Why Japan?

[tipsygypsy]

Originally Posted by dogsbody70

for me until i met ,my japanese friend here in uk i only thought of the japanese during the war--------------never ever thought about japn apart from that.


i have read a lot about the war----------------i now like their historical art and craft skills.

Thanks. This implies that we can get over the negative past with creativity or something positive huh?

[Nyororin]

For me it was kind of random. I took a super short summer Japanese course... (Half on a whim, half because a guy I liked was taking it... ) And found it extremely easy. The course itself was a course for hopeful Japanese teachers - and I was part of a group of "practice" students.
For a lot of the practicing "teachers", they could barely speak Japanese to begin with, and were usually far from good at teaching. I think over half the course was different variations on teaching a "daily greetings class".

But where it completely failed at actually teaching any real Japanese - I was able to take away the knowledge that I was very very good at remembering and pronouncing Japanese when compared with all the other students. I was picking up and remembering words from when the Japanese native teachers were discussing things amongst themselves. The head of the program knew my name after the first few days and somewhere along the line she started using me as her main demonstration student.

(Years later, on a visit to the university where she now heads the entire East Asian department... She still remembered me and was not at all surprised that I`d reached fluency.)

She showered me with praise, and pushed me to aim for a degree in her department... At that point though, I was years away from university. She gave me a scrap of information that compelled me to actually head to Japan.
Her courses were test-out courses. I could test out of up to two years worth of language and culture classes. This held the potential to cut a university education down by a year or more.
This, combined with the fact that the university fees were time based - not credit based... And that I was incredibly poor and could hardly imagine affording university at all let alone 4 full years of it...

It became a very real incentive to learn Japanese as quickly and cheaply as possible.

In the course, studying to be a teacher, there was a woman who had to have been in her 40s. She apparently went to Japan in her late 30s, stayed for a couple years, and managed to acquire close to fluent Japanese.

I was 15 at the time of the course. I figured that if someone in their late 30s could manage to acquire the language by exposure, surely I could do the same as I was much younger.

It took a year and a half after that to scrape together enough money to buy a ticket and find someone willing to let me stay with them (the mother of a friend). But I did get myself over to Japan, and I was able to pick up the language through exposure. I never did head back and to that university though. I later got a degree in Japan at a normal Japanese university.

[tokusatsufan]

There was this naff Japanese class you could do at lunchtime at my college for a while! I did learn the odd word I didn't know but it was mostly fail. And too little too late. In fact,I partly started learning Japanese as a reaction to it not being at school.

[tipsygypsy]

Originally Posted by Nyororin

For me it was kind of random. I took a super short summer Japanese course... (Half on a whim, half because a guy I liked was taking it... ) And found it extremely easy. The course itself was a course for hopeful Japanese teachers - and I was part of a group of "practice" students.
For a lot of the practicing "teachers", they could barely speak Japanese to begin with, and were usually far from good at teaching. I think over half the course was different variations on teaching a "daily greetings class".

But where it completely failed at actually teaching any real Japanese - I was able to take away the knowledge that I was very very good at remembering and pronouncing Japanese when compared with all the other students. I was picking up and remembering words from when the Japanese native teachers were discussing things amongst themselves. The head of the program knew my name after the first few days and somewhere along the line she started using me as her main demonstration student.

(Years later, on a visit to the university where she now heads the entire East Asian department... She still remembered me and was not at all surprised that I`d reached fluency.)

She showered me with praise, and pushed me to aim for a degree in her department... At that point though, I was years away from university. She gave me a scrap of information that compelled me to actually head to Japan.
Her courses were test-out courses. I could test out of up to two years worth of language and culture classes. This held the potential to cut a university education down by a year or more.
This, combined with the fact that the university fees were time based - not credit based... And that I was incredibly poor and could hardly imagine affording university at all let alone 4 full years of it...

It became a very real incentive to learn Japanese as quickly and cheaply as possible.

In the course, studying to be a teacher, there was a woman who had to have been in her 40s. She apparently went to Japan in her late 30s, stayed for a couple years, and managed to acquire close to fluent Japanese.

I was 15 at the time of the course. I figured that if someone in their late 30s could manage to acquire the language by exposure, surely I could do the same as I was much younger.

It took a year and a half after that to scrape together enough money to buy a ticket and find someone willing to let me stay with them (the mother of a friend). But I did get myself over to Japan, and I was able to pick up the language through exposure. I never did head back and to that university though. I later got a degree in Japan at a normal Japanese university.

wow! It seems like you are really smart person both in capability of your brain and the way of thinking. And I like the first motivation that you started learning Japanese. lol

[tipsygypsy]

Originally Posted by tokusatsufan

There was this naff Japanese class you could do at lunchtime at my college for a while! I did learn the odd word I didn't know but it was mostly fail. And too little too late. In fact,I partly started learning Japanese as a reaction to it not being at school.

hahaha that's really funny that many people learns both everyday greeting and odd words at the first level of learning foreign language. I remember that really first English phrases I learned were " Thank you " and " F**k you " lol

[JohnBraden]

I arrived on Japanese soil in 1987 as part of the US armed forces. I spent two years there and liked it. I've had an affinity for Japan ever since. It had nothing to do with any current trends....

[tipsygypsy]

Originally Posted by JohnBraden

I arrived on Japanese soil in 1987 as part of the US armed forces. I spent two years there and liked it. I've had an affinity for Japan ever since. It had nothing to do with any current trends....

That's how most American men get bumped into Japan. They met Japan because they were on duty. But it's good to hear that you like Japan now. Your case also is very interesting. This shows how unexpected reason can affect ones affinity. Thank you so much

[PratikGizmo]

Originally Posted by tipsygypsy

No, it wasn't long at all. I really enjoyed reading your post. Thank you so much.

thank you ...and..what do you love about your own country?0o?..i mean.. i meet many japanese people who say that they didnt like japan??

[RealJames]

I came here on a whim, it could have been anywhere, and then I'd be at AnywhereForum.com instead of here lol.
I came here hoping a life other than what I had planned was feasible, but I had no expectations, more of a "last fun before real life begins" kind of thing.
Lo and behold life here turned out to be better than I expected or could have hoped.
Also, spoken Japanese is pretty dead-simple compared to other languages. Written is a different story, but within a year of being here I was holding simple conversations, within two years getting into more heavy topics. I still can't read the paper though.

[tipsygypsy]

Originally Posted by PratikGizmo

thank you ...and..what do you love about your own country?0o?..i mean.. i meet many japanese people who say that they didnt like japan??

Japanese food! That's the biggest element to make me love my own culture. 2nd biggest reason is neglect. People really don't get bothered whatever I do. It's really rare that people tell me what to do/what to do not. but the neglect is the big problem of our society at the same time though. Many young parents who have kids don't do their duty because they want to do what they want do. well... it won't end if I keep coming up with the things I like/dislike about Japan. Both are countless.