U tell me then I'll tell you!

Was talking to mom and discussion of how many Taiwanese people my age we know are learning Japanese and have this Japanese cultural fanatic thing going on..then i realized, Why do people always ask me or tease me about me learning Greek and loving the culture (the bad and the good), but never do they tell, ask WHY they learn Japanese or fanatic about the culture? or get teased about it.

okay, so the land and people were occupied for 50 years but is that enough of a connection and reason for individual person who like Japanese and the culture?