Why Japan?

My answer will be almost the same than the old question 'why Scotland?' (I was in Edinburgh for a year)
Well I wanted to fulfil my curiosity about another culture, another way of thinking...
Like a lot of people from my generation, the first things I knew about Japan were: manga, anime, technologies and kimonos. My mum taught me some words from her learning experience from her college years^^ My father, who is found of nature reserve and architecture (old and new), has shown me some great works from Japan and Japanese people.
And one day, in Edinburgh, my little sister told me she just read a manga and that made wanting to read it...
But the book was for me, so I found on internet the drama version of the manga. It was really fun. And someone let a comment about another adaptation of a manga... The stereotype characters made me laugh and curious about Japanese way of life. So I begun to watch some TV shows on internet which were translated in English.
After few weeks, I had those thoughts:
- cuisine and food are as important for them as for French people
- they have odd but common ideas of an European
- I have more wrong ideas about Japan and Japanese people than I think

Only thing I was sure about: I want to learn more about this country and this culture...