Ever since 2018, when I started studying Japanese seriously in university, I've been constantly fascinated with the language and culture. That should have come as no surprise, after all, I've always liked Japanese games, and, given my obsession with anything automotive, Japanese cars (specifically from the 80s to the mid 2000s) have similarly high at the top of my list of all time greats. Seeing contemporary Japanese life depicted in the games I've played, something always stood out to me about how different it is to Western culture. Coming from Brazil, a place where people are extremely vocal and the country extremely disorganized, Japan is in stark contrast. The fact that the social dynamics are also present in the language (something you don't see in many Western languages) was a novel concept to me when first starting out. Of course, because of that, when I first started out I struggled greatly to come to grasps with it all. However, the more I did it, the more enjoyable the challenge of thinking in an entirely different way became. Interestingly, I had never before been to Japan. Despite my family always taking a yearly trip to different places, Japan was never one of them. With all that in mind, come mid-2019, I had already decided that I wanted to study abroad in Japan. After all, I wasn't about to let all this effort I put into learning the language (and indeed admiration for the culture) just slowly fade away. I had a goal, a singular purpose in my study of Japanese; I wanted to become fluent.
That being the goal, the rest is relatively simple by comparison. 9 months may not seem like a very long amount of time to become fluent in a language (and I would in fact agree), but, as the saying goes, necessity is the mother of all invention. I don't know if I'll be able to achieve my goal in these short 9 months, but I'll make a concerted effort to come as close as humanly possible. The first area I'll be working on is kanji knowledge. Even compared to my peers, kanji is definitely a weakness. I often forget how to read them, and how certain kanji change when paired together. Thankfully, there's a simple solution to this issue: kanji is present everywhere in Japan. I am hoping that, by documenting and reading every single kanji I come across, they'll eventually become ingrained in memory. I've never been very good at studying kanji, the information just doesn't stick, so instead, by being in an environment where I'm forced to learn will accelerate the process. The same is true for my speaking training. In the end, it's just a matter of practice, and what better practice than engaging in the day-to-day of Japanese natives? Everything ranging from tutoring English, spending time with my host family, going out to the city, talking to locals, essentially just living like a Japanese citizen does. One thing I'm especially looking forward to is finding out ways to give back to the community. I don't want to just absorb and give nothing in return, if at all possible I want to also show them a little bit of my culture and language. I speak both English and Portuguese fluently so I hope to be able to find opportunities to help individuals learning those languages by providing speaking and writing practice. I feel it'll be a good way to maximize learning for everyone involved.
In the lead up to my departure, I am preparing the best way I know how: playing my games with audio in Japanese. Every time I do this, I always try to pick up on words or sentences that I can fully understand to see if I interpreted them correctly, without looking at the subtitles. Afterwards I look at the subtitles to see how right (or hopelessly wrong) I got it. Doing this I feel has helped my listening comprehension greatly, which has also been one of my weak points. Determining when one word ends and another begins, especially when there are words you haven't learned yet, is exceptionally difficult for me, but this method helps me slowly get through the process. In a few years of doing this, I've noticed I understand many more sentences than previously. The feeling when I am able to understand the first go around without subtitles is ecstatic, and the more I do it the better I get. I also train using context clues with this method, using information that was previously or is happening in the scene to deduce the meanings of verbs, adjectives, and nouns. I've learned quite a few new words like this, and I hope to learn a few more by the time I get there.
Join me in my journey, where I'll be documenting as much of my program as I possibly can, and in the end we'll see how far I can get in achieving my goal.

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I've last posted here, 5 months already! It seems like just yesterday that I was a starry-eyed newcomer to Japan, being blown away by all things Japanese. "Wow look at how tiny the streets are!", "The stores and houses are so tiny!", "These toilets are insanely advanced!". Japan really is an amazing country, but how have I gotten along in the time that I've been here? Well, one thing I'll say is that, although somewhat faded, the honeymoon phase is still alive and well inside me. Sure, I've already gotten used to many of Japan's quirks and cultural differences, but there are still things I'll see that'll make me go "They have that? I've never seen this before in my life!". For instance, just recently I went to a restaurant in Hiroshima, and one of the servers there was a little-wheeled robot, bringing drinks to and fro customers' tables. It was insanely cool and insanely cute. That being said, there are many aspects that I still have no idea how to react or get used to. Recently, my host mom told me that 'sighing' in Japan is considered bad luck, as doing so will cause one's happiness to run away. It's just such a bizarre concept to me, I've always just thought of sighing as a way to expel tiredness and relax, so not being able to do so here without being judged is something I just can't wrap my head around. There are other little things too, such as the fact that Japanese people, despite being extremely kind and helpful, are also contradictorily very distant. Coming from Brazil, a culture where everyone is very close to each other (to the extent that when it comes to greetings, men and women kiss each other on the cheek.), having to get accustomed to maintaining distance from others is something I've struggled heavily with. There have been many times where I was craving being close to someone, but had to just endure it and get by, since there was no one I could do so with. I think that was truly the only time where I felt sad here in Japan, but thankfully it never lasted more than a day. When those days did happen though, I took the chance to make the best of a sad situation and experience Japan's many delicacies. Ramen, sushi, okonomiyaki, takoyaki, oden, and the many, many more. If there's one thing I can say about Japan, it's that I haven't eaten poorly yet. So many of the stores here, especially the small ones which only sit about 10 people at most, are good eating. If you see a tiny store in the city, with no English written anywhere, and a good smell coming from inside, chances are it's a hit. Finding little hole-in-the-walls is always fun, and it's even better when you can share it with your friends and arrange a dinner night, with good drinks, good food, and good times. For example, also in Hiroshima funnily enough, my family and I found a little (really little) tempura restaurant called "Tenyoshi", and it was one of the best dinners I've ever had in my entire life. It was a set menu, so no replacements and no free choice, but the food there was so good that it wasn't an issue.
Speaking of which, during that time (it was winter break), I was with my family, as they had come here to visit me and see Japan in the process (they had never been here before). I mentioned last time about my goals for studying here, and the weak points I had. Well, one thing I've realized since coming here is that, while I have undoubtedly improved in my Japanese skills, I have also realized that there are still many, many things I don't know. As the old saying goes, the more you learn, the less you know. See, the thing is, I hadn't heard much spoken Japanese before coming here. The only experience I had was playing games in Japanese, but it's not much use in the real world, as people enunciate much less clearly than they do in controlled, sound-booth environments. Here in Kansai that's especially true, as Kansai-ben is much faster than the standard Japanese most of you are probably used to hearing. I came here thinking I'd be mostly fine in terms of listening comprehension. All of that confidence immediately went down the drain as soon as I heard native Kansai-ben being spoken, and my brain was struggling to keep up. So how does my family factor into this? Well, my family doesn't speak a lick of Japanese, meaning I had to be their interpreter for the entirety of the time that they were here. Surprisingly, despite being a highly-developed, international country, Japan's foreign language proficiency is, to put it kindly, sub-par. Very, very few people here can speak English well enough to clearly communicate. As such, all the heavy lifting was done. I had to talk to my parents in Portuguese, translate our conversation to Japanese, listen for the answer, focusing as hard I can so as to pick up on what they said, and then repeat the process. It was like through the entire 2 weeks that my parents were here, and I honestly really enjoyed the challenge. Of course, I wasn't able to understand everything all the time, but I was able to at least communicate our intentions clearly enough I feel like. During that time is when I felt that my Japanese skills really got a massive boost. You see, spending time at Konan University with other students is great, but I'm almost always surrounded by English there, with little opportunity to communicate or listen to Japanese aside from the few times when Japanese students are present. By contrast, having to do everything by yourself is where real language development comes from, and I realized that it's more important than any classroom. As such, to any prospective students who want to come here, I suggest you try to do everything by yourself, no matter your level of Japanese. While it might seem daunting at first, it is absolutely the best way to develop your skills and confidence in speaking and comprehending a language as complicated as Japanese.
I have many more stories about Japan, but I'll stop here so as not to bore you with overly long tangents and commentary. I'll post again in May, so look forward to more information at that time!

Hey everyone! Time really does fly, I can't believe it's April already, it seems like only yesterday that I was still enjoying my winter break. Sadly, this is the last time you'll hear from me, as I wrap up my thoughts and overall experiences of this life-changing, at times extremely disheartening, at times ecstatically satisfying program. Of course, it's not easy being in an entirely different country, an entirely different culture from what you're used to for an entire year. Especially difficult is adapting to social expectations and daily conduct that is expected of every citizen in the country. When it comes to that side, I will admit that there were many times where I failed, committed blunders, and generally made those around me feel discomforted and troubled. Not out of ill-will or malice, rather just because it's not what I'm used to doing in my day-to-day life. For example, when I first came here, my host family graciously took me to a conveyor-belt sushi restaurant (Kura Sushi), previously something which had a negative image in my mind. However, the ones in Japan are wholly different from those found in the likes of America and Brazil. Despite being cheap (150 yen for one plate), the food is really, really good. Having not known that, when I was eating with my host family, without thinking I said, "Wow this is so cheap!", but I didn't mean it in a bad way, rather I was amazed at the fact that such good food (especially sushi) could be had for a price that, at least in the US, is unthinkable. However, the culture in Japan being what it is, with incomplete sentences interpreted as a negative comment being made, I unintentionally, and without even realizing it, upset my host family at that time, even if only a little.

Another situation that comes to mind is when, before eating food, I never said anything. You see, it's common in Japan to say "Itadakimasu'' before eating your meal, as a way to say thanks for the food. It's not a religious tradition, just something that a culture built on respect and gratitude uses to express much of the same. However, much like the prior case, due to it not being something I'm used to, I just didn't do it. In fact, there was a time when guests came over and when everyone started eating, I did so too but without saying anything. After the guests left and the night wound down, my host mother took me to the side and cautioned me against such behavior, even if not out of disrespect, due to it being perceived as such. "When in Rome, do as the Romans do". Not complaining despite what you might think is the first rule of being in Japan. Always apologizing despite something not being your fault is a close second. What I mean to say is that Japan is highly-group focused, with much, much less focus on the individual than the US. Therefore, when you come here, it is essential that you get rid of your pride, and be as Japanese as you can be within the short span of time that you're here for.

Now, with that out of the way, I set myself a goal before coming here of becoming fluent in Japanese by the end. So, did I achieve my goal? The answer is somewhat fluid. While it's undeniable that I absolutely understand much more Japanese than when I first came here, it's a good old case of "the more you know, the more you realize you know nothing at all". If there's one point I would have to pick out as the hardest part of the entire process of learning Japanese, I would have to choose listening comprehension. The reason being that, Japanese, compared to many other languages, has very few sounds, many words that sound similar if not exactly the same, and a very, very fast speaking speed. All of these factors make it incredibly difficult to distinguish words when listening to it at native speed, especially with the sheer number of conjugations present in Japanese. That being said, I do understand much more of what people say than I did before, and I would have to say most of the reason is due to how much new vocabulary I picked up. I started reading this semester, in an attempt to not only cement my grammar knowledge, but also increase my vocabulary. I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that that operation has been a success. Reading more has helped me understand the nuances of Japanese better than before, which I know should be obvious to many of you reading this, but I can't overstate how important reading actually is to the language learning process. If I think back to when I was first learning English (back when I was 8 years old), one of the most vivid memories of that time is reading as many Goosebumps books as I could get my hands on, which is perhaps why I was able to acquire English as quickly as I did. Doing the same now, I've rediscovered how satisfying it is to be able to pick up a book in a foreign language meant for natives of said language and be able to understand a solid 80-90% of what is written inside. It really justifies the effort one puts into language learning, and just that in and of itself is enough to motivate.

In summary, if I have any advice to offer to those seeking to come here, or do a study abroad of their own, whatever country it may be, it's this: don't be afraid to make mistakes, take the time to ask questions cultural questions you're unsure of, make sure to iron out differences and misunderstandings with your host family or others regardless of whose fault it is, and, most importantly, be sure to have fun! Enjoy the moment, cherish the experience, and you're sure to come out of it better in the end.

It was a fun year, and I'm extremely grateful to everyone I've met, and to all the people at Konan University for being extremely supportive, accommodating, and welcoming during this entire time. Without them, none of this would have been possible, and I can say for certain that there were certain points during this year where, without them, I would have been entirely lost. Thank you as well to all of you who have joined me on this year long journey, it has been a pleasure, and I hope you all can continue to carry the torch forward.