Young college student who wants to live in a bigger city in the PNW. (university)

[extremeotaku19]

I am a 21-year old student at Boise State University. I want to begin doing a preliminary survey of cities here to make a good decision.

I have lived in Idaho for a long time, Montana for 9 years, and want to find a more urban, liberal, and progressive place than Boise.

I am currently majoring in History, minor in Japanese, History Teaching qualification, who is hoping to get an Masters of Library Science degree, and become a librarian in one of the bigger cities here in the Northwest.

Mass Transit is a key, since I cannot drive. I would like to find somewhere where I could get on a bus/light rail late at night.

I have Asperger Syndrome, so I would like to find a city where there are a lot of Aspies. I am a Japanese-American, and would like to find a city where there is a lot of Japanese food/culture. I would like to find a good Buddhist temple, and a place where the people are tolerant of those of other religions.

Since I am a big nerd, I would like to find a city with a lot of Anime/Manga/Video Game/Science Fiction fans would be nice. I also would like to find people to discuss books with.

Here is a list of my preliminary cities, all obvious.

Seattle (big city, progressive-liberal, technological, nerdy, but high cost of living and mass transit seems questionable)

Portland (smaller than Seattle, but still fairly big, less technological than Seattle, liberal (large hippie population), cost of living lower?, good mass transit, social problems)

Vancouver, BC (about the same size as Seattle, not sure about countercultural or nerdy scene, mass transit?, cost of living?, immigration requirements (if I move to BC, I would like to get Canadian citizenship), proximity to large anime conventions such as Sakura-con, etc.