Japanese

 My interest in Japanese stems from when I was in grade school. My elementary school was next to a Hino semi-truck manufacturing plant which had Japanese immigrants working there. Through distracting myself and the rest of my class with origami books from the library, my teacher was motivated to connect with the Japanese immigrants from the Hino plant and host a Japanese day to teach us about Japanese culture.

​

As I grew older, I knew I wanted to spend time in Japan. When I was in high school, I had the opportunity to spend a month in Tokyo, Japan under the CIEE Global Navigator program to learn the basics of Japan's language and culture. In my final semester of college, I studied abroad at Waseda University. These experiences shaped my interest in all things Japanese!