There's this notion on our side of the Pacific that anime and manga are all mainstream things that every living person in Japan pays close attention to. Not true. For the most-part, your average Japanese works a dull job all week from before sun-up until late in the evening with a long commute both ways. They spend what little time they have off either drinking, gambling, eating something covered in corn and mayonnaise, asleep, or hungover. It's kind of like being an alcoholic in Houston. It's no wonder so many of them take the charcoal-powered ride to the great unknown each and every year.

That's the reality for the employed, by the way. For much of the population things are even worse (and suicide methods of choice get messier as the price decreases). It's only through a system of voluntary socialism (lots of meaningless low-paying jobs with triple redundancy) that the whole country doesn't implode into bread riots. It's not the happiest place on earth as your anime (+ your lack of common sense) may have lead you to believe.

Like most places in the world, it's glamorous and fun if you have money. If you actually have to live and work there, it sucks ass. Apply what you may know from experience: visiting NYC = fun. Living in NYC = rats, cockroaches, and basement apartments. Visiting Hawaii = fun. Living in Hawaii = $5 gasoline, $7 orange juice, and it always rains the second you want to out goddamn cock-sucking motherfucker. Seriously, just visit.

Like here, only lame nerds in Japan watch anime. Those people with real jobs that watch anime don't mention it in polite conversation. This isn't to say that certain shopping districts don't have an awesome selection of things you won't find on our side of the Pacific and it's definitely fun to see.