Ever since I was a little kid in elementary school I was fascinated with my heritage as a Japanese-Taiwanese-American. Due to the fact that I grew up around my Japanese side of the family, participating in various Japanese cultural aspects, and attending the buddhist temple every week, I felt more connected and curious about my Japanese heritage. While in elementary and middle school I did a lot of self study about all things related to Japan. When I got began taking foreign language in high school my sophomore year, Japanese became available. I ended up taking that class and really enjoyed learned about not just the language, but also the culture we learned about in the class. As the time got closer to apply for college I did not know what I wanted to major in, however, when I thought about what I was passionate about, it all came back to my interest in Japan. Therefore, I decided to let my passion in my heritage guide me to selecting my major.
Through the MLO 1 Japanese language courses that I took here, I was able to improve on my Japanese language skills. Since I first started as a freshman, I have been able to achieve an intermediate high level of fluency in Japanese according to the STAMP tests that I had taken during my last two semesters at CSUMB. My most recent results can be found here, however I have achieved high scores on prior tests. I believe I was able to gain this fluency because of the classes that I took such as Business Japanese, and Japan: Land and People, which were both taught in all Japanese. These course have gotten me to be able to become more confident in my Japanese skills as well as being able complete my capstone with a high proficiency in Japanese.
Furthermore, not only did I learn about the Japanese language but I also learned about Japanese culture through the courses that I took to fulfill MLO 2 as well. I was able to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for Japanese pop culture such as manga and anime. I learned the various appeals and history of both manga and anime and why it has gained international notoriety. Additionally, I saw how Japanese culture plays a role on the international stage as well, For example, through the Japanese-American experience course that I took I was able to really gain a better understanding of how the Japanese culture is compared to that of other cultures. The concepts taught through the Japanese-American course really helped me gain a better understanding of Japanese culture because they talked about how the Japanese culture is an important part of the Japanese-American experience.
However, being globally aware of multiple cultures is imperative as it will better help me become more aware of how the Japanese culture plays a role on the global stage. Therefore, in order to become a global citizen and meet I took the History and Politics of Mexico in order to meet MLO 3. This course helped me become a more global citizen by comparing my understanding of Japanese history to the topics we were discussing throughout the course. Additionally, I also became more understanding of latino culture. During my teen years I had some traumatic experiences that were associated with the Latin culture and after taking this course I was able to grow and put past old wounds behind me in order to become a global person.
One of the hardest things I had to do during my studies as a Japanese Major, was my Capstone Project. For my capstone project I was able to incorporate what I had learned from MLO 4 in to my project. I was able to search the school’s databases for the necessary articles in order to compose a well supported argument, using credible sources. From the sources that I found I was able to create a survey using google forms to survey both American and Japanese students. After compiling the data from the survey I had to create graphs in order to accurately represent the data collected.
During my sophomore year I got the opportunity of a lifetime to study abroad in Osaka at Osaka Gakuin University for a year. The time that spent in Osaka allowed me to grow and truly internalize the Japanese language and culture according to MLO 5. Through my experience studying abroad I adopted and incorporated both the Japanese language and culture into my daily life even after returning to the United States. For example, I learned about patience while living in Japan through everyday things like waiting for the train to go to school. Furthermore it allowed me to become more open minded as it is necessary to be when living abroad.
I am so glad that I chose to study Japanese Language and Culture at California State Monterey. I feel that it has prepared me to enter either go into the work field or continue my education through grad school. I hope in the future to be able to return to Japan in order to live and work while still being able to further my Japanese language skills and understanding of the Japanese culture as well.