Why I chose to study Japanese

Last semester, I took a class at Tufts University, Japan and Postmodernism by Hirata-sensei to satisfy a global requirement, as well as to test my lingering interest in Japan. I really can't claim a more formative experience in bringing together my intellectual and aesthetic interests. We explored and discussed the various art forms of Japanese culture, such as ukiyo-e and bunraku theater, under a critical lens of postmodern theory.

Ukiyo-e - woodblock print

We had to opportunity to read a range of literary works of modern Japanese authors from the well-known Tanizaki and Murakami to the more obscure Yoshikichi Furui. Over the summer, I attempted to sate my burgeoning curiosity for what Japan was by reading the works of renown masters of modern Japanese literature. Makioka Sisters by Tanizaki, Kokoro by Soseki,  as well as novels by Mishima, Kawabata, and Dazai. Even in the translated works, I could feel the subtlety in prose, repressed passion of the characters, and singularity with the natural world. I see literature as a broadening of experience, a means of peering into different worlds. I see this class as a continuation of this search, to seek the uniqueness of Japan and it's culture. I hope to be able to read these authors and their insights in the original language. It would be a great privilege for me to be able to read the syntactical, allusive, and other elements of technical deft in flowing Japanese.

The Makioka Sisters or Sasameyuki book cover

さくぶん１

 はじめまして。わたしはヘインです。アメリカじんです。ニューヨークからきました。コロンビアだいがくのにねんせいです。けいざいをべんきょうします。どうぞよろしくおねがいします。

 

ニューヨークのコロンビアだいがくです。