And by my count there are four "-philia"s in Category:Cultural Enthusiasm out of 17.) -Amake (talk) 01:51, 9 January 2008 (UTC)
    • Stop counting Google hits. Do proper research. Your other reasons are completely specious. So the name isn't the same as those in the other category. Big deal. We have plenty of categories where articles don't all have the same name. And in any case, several of those articles are badly named, too. (Sinophile is one that is screamingly wrong.) They could probably do with fixing like this one has been. Why do you think that this article went for so long with rubbish/no sources? Why do you think that the only citations that people have been coming up with were dictionaries? (Indeed, why do you think that Sinophile hasn't had any sources added?) It was in part because everyone was looking for the wrong thing, because the article had the wrong title. The actual encyclopaedic subject is Japanophilia (and, indeed, Sinophilia). Once one figures that out, sources are much easier to find. Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (talk) 02:00, 9 January 2008 (UTC)
• We name the article after the topic that it discusses. And what it discusses is Japanophilia. Because that's what all of the sources that it is based upon are discussing. They aren't discussing a Japanophile. They are discussing the phenomenon of Japanophilia. Just like pedophilia discusses the phenomenon of paedophilia, and isn't entitled "paedophile". Come now! Naming the article after the topic is basic stuff. I suggest reading the article to see what it talks about. It gives the name of the subject in the very first sentence. Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (talk) 02:00, 9 January 2008 (UTC)
• I've never heard/read the term "Japanophilia" until now, but I have heard/read "Japanophile" many, many times. I agree with Endroit that the most common should be where it is located, and I'm fine with Japanophilia redirecting to Japanophile. ···日本穣^{? · Talk to Nihonjoe} 01:55, 9 January 2008 (UTC)
  • What you've never heard of is neither here nor there. This is an encyclopaedia. We don't base it around what people have heard of. We use sources. Go read the sources and read the article. See what the actual encyclopedic subject is. Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (talk) 02:00, 9 January 2008 (UTC)
  • I agree that "Japanophile" is probably more common than "Japanophilia", but simple analysis of the structure of the word indicates that "Japanophilia" is the more general of the two. Looking at other articles about "conditions" (I wouldn't call -philias "diseases" per se) such as phobias indicate that the name of the condition is more appropriate for an article title. (Another example: Hypochondriasis, not hypochondriac which is a redirect.) "Japanophile" might be appropriate for a "List of Japanophiles" (god forbid such an article should be made). In other words I agree with Jonathan, but I don't think he needs to be such a dick about it. -Amake (talk) 02:22, 9 January 2008 (UTC)
    • But is Japanophilia really a scientifically coined concept of pathology or sociology like pedophilia and xenophobia are? Could it not be just a term to refer to a group of people who like Japan and things related to Japan? --Saintjust (talk) 04:33, 10 January 2008 (UTC)
      • Obviously, to the degree that "Japanophiles" exist, yes, "Japanophilia" exists as well. -Amake (talk) 04:36, 10 January 2008 (UTC)
• Oppose per Francophile, Slavophile, Sinophile and the fact that the term is not in common parlance. Moving to "Japanophilia" without sources is just as much based on original research as the current title is claimed to be, and implies that there is a common motivation for the interest in Japan that designates someone a Japanophile, another thing yet to be proven here. Dekimasuよ! 05:24, 11 January 2008 (UTC)
  • Of course we have sources. You can find citations for them in the article. And Japanophilia is what they discuss. Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (talk) 01:04, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

Faux dubiousness

Two the "dubious" notices are against things that are exactly as written in the sources. As such, I've taken them out. Several of the arguments above are clearly based upon not even reading any of the sources. Because if one had, one would have seen that Japanophilia is what they discuss. For goodness' sake, please knuckle down and actually read the sources that are cited, all of you! Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (talk) 01:04, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

• Well the page move was dubious, and that was the reason I added the tag. Also, the preliminary page move discussion above reached NO CONSENSUS to move the article to Japanophilia. Therefore, I requested a formal WP:RM request on your behalf, Jonathan de Boyne Pollard. Also, you deliberately deleted text describing Japanophile, and added your own about Japanophilia. I added back a few mention of Japanophile, but more can be added later... it's no big deal. The question is: What will be a more appropriate title for this article, "Japanophilia" or "Japanophile"?--Endroit (talk) 04:10, 15 January 2008 (UTC)
  • I removed content that had a request for verifiability outstanding here on this very talk page for nigh on four months. That's enough time for sources to have been found. Don't add it back unless you can find sources. This is verifiability in action. Unverifiable content may, can, and will be removed by any editor. Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (talk) 11:47, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Allison

Does Allison [page number?] mean to imply that "youth across the globe" previously admired Japan's corporate practices and economic success"? If not, what's she on about?

This is the one good question asked so far. And my answer is that I think that she does. She's the source that underpins what the article says about American children taking Japanese language classes, and she talks about a "fascinating shift" in children's attitudes since WW2, encompassing the 1980s' economic bubble. As for what the page number is: It's in the citation. As well as reading the sources, please read the citations, too. Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (talk) 01:10, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

• I'll try to get hold of the book. Meanwhile, I don't have it and I infer that you do. So: Does Allison cite credible research for assertions such as this? I note that her book is published by a university press, but some claims that she makes seem farfetched and a lot of books published by university presses, especially books on "cultural studies" and the like, do contain a lot of dodgy material. -- Hoary (talk) 02:21, 15 January 2008 (UTC)
  • You can actually read the relevant pages on-line. The ISBN hyperlink in the citation is your friend. Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (talk) 11:49, 18 January 2008 (UTC)
  • By the way, she's this Anne Allison. This is an expert writing in her field of expertise based upon, as the Acknowledgement section of the book says, her own extensive fieldwork. Now contrast that with the complete absence of any sources at all, reliable or otherwise, in this article for over 3 years prior to this. Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (talk) 12:58, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

The following discussion is an archived discussion of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the discussion was no consensus to move. —Angr ^{If you've written a quality article...} 11:20, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

Requested move

Japanophile → Japanophilia — We name the article after the topic that it discusses. And what it discusses is Japanophilia. Because that's what all of the sources that it is based upon are discussing. They aren't discussing a Japanophile. They are discussing the phenomenon of Japanophilia.The previous is a quote from User:Jonathan de Boyne Pollard, who wishes the article moved to "Japanophilia". —Endroit (talk) 03:50, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

Survey

Feel free to state your position on the renaming proposal by beginning a new line in this section with *'''Support''' or *'''Oppose''', then sign your comment with ~~~~. Since polling is not a substitute for discussion, please explain your reasons, taking into account Wikipedia's naming conventions.

• Oppose — Japanophile is more commonly used (although the article is about BOTH "Japanophile" AND "Japanophilia"). Also, the cited dictionary source ("Webster Unabridged, 2002") has an entry for "Japanophile" but has no mention of "Japanophilia". "Japanophile" gets more Google counts, and is used more often, qualifying it as the appropriate article name per WP:NC.--Endroit (talk) 04:00, 15 January 2008 (UTC)
  • Specious reasoning based upon a meaningless metric. Go and see what we do with "paedophile" and paedophilia. I explained all this to you before, including pointing out what subject the sources actually discuss. You appear to be putting zero effort into actually reading the sources, depite being asked to do so again and again. Stop using the meaningless metric and do proper research! If you aren't reading the sources, how much credence do you expect the rest of us to place in your opinions? Please stop reading only the dictionary and start reading the history books and socio-political analyses. Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (talk) 12:43, 18 January 2008 (UTC)
• Support — All phobias and medical conditions share the same naming scheme, which is to name the article after the "condition", not the people who are "afflicted" by the condition. The "condition" here is "Japanophilia", and the article should be named such. Either way, all articles in Category:Admiration of foreign cultures should be named consistently. -Amake (talk) 06:29, 15 January 2008 (UTC)
• Support. I don't like to think of this as a [psychopathological] "condition" and indeed its reminder of "necrophilia" and the rest first inclined me toward "Japanophile", which is certainly a much more widely used word as well as one that (to me) has less of an odor of sexual perversions or straitjackets. If there were some word without the {phil} morpheme or some set phrase meaning love of Japan, I'd happily go with that. As it is, I can't think of any. Japanophiles seem to share little other than Japanophilia (or whatever one wants to call it); and so once I put aside the connotations, naming the article "Japanophile(s)" seems strange. (It also risks degeneration into something like a list, once our younger contributors excitedly add that this or that pop singer keeps a Gozilla doll on his mantelpiece.) So: Japanophilia, Sinophilia, Lusophilia, etc. -- Hoary (talk) 08:11, 15 January 2008 (UTC)
  • That's exactly what Endroit's argument below is leading towards, except that for "pop singer" substitute "popular artist". We don't get a decent encyclopaedia article just by collecting a long laundry list of people who individually exhibit Japanophilia. But we do get one by writing an article based upon historical and sociological analyses of the phenomenon that scholars have already done for us. Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (talk) 12:43, 18 January 2008 (UTC)
• Oppose per discussion below. Dekimasuよ! 02:33, 17 January 2008 (UTC)
• Support per WP:ADJECTIVE. EJF (talk) 16:50, 19 January 2008 (UTC)
  • What does WP:ADJECTIVE have to do with this case? Both Japanophile and Japanophilia are nouns. — AjaxSmack 01:22, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

Discussion

Any additional comments:

Mrs. Monet in kimonos, 1875

If this article were really about "Japanophilia" (or "an interest in, or love of, Japan and all things Japanese"), the image to the right may be included as an example of Claude Monet engaging in "Japanophilia" in the 19th century (long before the arrival of cosplay). And a true topic of "Japanophilia" should have some mention of European impressionist painters being influenced by ukiyo-e, as well as art collectors in those times being interested in Japanese (and Japanese-style) works...Japonism.

However the word "Japanophilia" has not been used in literature to describe the proliferation of Japonism in 19th century Europe. Let's not kid ourselves... This article talks about "Japanophilia" alright, but it only discusses a subset of the behavioral pattern defined by the word. If we are bound by the actual usage of the words "Japanophile" and "Japanophilia" in literature, then the article name should be "Japanophile" because it is the one more commonly used.--Endroit (talk) 22:00, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

This article talks about "Japanophilia" alright, but it only discusses a subset of the behavioral pattern defined by the word.

• A while ago I spent some time dabbling with this article, and I found that a lot of the problems with it stemmed from the fact that the same word meant several things to several editors - add to this everyone's conviction that they all agree on the meaning, and you've got a recipe for disaster. So... Can we clarify what everyones idea of Japanophiles/Japanophilia is? TomorrowTime (talk) 08:06, 16 January 2008 (UTC)
  • Like I mentioned above, I don't think there is a common set of traits or root causes that defines "Japanophilia", while the set of people who have (for whatever reason) an (inordinate?) interest in Japan are often referred to as Japanophiles. This makes it hard for me to accept the idea that there is an article to be written about "Japanophilia" as a unified concept. Dekimasuよ! 02:33, 17 January 2008 (UTC)
    • The argument that there's no commonality also applies just as well to writing about Japanophiles individually. And it's nonsense. For pity's sake go and read the sources! They discuss Japanophilia. That you don't have an appreciation of an overarching concept encompassing many people as a group is neither here nor there. The sources do, and they are what counts around here. Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (talk) 12:43, 18 January 2008 (UTC)
  • That's quite the opposite of what you should be doing. Constructing some ad hoc definition amonst a group of Wikipedia editors that has no basis in external scholarship is exactly wrong. Read the Wikipedia:No original research policy. Then go and read the sources and see what they discuss, as I've asked editors over and over to do on this page, and which only one editor seems even willing to do. They tell you what Japanophilia is, discuss instances of it, and document it. Is Hoary the only editor here who is interested in actually putting Wikipedia's official policies into practice? It's bad news for Wikipedia if the editors who are willing to apply the official policies outnumber the editors who are unwilling to do so by a factor of more than 2 to 1. Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (talk) 12:43, 18 January 2008 (UTC)
    • Flattery of myself is always welcome, Jonathan; but I can live without it. Let's cool down a bit. Yes, TomorrowTime (TT) regrets that the same word meant several things to several editors - add to this everyone's conviction that they all agree on the meaning, and you've got a recipe for disaster. And TT invites all to agree on what it does mean. However, there's nothing in that invitation that precludes either multiple definitions or discourages people from citing their sources. TT lets me respond by saying that on page such-and-such of The Deer Cry Pavilion Barr uses the term to mean such-and-such. [Drat, I can't: I gave my copy of that book away last month.] Perhaps TT ought to have made this clear, and we may regret (or even be pissed) that TT didn't; but if so then the more collegial approach would be not to blow up at TT but instead to respond "That's an interesting idea, TT, but can we also ask writers to give specific cites?" I'm less of a stickler for "civility" than lots of editors on WP, but amicability has much to be said for it (even when one is boiling on the inside). -- Hoary (talk) 13:06, 18 January 2008 (UTC)
• "a true topic of "Japanophilia" should have X, Y, and Z" — So get your nose out of Google and out of a single dictionary and go and find history books that discuss that aspect of Japanophilia and expand the article. What on Earth makes you think that the article is finished, and cannot discuss any more episodes of Japanophilia in various countries that are documented by historians, sociologists, and the like? Is Wikipedia full, again? Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (talk) 12:43, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Terrible example

Lafcadio Hearn is a terrible example as to what most people think of when the word Japanophile or otaku come to mind. Lafcadio Hearn was actually interested in Japan for reasons pertaining to their culture, history, and language. Japanophiles are obsessed only with anime. 199.117.69.8 (talk) 18:14, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

That's a horrible thing to post! Although anime can get someone interested in Japan the philes are interested in more than just anime. I'm a Japanophile and have been for 9 years now and I'm interested in not just anime but also bushido, the language, the girls, J music, enka,Hokkaido, Japanese video games so to put it politely I disagree with your opinion. Sioraf (talk) 15:18, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

Weeaboo

Weeaboo redirects to Japanophile, but there isn't anything in the article that explains why. 66.81.104.96 (talk) 19:54, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

• I noticed the same. There either needs to be more elaboration on this article, or a separate one needs to be made, especially because Weeaboo is used offensively while this really isn't, or at least implies such. AzureShadow (talk) 17:38, 30 September 2009 (UTC)
  • The term 'weeaboo' is not relevant to this article. Weeaboo an internet slur which implies that the insultee is a Westerner who would have preferred to have been born Japanese. The etymology is it was an enforced euphemism on the imageboard 4chan which was put in place to filter the more self-evident phrase "wapanese" (wannabe/Japanese). Seeing as this article discusses an interest in Japanese culture and nothing of the 'Western Westernism" that weeaboo implies, it is misleading to have the term redirect here. 122.49.168.102 (talk) 15:22, 7 November 2011 (UTC)
  • http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/7345/pbf071weeaboo.gif Wapanese became weeaboo. Wapanese is wannabe Japanese. 129.186.253.76 (talk) 02:11, 13 October 2009 (UTC)
    • Also Wapanese could possibly be "White Japanese", similar to "wigger". Also, I found this Urban Dictionary entry helpful; http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=weeaboo It explains that the jump from Wapanese to Weeaboo comes from a 4chan board changing "Wapanese" to "Weeaboo" (from the Perry Bible Fellowship strip) in a failed attempt to curtail anti Wapanese sentiments. (86.25.217.4 (talk) 16:45, 18 February 2010 (UTC))
      • Urban Dictionary isn't really a reliable source, since anyone can add anything and the majority of the definitions are either bias or just plain wrong. Not to mention subjects such as 'bootyism' 'nerd bird'and 'beer thirty', all of which just prove how inept UD is.195.194.150.129 (talk) 11:34, 13 April 2010 (UTC)
        • In other words, Urban Dictonary is just like Wikipedia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.30.151.206 (talk) 17:04, 24 September 2015 (UTC)
          • Yes but a "wiki chain" of wiki pages linking to another wiki-type sources is worse than a single wiki page linking to a verifiable source. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.77.150.252 (talk) 23:24, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

Possible Disambigulation / Clarification:

A person who is obsessed with Japanese culture to the point where it becomes annoying is sometimes referred to as a "Japanofile", written with an "f". In addition, there is a podcast known as "The Japanofiles" (also spelled with an "f") in which foreign residents in Japan discuss Japanese culture as well as their own Japan-related experiences. Samtoodle (talk) 03:55, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

However, to be accused as a Japanophile is regarded as highly offensive in East Asia...

Please find a reliable source supporting any of the following text:

• However, to be accused as a Japanophile is regarded as highly offensive in East Asia.^{[citation needed]} This was mainly because of the inhumane Japanese war crimes committed on the colonies during the early 20th Century and the Second World War.^{[citation needed]}

See Wikipedia:Source on what Wikipedia says about "reliable sources".

In particular, the words "highly offensive in East Asia" implies they are highly offensive today in all of China, Korea, AND Japan. We will need a reliable source implying this.--Endroit (talk) 05:01, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

This was posted a month ago and no one added any sources, so I'm taking the iniative and removing it. A Werewolf (talk) 04:48, 29 December 2009 (UTC)

Well, one aspect is chinilpa, a term used in a derogatory sense in Korea, according to our article. I do agree, however, that the original statement was way too sweeping and broad, and in my experience inaccurate. TomorrowTime (talk) 16:54, 29 December 2009 (UTC)

Japanophile/Nipponophile

Is the term Nipponophile synonomas with Japanophile? And should the article mention that? Wikitionary has an article of both (Japanophile Nipponophile) but neither give which is more correct nor do they even link to one another. 63.224.159.60 (talk) 23:56, 5 April 2014 (UTC)

I don't see why it needs to be mentioned. It makes little sense, if anything it should be Japonophile, but that would be self-explanatory. 213.88.143.114 (talk) 18:17, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

Particularity of American teens

"There has since been considerable interest in Japanese popular culture across much of the Western world, particularly the anime and manga fandom, contributing to the further development of a Japanophile perspective in American teens in particular."

Why is that? It was and still is equally popular all over Europe. I find this claim quite ignorant, regardless of my personal experience that most Europeans develop an interest much more serious than Americans do. Besides, the information/claims about "modern Japanophilia" is very scarce and shallow. Someone really has to extend this article, I think -- it is a very interesting subject, after all. --Laughing Vampire (talk) 12:49, 15 July 2014 (UTC)

21st century

Until a few minutes ago, when I moved it here (as suggested by Nihonjoe), the article had the following section:

===21st century===<!--The word Weeaboo redirects here-->

In the early 2000s, words meaning Japanophile have acquired more derogatory connotations. The term Wapanese (or Wannabe Japanese) first came out in 2002 as a racial slur used to describe a white person who is obsessed with Japanese culture, which includes manga, hentai and anime. The term Weeaboo, or Weeb later came from a comic strip created by Nicholas Gurewitch in which the term had no meaning other than it was unpleasant thing. According to an unpublished MA thesis, 4chan quickly picked up the word, and applied it in an abusive way to the already existing Wapanese term. It is debatable whether Weeaboo has the same meaning as the Japanese term otaku (people with obsessive interests). In a blog post on Anime News Network, Justin Sevakis gives a difference between the two, saying that there is nothing wrong with loving Japanese culture. He points out that a person only becomes a weeabo when they start to be obnoxious, immature, and ignorant about the culture they love.

(This is after some tweaking by me; possibly I corrupted something in what I'd intended as a slight improvement.)

The source "Am I a weeaboo? What does weeaboo mean anyway?" seems a hazily written essay. It draws a lot on "Weeaboo" at Knowyourmeme, which I find clearer; however, this does not seem a reliable source. "Nobody loves the weeaboo" may be well informed for all I know, but it's a windy blog posting. "Japanese animation in America and its fans" got its author an MA from a non-negligible university and thus seems the most substantial of the sources; but WP:RS says "Masters dissertations and theses are considered reliable only if they can be shown to have had significant scholarly influence".

Is this section supposed to be about Japanophiles, these terms for particular kinds of Japanophiles, or both? Whichever, if there's something substantial to relate, it has to be based on sources more impressive than the three used here. -- Hoary (talk) 23:49, 22 March 2016 (UTC)

@Hoary: The sources are poor, through I am not sure if the section's removal is totally justified; I'd rather suggest that the content can stay, unless it is challenged. It could probably be rewritten and re-referenced with better sources, I found [1] through Google Scholar, a tool that the author of the recent revision who added most of the sources should check out (ping User:Knowledgekid87, [2]). Google Books is also worth checking, I see a few sources there as well; all more reliable then bloggish-essayish websites. --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 06:00, 4 April 2016 (UTC)

I'm sad that it appears difficult to find sources for this, as the idea of "Japanophile" seems more alive than ever these days. I only really came by here to note that I was confused "Weaboo" redirected here and the article only discusses pre-WWI content. I hope someone can figure this out. ~Mable (chat) 21:08, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

I feel it should be included as well, but the problem as you said is the lack of sourcing. If it is a non-notable neologism though then yeah I wouldn't mind it not being included. - Knowledgekid87 (talk) 23:27, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

Removal is not the answer. Not only is weeaboo a legitimate (though perhaps unfortunate) pop culture term, the page itself still redirects here, but is now left without context. This source explores contemporary Japanophilia in some detail, though I'm reserved as to its reliability (anyone can publish on Google Books). Satellizer el Bridget ^(Talk) 12:43, 20 April 2016 (UTC)

Wording dispute

There is a dispute between myself and another editor regarding the opening sentence for the 21st century. Here is how it currently reads verses how I feel it should read below it:

In the early 2000s, derogatory slang terms were created to demean those who appreciated the Japanese popular culture, but those terms are often misused and considered invalid.

In the early 2000s, derogatory slang terms were created to demean those who appreciate Japanese popular culture.

The word "appreciated" is dated, and shouldn't be used for words that continue to be used. Where it says "but those terms are often misused" it doesn't say by whom anywhere after that (WP:WEASEL). I also don't see what terms are implied by saying "those terms", are we talking about the word "Otaku", "weeaboo", or "Wapanese" two of them of all three? Next, if a term is derogatory then it is meant to be abused. This is like saying I "misused" the word nigger, you cant just misuse a demeaning word. My suggestion is to create a lead that doesn't go into too much detail as the details are already laid out after that. - Knowledgekid87 (talk) 22:16, 21 May 2017 (UTC)

I agree, the wording editorializes too much. An encyclopedia shouldn't prescribe how words are used (especially if it's an editor's own opinion), but rather clearly attribute views to reliable sources. "Considered invalid" by who? Who says they are being "misused"? Lastly, it shouldn't emphasize this perspective as consensus unless it actually is. If reliable sources are really saying these things, the article doesn't support it. Opencooper (talk) 22:55, 21 May 2017 (UTC)

I agree that the lead shoudn't go into too much detail, but it is valid to point out that the word weeaboo is heavily misused in the terms that it is frequently used against people who love the Japanese culture but are not "obnoxious, immature, and ignorant about the culture they love", as stated in the article. Using the example that you gave by the derogatory term nigger, it is really unusual for a white or east asian person to be called a nigger, but is is very common for a person who is just someone who likes the Japanese culture to be called a weeaboo, regardless if he meets the quoted charateristics to be called as one. I think that this particular phrase should be rewritten, but we should note somewhere else in this section of the article about the aspect of heavy misuse of the weeaboo term. - Cilinhosan1 (talk) 00:35, 22 May 2017 (UTC)

The closest I came to was with this sentence: "It is debatable whether weeaboo has the same meaning as the Japanese term otaku (people with obsessive interests) as weeaboo has been used as a blanket term that implies a connection." I chose to place the info there as the following bits gives a difference between the two different terms. We shouldn't use the wording "misused" as weeaboo is an insult thrown at someone based purely on their own opinion of the other person. - Knowledgekid87 (talk) 00:43, 22 May 2017 (UTC)

I think that the phrase should stay as "In the early 2000s, derogatory slang terms were created to demean those who appreciate Japanese popular culture.", and we should discuss later about how we should tackle the issue of the misuse of the weeaboo word, and use "It is debatable whether weeaboo has the same meaning as the Japanese term otaku (people with obsessive interests) as weeaboo has been used as a blanket term that implies a connection.", until we find a better alternative to this. - Cilinhosan1 (talk) 13:48, 23 May 2017 (UTC)

I am going to go ahead and revert the edit now, I want to add that as I said this is based on opinions. Is the word weeaboo misused? In my opinion, yes it is but to others it may not be. All we can do is provide the info from reliable sources which compare the two words Otaku and Weeaboo and have the reader decide for themselves. - Knowledgekid87 (talk) 13:53, 23 May 2017 (UTC)

Splitting Japanophile from weaboo/weeb?

This article seems to encompass two related, but distinct social phenomena:

• Japanophile: a non-Japanese with an intense and holistic interest in Japan, its people, culture, and history. Aesthetic, philosophical, economic, and ideological principles are often important components.
• Weeaboo/weeb: a non-Japanese whose interest in Japan is limited to or revolves around its pop/consumer culture, similar to otaku in Japan. Also like "otaku" (and unlike "Japanophile"), the terms "weeaboo" or "weeb" can be used pejoratively depending on the context. They also have origins and reception histories that are distinct from that of Japanophilia.

According to WP:CONSPLIT, splitting might be worth considering at this point. —CurryTime7-24 (talk) 23:02, 12 February 2024 (UTC)