Why I'm Studying Japanese

I chose to study Japanese because I am half Japanese.

I grew up in America and my parents spoke to me mainly in English growing up, so I never learned the language. I grew up eating Japanese food, visiting Japan, engaging in some Japanese cultural practices, and having Japanese friends and family - but I cannot speak Japanese. I want to close this divergence within my identity.

I am interested in sociological ideas surrounding Japanese identity. It's fascinating to me how easily I can claim to be German (my other half) and am welcomed in Germany, despite growing up in America and not speaking German, yet I can never be accepted as Japanese. Ideas of what it means to be jun japa, and the challenges that people of kikokushijo and hafu identities face are very intriguing to me. I know even if I were to become perfectly fluent in the Japanese language, I could never be fully accepted into Japanese society, but that fact doesn't discourage me from learning. Language learning is incredibly important to me, not only because it allows me to build connections with people, but also because it reveals a lot of significant cultural nuances that simply cannot be learned through history or general cultural practices. I do not think it is possible to be fully familiar with a culture if you are not familiar with the language. And thus, I decided to begin my journey to learn Japanese!