In a documentary titled, The Japanese Version, he points out the novelty of foreigners to Japanese in Japan, likening the relationship to a panda (the foreigner) and an animal watcher at a zoo (the Japanese).
The meaning of his analogy is that he believes the Japanese think foreigners are cute and out of the ordinary and will toss them treats if they do something cute, but that's as far as they want to be involved.
Transcript of The Japanese Version can be found at the Center for New American Media website