You've got it backwards. People learn about a culture's history after being interested by the culture itself. The reason why Chinese culture doesn't resonate with the west is because it was never fully subjugated in the same way India or Japan was.

People don't get a history lesson on Japan and then get into anime. They get into anime and then get history lessons on Japanese history. US schools aren't teaching yanks shit about Japan beyond WWII. The reason the why so many yanks is because the Japanese have a lot of practice selling GIs manga.

Similar relationship with India. If you're a Brit maybe you got a proper history lesson on India but as a Yank I got jack shit. Way less than on China. I still know less about Indian history than Chinese. Yet Indian culture is way less foreign because of how many indians speak English. I wouldn't be surprised if a French or German had zero grounding when it comes to Indian culture.

[–] Awoo@hexbear.net 6 points 23 hours ago

If you're a Brit maybe you got a proper history lesson on India

Only thing that covers some of this are RE classes.