I think not being a weeb—i.e. obsessed with anime, Japanese pop culture, etc—works in your favor as far as making a good impression. The Japanese people I know are well aware of the American-Japanophile-nerd types, and generally find them very distasteful. If you're genuinely interested in the aspects of Japan that can't be experienced via BitTorrent, I think that compensates at least a little for any unfamiliarity with the more cliched side of Japanese culture.