Hello,
My name is Nicholas Frankel. I am a student at Columbia University in the City of New York, I major in English. I am a first year Japanese student who fell in love with the culture and the language through appreciation of anime and after having read the book, Shogun, by James Clavell.
For anybody interested in Japanese culture I would recommend Shogun. Shogun gives an account of the rise of the daimyo "Toranaga" (based upon the actual Tokugawa leyasu). Toranaga's rise to the rank of Shogunate is seen through the eyes of the English sailor "John Blackthorne, called Anjin-san ("pilot") by the Japanese, whose fictional heroics are loosely based on the historical exploits of William Adams.
I was personally moved by this book, and it instilled in me a yearning to learn the Japanese language, just as the character of John Blackthorne learns as you follow him through his peregrinations in feudal Japan.
Eventually I graduated to anime movies such as Ninja Scroll, Howl's Moving Castle, and Akira. These also had compelling and immersive stories that I respected and admired. Particularly Akira I found interesting because of the many subversive counter-culture themes and questions of morality it challenged the viewer to think about. It's famously ambiguous ending was also very thought-provoking. I would recommend it to anyone.