What First Got You Interested?

point4m · 12 Sep 2004

This might have been done already, but I thought it would be neat to see how we all got started in our love for Japan and it's culture.

I had a friend who received penpal magazines and she convinced me (at 15), to write in to the magazine stating that I would be interested in penpals. I received a tremendous amount of letters from Japan and a few from a couple of other countries, but as soon as I started reading the letters, I knew I was hooked! I think that it's because Japan is such an old culture, with years of rich history and thick tradition. It was so different from what I knew. I am so glad that I got involved then because as a teenager, it opened up the world to a young girl from a rural community. It really helped open my eyes to the fact that we are all part of something much bigger!

RockLee · 12 Sep 2004

I watched anime at first...found a girl from Japan who also was interested in meeting a foreign friend, and I know her for 6 months almost, she has becaume my best friend and this winter I'm going to her for 2 weeks !!

kirei_na_me · 12 Sep 2004

Didn't get interested until I met my husband. I kind of got thrust into it. It's hard to explain. I would say that I had to get interested in it because of him, but then everybody would say, 'gee, you're terrible'...but then, that's just how it was and still is.

If I was into any country, it was France. I had studied French for several years, I loved France(and still do). I was into everything European, really. My husband was my first real interest in Asia, I would say.

Nuala · 12 Sep 2004

I spent summers in Okinawa when I was a child and I want to go back there. ☝

Apollo · 12 Sep 2004

I was always interested!! I was born in Japan and have a Japanese mother... :nihonjin:

Grandpa Frank · 12 Sep 2004

GROWING UP IN THE 50's.....

it seemed everything had "made in Japan" stamped on it.
The really cool toys all came from Japan.Going to Japan for 2 years(in the Navy) showed me it was better then I thought.

Frank

mad pierrot · 12 Sep 2004

As a kid, anywhere "not here" held some kind of interest.

I always wanted to be Indiana Jones.

Ewok85 · 12 Sep 2004

3 years of compulsary learning japanese followed by 2 more years of elective study, acceptance into an exchange program and more recently a close japanese friend. I cant see myself getting tired of it either, between the language, the people and the quirks theres enough to keep me going for a while.

Hero · 12 Sep 2004

Video Games > Anime > Trip to Japan > My GF is Japanese.

The trip to Japan really grasped my interest and I've been avidly trying to learn new things about Japan's people and culture.

Started learning the language to watch anime before they were translated/subtitled.
Now I'm learning it so I can talk to my girl in Japanese. (We always talk in Egnlish since it's MUCH better then my Japanese.)

BlaqJap · 12 Sep 2004

I always loved Japan...because my Aunt is quite fluent in it and went there for College. I guess once I was exposed to Anime and I figured out that it was from Japan, I started to fall in love with the culture. Then, my decision was ' I am SO there!'

blessed · 13 Sep 2004

I suppose I first got interested in Iapan when I met with some natives, and we became friends... but after that, the typical sushi - technology - anime - language - culture line of events followed...

Emoni · 13 Sep 2004

Wow, can't even remember back to any specific reasons... Just have been from a very early age.

Lacan · 13 Sep 2004

My girlfriend is Japanese, but was born and raised in France, she wanted to discover her country's culture, and so did I...

nekosasori · 13 Sep 2004

Born and raised in Canada, to parents who chose to abandon their Japanese heritage as well as they could (but they weren't successful at all...) And seeing as I only spoke Japanese in the home, and learned about the culture as interpreted by my parents, I do consider myself quite Japanese anyway, even if as a nisei I'll never be accepted fully by Japanese society.

chikazukiyasui · 13 Sep 2004

The first thing that stands out in my memory that piqued my interest in Japan was reading An Artist of the Floating World , a brilliant book by Kazuo Ishiguro. That was quite a few years ago, but it never occurred to me until much more recently to start learning Japanese.

Kazuo Ishiguro also wrote Remains of the Day (that got turned into a film), but I've never bothered to read that, funnily enough.

playaa · 13 Sep 2004

I have like Japan since Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles came out the very first time.

topi · 13 Sep 2004

Cars and motorsport. The culture of motorsport and engine tuning in Japan is fascinating to me.
So much that im going to get myself involved!

King of Tokyo · 13 Sep 2004

playaa said:
I have like Japan since Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles came out the very first time.

Haha.. So true.. I was a Huge fan of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from when I was around 6-7.. I had almost every toy.. And I used to jump around like a Ninja and kick stuff when it came on.. Haha..

playaa · 13 Sep 2004

No kidding, I did the same... Funny that was out in like 1985 so long ago.. Getting old .. :/

King of Tokyo · 13 Sep 2004

playaa said:
No kidding, I did the same... Funny that was out in like 1985 so long ago.. Getting old .. :/

Heh.. Is it really that old? Hmm.. Well then I must have been watching newer type episodes or something.. I'd say the earliest I watched it (According to my Dad.. Heh) Would be 3 or 4.. Until about 8.. And I was 3-4 in 91-92.. Yeh must have been the next generation or something.. Heh. I don't think 20 is old though.. Older than me.. But not old.. Heh. *Is still the ripe age of 16* I only have 4 more years of not being old according to playaa

playaa · 13 Sep 2004

LOL.. Well 21 is the last birthday you count, so I am worried. Early mid life crisis coming.. haha

jieshi · 13 Sep 2004

I have always had a fascination with ninja's and samurai since I was a child and would get my grandparents friend to tell me stories (I only found out a few years ago he is actually singaporean lol hey I was 6) and then I started watching anime last year and got more interested in pop culture and history and here I am!

gedatsu · 13 Sep 2004

I have always been interested in Japan, but I became REALLY interested while I was at Uni (couple years ago). I studied computer science and digital media/graphic design, and came across artists from japan that facinated me (im not talking anime graphics, i mean more traditional artists).
The one day something wierd happened. I decided then and there I wanted to learn Japanese. Just like that. So I started Japanese classes and have been going for about 2 years now. It is now my main passion and goal to learn japanese well, and eventually have a career in Japan (as difficult as that may be).

There, the whole dirty story!

cross-platform · 14 Sep 2004

It had to be the creative technology that was coming out of Japan that caught my attention. After that, I became interested in Japan's history, and how it seems to be such a mix of modern and traditional culture. I can only hope I will get to visit someday.

PopCulturePooka · 14 Sep 2004

A) I collect transformers so imported a few Japanese only figs.

B) I collected bad 'engrish' Japanese T-shirts from a few shops in Brisbane.

But I had no spectacular fascination with Japan beyond being a place I want to visit one day.

Then I saw an ad for NOVA in the paper and decided its worth a shot as a I needed to fill out my dole diary anyway.

The rest is history.

My real interest is to live and work in NYC.

What First Got You Interested?

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