(English) Why I Chose to Study Japanese
Hello all! In this post, I will explain why I am taking Japanese at Columbia University. Growing up in Idaho, there is virtually no Japanese influence, outside of a handful of restaurants. Even so, I was always very interested in Japanese culture. I was a Nintendo kid all my life, my first personal console being a Nintendo DS Lite and my first game being Pok é mon P earl, which was my first real intro into one aspect of Japanese culture. From there I was quite hooked but had no real way to express interest in it other than enjoying merchandise and content that came from Japan. I took Spanish language in high school since my school did not offer any languages outside of French and Spanish, and told myself I would learn Japanese in college. In the interim, I found out through my AP Psychology course about the idea of collectivism. In the psychological study that I was reading about, Japan was known for being the most collective culture. This fascinated me, as I grew up with a disl...
