Reason for Japan

I became interested in Japan by proxy from all the media I’ve enjoyed over the years. Since middle school, I had so many things that I was interested in which originated from Japan. Of course, anime dubbed in English such as Dragon Ball Z Kai was a big thing, but I realized that there were so many other Japanese influences like playing the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game with my friends, reading the Pokemon Adventures manga in the library, and learning about the history of ninjas. This developed into a love for Japanese media in general to where I’ve watched hundreds of anime, listen to J-pop/J-rock all the time, read obscure manga, and now making an serious effort to learn Japanese.

I previously felt that learning Japanese would be a waste of time as I wanted to establish my own life first, which made my education in Computer Science top priority. Not only that, I thought it was way too complicated to learn such a different language than English that seemed to have a very limited return. I soon realized that this was me seeking comfort disguised as self doubt. In reality, I can do anything I want if I let myself make a serious try while challenging any fears of failure.

Which comes to why I am applying to language school. I am aware that even though I have a strong determination to learn Japanese now, the journey ahead of me is a very long and difficult one. I want to ensure that I make the foundation for my learning as strong as I can, which lead me to choosing GenkiJacs Fukuoka. I didn’t want to go to language school to just have a rigorous structure to passing tests; I want to have the ability to communicate clearly and effectively. Granted, I want to clear the N2 JLPT test at some point, but that’s more so an addition to my overall goal of being able to understand and interact with the language as a whole.

I do have a goal after graduating language school to work as a software developer in Japan. This is due to my still held interest in Computer Science (specifically web development) that I want to apply at a professional level. Although, this is really my initial goal.

In the grand scheme of things, I want to really challenge the reality I’ve perceived my whole life. I could easily stay in America and continue living comfortably… but that is the kind of life which I believe leads to mediocrity. I want to live a life that can overcome any obstacle rather than being insulated from any sort of risk at all. It is really scary when I think about it and doubly more so emotionally difficult to act. I hope that by moving to Japan and living without any sort of external influence directly limiting my life, I will evolve into someone entirely new.