Why I Chose to Study 日本語

When I was younger my family had to move around a lot. In my 19 years of existence I've lived in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx, and Argentina. This constant change and shift of perspective made me really curious about how different groups of people around me interacted. I wanted to learn more about different cultures: religions, cuisines, and languages. Like many westerners, my childhood consisted of watching classic Japanese anime like Pokemon, Naruto, Sailor Moon, and every Studio Ghibli movie by Hayao Miyazaki. The more I watched these shows, the more I got to see into a culture that so different, yet at the same time as relatable as my own. My interest shifted from the anime to the country. I found it fascinating that this language had 4 different alphabets, and that in Japan you could see an archaic imperial palace across the street from one of the world's fastest bullet trains. I then decided that I wanted to add Japan to the list of places I've lived in. So in order to do that, I started teaching myself Japanese. But as I got older and school work intensified, I sort of found myself putting that dream on the back burner. By the time I arrived to college, my same passion for different cultures remained, but I had convinced myself that French rather than Japanese would be a better alternative for me as Political Science student. Well, I was wrong. While I enjoyed learning about French culture, learning the language became more of a chore than something I looked forward to mastering. So after finishing my first (and last) semester of that, I finally signed myself up for Introduction to Japanese. And although it is very hard work, it is finally some work that I really look forward to mastering one day.