ABSTRACT
Tourism imaginaries can be then understood as mediation and as a comprehensive model. The tourist experience is shaped by the previous imaginary, which molded the code of perception of a place and the concrete experience of the discovery. Fandom grew and those who were interested in these forms of leisure developed a specific interest in Japan, creating fantasies about the country which were pictured in the stories they enjoyed. Thus, a tourism imaginary linked to pop cultural content could be used to investigate trips to Japan made by tourists who declared themselves fans of or passionate for Japanese pop culture. Love stories were also sought by the French tourists. The seduction of and a love for idealized Japanese people played a great part in the tourists' desire for immersion, with implications for their personal and fantasized personality. Final point of note is the way that passion for Japan influences the lives of the tourists who declare themselves 'lovers of Japan'.
