Why am I taking the intensive, five credit course known as Intro to Japanese while also having the intense workload of computer science?
The answer is simple; I really like various aspects of Japanese culture. I love watching anime. I've watched so many series throughout the years that I've lost count. Early on in high-school I discovered that anime could be watched over the internet in the original language with subtitles. While watching the subtitles, I could tell that I was missing something. I knew that I was missing out on some meaning that could only be understood through learning Japanese.
I love listening to J-pop and J-rock (even though I don't understand the words). I always thought to myself when listening to the music " If the music effects me strongly now, understanding Japanese would probably take my enjoyment of the music to a whole new level. "
I also really love Japanese role-playing games (JRPGs). I love playing many of the Atlus games like Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne and the Persona franchise. I hate having to wait over six months for the English port of a particular jrpg. I want to be able to just import the game when it comes out in Japan and be able to play it. I also want to play some of the games that will likely never come out in America, like the Super Robot Wars series where they have robots from many super robot anime series like Gundam and Macross. Atlus did bring out a couple of games from the Original Generation series but they have not and probably will not receive the main games that have the robots from many anime but it would be a licensing nightmare. Learning Japanese would allow me to play many games from this popular game series.
Finally, I would like to work in Japan as a game designer and work on creating the type of games that I play currently.
