So, who Japanese?

This has been a long time coming. My passion with all things Japanese began with Neon Genesis Evangelion. Yes, cartoons. I was probably 14 or so and it blew my mind. I think that gave way to other anime, and that into Japanese film. The 7 Samurai is one of my favorite movies of all time.

My first time in Japan I was too young to care, but for my second trip, I was sent to Yokosuka and Tokyo for 5 weeks in 2003. It was stunning and I've been dying to go back ever since.

Since then my taste for Japanese aesthetic has only grown. My favorite food is hands down ramen. The real stuff, not that freeze-dried junk. I love the minimalist architecture. Even a thing like flower arrangement just makes sense to me, the older I get.

Learning the language was the next natural step.




So far so good. The biggest challenge so far is simply fluency. Obviously I'm no where near  fluent, but even the speed at which I say or read the few things I DO know is pretty darn sad at the moment.