Okay, this is one I'm happy to reply to, because I'm opinionated on this
subject!

I'm going to write this reply in an unusual format: I am going to list the
reasons which go against my position before I give my position.

1. The primary language on this list is eigo.
2. A great many of the people on this list don't speak any nihongo at all,
and watch most or all of their anime dubbed.

Those are the two main reasons; I won't bother to get into other reasons
beyond those.

Now, my official position on the use of nihongo in eigo fanfiction:

1. Anime and manga are, let us not forget, Japanese. Originally produced in
Japan, in nihongo. 
2. Introducing nihongo into eigo fanfiction serves the purpose of
broadening the horizons of the reader who does not know these terms.
3. Introducing nihongo into eigo fanfiction allows the author to get some
practice in another language.

In short, I support it fully. You'll notice I use my fair share of nihongo,
mostly for small stuff such as name suffixes, special attacks, and the
like, but occassionally I will use nihongo in chapter/episode titles, and
in my .sig.

(By the way...almost all of my extended nihongo use, such as in chapter
titles, involves anime song lyrics, for those who never discovered this.)

The fact is, I'm learning Japanese. It's not easy, because I'm not in a
position to take classes. So between anime, the Internet, computer
software, and a few books and audiocassettes from the bookstore, that's all
I have to work with. I practice what I can when I can, including in my
fanfics. I'm currently learning to write in Japanese, and have only in the
last two weeks memorized the full hiragana syllabary. I'm working on the
katakana next, and I have a very comprehensive kanji dictionary. My
eyesight, unfortunately, prevents me from reading from print easily, so I
need to get a new flatbed scanner before I can make much use of that.

My ultimate goal, which will be the definitive test of my skills in nihongo
(somewhere down the line anyway), will be, in time, to translate all of my
fanfics into written nihongo (yes, I know where to get a nihongo word
processor). If I can do this successfully, and make them make sense, then
I'll know I've learned what I need.

-------Zankoku na tenshi no you ni, shounen yo shinwa ni nare------

Robert Morrison, "The Eternal Lost Lurker"
EternalLostLurker@worldnet.att.net
EtLostLurker@hotmail.com
Ittai boku no peijo wa doko nan da!?