>>6668
I jumped to Kemono in 1997. It wasn't. The be-like-the-Americans thing only started happening with Social Media platforms like Twitter. Even Dr Comet, Trump, and the /few/ others who associated with the Western hemisphere's fans in the pioneering days only did it as a side, their work/market/fans primarily being 'the Japanese Hentai scene. And for every Comet/Trump, there were 20x as many Japanese-only Kemono websites without a hint of Furry Once-Fandom.
Having Circles and a fandom for Anthro art and work has always been a thing over there, but it was indigenous communities and their ideas. (The popular "Catwife" and still influential idea of Human + Anthro romantic pairings had nothing really like it in Furry Fandom, for an example of how they did their own thing.)
Having fursonas as complete personal identities, drawing 'characters' has blank as their backgrounds, mursona commissions, fandom as a way to get IRL ass sex, Carpetsuting, etc. has only been happening in Formerly Based Nippon for the past few years, and it's getting worse.