09/02/2023
This proverb, I have not heard often, but I like the idea of it. When I was an exchange student in Tokyo, the suburb I lived in, was called Mitaka. The characters for its name means three Falcons, and I always thought it was such an interesting character. The kanji, Chinese characters used in the Japanese language., were the initial attraction to the language for me. I thought it was incredibly beautiful how the characters look like pictures, and how the language literally looked like it was a series of drawings communicating ideas. When I was 12 years old, I took it upon myself to start buying every book I could from the local bookstore so that I could learn how to write these characters. After school in the afternoons, I would sit with the TV tray in front of the TV. Just practicing characters nonstop. It was the never-ending puzzle that brought me so much joy. Because I started Japanese at such a young age, my handwriting, both in English and Japanese became skilled. I even ended up taking calligraphy lessons while I was in Japan, which helped my overall spatial awareness for the characters. I canβt wait to share my passion of the Japanese language and showcase interesting insights for our participants!
