Hi there, this is Devany’s introduction as well as her answer to the first question on starting TextFugu

I want to learn Japanese because I am part Japanese and have many relatives living in Japan that I would love to converse with on a deeper level than awkward bows. I would love to be able to watch an anime without subtitles. I would love to be able to read the Japanese on the back of my food and be able to understand when I’m ruining my dish. I don’t want to be limited to the ingredients with the best translation, rather than the best taste. I want to be able to say “YES” when people find out I was raised by a Japanese American grandmother and ask if I know the Japanese language as a result. More than anything, I want to be proud of my heritage and be able to be proud, unlike my grandmother during the Japanese American internment of WWII. She didn’t teach any of her family Japanese, and stopped speaking Japanese entirely, from the remaining fear and distrust of the American government, and I want to be able to change that and eradicate the last remnant of a horrible period that continues to taint the Japanese American society.