Hello! My name is Gillian Ohta and I am currently studying Japanese Language and Culture at California State University to obtain my BA. Welcome to my e-portfolio.
Statement of purpose
Every since I was quite young I have always had a profound interest in Japan. I believe that being half Japanese and growing up around the language and culture caused my interest to keep learning about Japan. Through my life I attended Sunday service at the Buddhist temple. Through the temple I was able to participate in Obon Odori, a traditional Japanese dance done during the summer, the Japanese tea ceremony, mochi tsuki, as well as many to other Japanese culture events. In elementary school I checked out every book in the school's library that related in Japan in any way. It got to a point where I had was re-reading the same books and having to go to the public library to find new materials. I kept using the library, internet, and what ever else I could get my hands on to keep expanding my understanding of the Japanese language and Culture. As I headed into my first year of high school I was extremely excited because I knew that were I was going to be attending offered Japanese until the AP level. Unfortunately I was unable to attend that high school. To my dismay the high school I ended up at was rather new and only offered Spanish as the foreign language. Since I was not to keen on learning Spanish at the time I decided to hold off and look into fulfilling my language requirements at the city college since that is an option. Thankfully my second year Japanese was offered as a foreign language at my high school. Through my Japanese language class at high school my love for the language grew and I started to consider majoring in Japanese. One day I meet with my Sensei and she told me about California State University Monterey Bay's Japanese language program. Based on her recommendation I toured the campus and applied to the university. And that is what brings me here.