I guess for me my interest in Japanese culture started with an obsession with horror movies. Even as a kid I had an unnatural affinity for scary movies and I found the ones that scarred me the most were the Japanese horror movies. I went on this website that had a list of the best Asian Horror movies and one of them caught my eye. It was not what you would define as a legitimate horror movie but it was a quirky Korean movie directed by Park Chan-Wook called "I'm a Cyborg But That's Okay". I liked the main actor in it who I would later discover was the K-pop idol Rain and I went on to watch a drama he was in called Full House (absolutely no relation to the American Sitcom).
I started looking for more dramas because I liked Full House so much and my friend recommended Hana Yori Dango. From there my interest in Japanese dramas peaked and I watched many more and even started listening to some Japanese music. I've seen a few Anime's but I am by no means an Anime nerd. So I suppose my main reason for taking Japanese was because I was inspired by Japanese Pop Culture. There are other reasons of course, that are slightly more superficial. I would love to travel to Japan and try authentic sushi and go to a karaoke bar and sing in Japanese.
Aside from my original shallow interest in Japanese Pop Culture I ended up taking a Japanese History Class at CCNY and found that there was a whole lot more to the culture. I read some early Japanese literature and had a new found appreciation for Japan.
Japanese is proving to be just as hard as I thought it would be. Last semester was no picnic and I know that this semester will probably prove to be even harder. Everyone wish me luck!
-Cat
A.K.A. Catherine
A.K.A. Neko-Chan/San
