Why?

Although I am half-Japanese, I cannot speak it at all. Well, after the first six days of class I can barely make a sentence. My paternal grandmother, Kiyoko Fujitaki, was born in California in 1925, but moved back to Japan during the war. During the war, she was withdrawn from school and forced to work in a factory. Soon after the war ended, my grandmother returned to Southern California where she was set up on a blind date with my grandfather, Kenichi Nakamoto. They settled down in San Gabriel, California, and had my father, Kenneth Kenji, and my aunt, Jane Shizue. Neither my father nor my aunt were taught Japanese. My grandmother kept our culture alive by feeding us Japanese food or taking us to festivals like Obon. One thing, however, that I always regretted was not being able to talk to my grandmother in English. Sure, she is fluent in English, but I know how proud it would make her if I could speak it as well. Being a grandmother, especially an Asian one, she tends to gossip and brag about her grandchildren a lot.

I am excited to learn more about my heritage. I want to be able to go to Japan to visit relatives and actually be able to have a conversation with them. Nothing would make me happier than be able to watch a Hayao Miyazaki film in Japanese. Even after a week, however, I can tell that learning this language is not going to be as easy a feat as I had previously thought.

While it is arguably my most difficult class this semester, it is also the most fun thus far. I have trouble understanding sentence structure and trying to choose which particle to put where. I am not able to easily read hiragana yet, but I am practicing everyday. It is difficult feeling so limited. There are so many things that I want to say, but I just don't know how to translate it yet. I feel that I will have reached a turning point when I am able to not just think in English and translate into Japanese, but actually think in Japanese as well.

Wish me luck.