Though, I guess there are people who might see the title and say, “It’s not evening, it’s barely noon!” Enough of that though.

My name is Reed, a 20-something year old student trying to become some kind of professional in the Medical field of employment. What that is… Well, at this time I don’t really know.  Though my end goal might be around the level of a Physician’s Assistant or Anesthesiologist. Like I said, I don’t really know what I want to do.

Why I’m learning Japanese though is a completely separate matter. Since about the time of elementary school when Toonami was on in the mid-afternoon and Ruroni Kenshin, Tenchi Muuyo, and Dragonball Z were still common sights I fell in love with anime. Not Japan, just anime. As I grew older and got steady access to the internet my obsession with anime reached a high point where I would come home from school get on the computer and stream subbed anime no matter how mainstream or “underground” it might have been. Eventually I burned out on that and started reading manga scanalations and when I caught up with the series I was reading I got tired of how long it took for them to release translated versions of the newest chapter. So I attempted to learn to read the hiragana and katakana so that I might sate myself at that point. (I leave Kanji out because I hadn’t really found a good method/source to learn from). So after about two-ish weeks I had learned Hiragana but, like a lot of people I burned out and said, “I’m done with this.”

If I had to say why I have come around to trying to learn Japanese again, it would definitely be because Tofugu/Kouichi were big sources of inspiration when I first came around to learning Japanese. I even tried joining some of his EduFire classes… Despite the fact every time I would go to check for a new class sign up the spots would already be filled and I would have to wait until the next time around T~T

I ended up coming back though because I had begun watching everyday life videos from a user on youtube named ‘Gimmeabreakman.’ Though he’s “only” (and I say only respectfully because it’s not what I want to do in Japan) an English teacher he has also been a great inspiration for why I want to go live in Japan. He has essentially broken my romanticized vision of Japan from the last decade and a half(?) – around that much time- and while I was a little disappointed that not everything is as anime has depicted it, that there won’t be people cosplaying on every corner (exaggerating of course) nor would I find wild pokemon walking about (again, exaggerating). No, instead of those fantasies I have found myself thinking that I would love to live in such a peaceful-looking country and whether that be for 5 years or 50 years I do not know but, I will try my best to fulfill my dream – despite how unimpressive it might be.

So I guess you could say the reason I’m learning Japanese is because I have been greatly influenced by anime, manga, interesting news I get from Japan, several youtube videos and users, and maybe a bit of the “Man’s Romance” for adventure. Or maybe I just don’t have a very good reason at all and just wanted to perk up my less than sparkling life with something both useful and unique (to my area of the U.S.A.). So if you read all that or you just read this short ending paragraph I thank you for your time and hope we’ll get along well in the future.