Japanese Culture
I have been trying to get as much information on Japanese culture as I can. The language itself, doesn't seem to be too difficult, however, there seems to be a bit of a problem when I actually try to communicate and make friends with someone from Japan. I get that Japanese are more private and won't be disrespectful to your face, but I want to actually make friends with some native speakers. What is the best way to go about doing this? I've gotten in trouble for just messaging some people out of the blue to introduce myself, and i'm trying to avoid making anyone uncomfortable.

Also are there any hot button issues or things that I should ABSOLUTELY avoid talking about at ALL COSTS? Please do me a favor and tell me now so that I don't gravely offend someone unintentionally.

Question

Japanese Culture
I have been trying to get as much information on Japanese culture as I can. The language itself, doesn't seem to be too difficult, however, there seems to be a bit of a problem when I actually try to communicate and make friends with someone from Japan. I get that Japanese are more private and won't be disrespectful to your face, but I want to actually make friends with some native speakers. What is the best way to go about doing this? I've gotten in trouble for just messaging some people out of the blue to introduce myself, and i'm trying to avoid making anyone uncomfortable.

Also are there any hot button issues or things that I should ABSOLUTELY avoid talking about at ALL COSTS? Please do me a favor and tell me now so that I don't gravely offend someone unintentionally.

Answer

I think that you don't have to care so much to touch with Japanese.
We, almost Japanese, have shy and private personalities exactly. That's why we have no confidence in our communicating abilities (especially in English communication).
But we wanna talk with foreign people and wanna improve our English.
So don't hesitate to speak to your (future) Japanese friends.
Just talk or message to people who you are interested in.
If there is no reply, it's the bad timing.

Answer

How about starting watching Japanese dramas and animation to learn Japanese culture? I did the same things ten years ago. Now I can speak Japanese fluently and have a lot of friends in Japan. I have met them on SNS. If you can write Japanese, you can find Japanese native speakers on Facebook or Twitter. Good luck!