Yeah, that part about the “yellow fever” was intended to be self-deprecating in a humorous way, but maybe that didn’t come out right…

I remember growing up with a certain Asian-American friend who use to tease me about it too. We were good friends and still are , so I never really took offense to it. I think being an Asian male in the West is hard too, so maybe he was just venting to a friendly ear.

Speaking from experience, there’s a fine line between loving a culture and being obsessed with it. In my younger days I fit the latter category a little too well, but like most people I got out of the awkward phase and figured it out. On the subject of international marriages, you know I am married that way too. My point was that they’re somewhat more difficult to make successful due to the additional overhead of cultural differences, but people who make them work are those who learn to respect each other’s culture and make an effort, etc.

So what if some prefer a particular race. Men are often taken by the physical. There’s rarely comment about liking redheads or blondes or whatever.
The people in International marriages / relationships I’ve met are perfectly nice and normal people. And it cuts both ways. Women aren’t stupid.

Nerds are mostly harmless. So what if they have an obsession in anime and Japan. I could think of worse ways to spend your energy. I find it strange, especially cosplay fans, but whatever makes them happy is fine by me.

I find it difficult to take photos of people in the street, even with a long lens! So I wouldn’t chase after Geisha, Miko etc.
Gion at night does feel like a theme park and the tourists paparazzi like outside the restaurants are strange. While wandering the backstreets however I saw Geisha hurrying about their business undisturbed. I’ve also seen the fake Geisha, Japanese tourists dressed up for the day.

I wonder if tourists would chase after Yakuza? I’ve seen them too in an old sentou. Scary looking guys, you probably wouldn’t want to chase after them.