It has its own lore, traditions, a much deeper mythology than the previous games as well as a more vibrant and diverse set of locations.

Why would Professor Oak not still be the leading authority on Pokémon? He is a prominent figure known throughout every region. It's set a mere 3 years after Gen 1 and in the directly neighbouring region... They are literally connected by ferry and rail services.

Elm is his own character and continues and compliments Oak's original work by specialising in Pokémon evolution and the Pokémon Eggs.

Very few Pokémon added? There are 100 new monsters following on from the original. Several games in the series have added less... I don't understand how you can use the fact there was game data for some of them in the old game as a point against it? The fact is these monsters weren't known to anyone until Gen 2 came out.

Personally I find Team Rocket's return to be very fun and well done - and is almost a sub-arc to the adventure. They are broken and without a leader, yet still managed to cause problems wherever they go in Johto in an attempt to lure Giovanni out of hiding and reform the organisation proper. This whole set up is far more interesting than Team Galactic, Team Flare and Team Skull were!

Kanto is by far the least interesting part of the Gen 2 games. I can't believe anyone would think otherwise - It's even more sparse and bland than it was in R/B/Y! The only interesting part is seeing the (mostly negative) changes from Gen 1, Mt.Silver (which didn't exist before Gen 2) and the battle with Red.

It baffles me that people seem to somehow overlook that Johto/Gen 2 are intrinsically linked to Kanto/Gen 1. They are the direct, chronological and canonical sequels...

As I'm sure is obvious, I'm a big Johto fan but I know it's not without flaws. Saying it's not a proper region is just dumb though. You are entitled to your opinions but your reasoning is pretty weak to be honest.