Questions and Answers

Nobody gave me any instruction on how to respond to comments so I’ve decided I’m going to do another post in English that incorporates what I could pick out. Please excuse me for taking so long as well; I’ve been getting side-tracked.

Q: Why are you taking Japanese?

I’ve always had a fondness for stuff from Japan, whether it be music, movie, games, television, ninjas, and what-not. Also, as you might have suspected I am of Japanese descent. I’m an academic type so I feel that everyone should know a language other than their own and though I took French in middle and high school (5 years total) it never really clicked. I always wanted to learn Japanese but alas, it would be until college before I could actually take it as it is not something you find in the curriculum of a small high school such as mine. Note that in America, foreign language, while recommend to look good on a college transcript, is not required. As such, middle schools tend to offer only introductory courses, and though while in high school you can get 4 year programs only larger schools offer languages outside of French and English.

Q: What sorts of things do you like to draw?

Recently I’ve been practicing pen and paper drawing, I guess my goal would be to make some sort of manga or comic book but I’m embarrassed to share my drawings even though I know I’m not bad. I’d like to get them looking more professional, and so I’ve taken to learning Photoshop but I’m still a beginner there. I also do a lot of game programming and I like do sprite art for those, though often times I spend weeks on just small stuff, get bored and forget about it.

Q:Have you ever been to Japan?

Unfortunately, no. Once I complete college I do intend to stay there for a while and hopefully bolster my language skills. It’s a personal goal of mine to become fluent in other language and there’s really no way around it, but I’ve always wanted to go regardless.

Note about my background:

So, my last name is Kumagai, I’m a quarter Japanese. My father is half-Japanese, half-Italian (though he looks far more Italian than Japanese). My grandfather on his side is full-blooded Japanese. My grandfather and his siblings migrated to America in the 1920s. Due to this very few people even in my extended family can actually speak Japanese. My great-grandfather spoke nothing but Japanese so my great-aunts and uncles can understand it but because they grew up in America and have not used it since they were children they do not speak it well, maybe about as well as I. On my mother’s side, it’s hard to say what I am. My grandmother on my mother’s side divorced when my mother was young, so my mother knows very little about her biological father and my grandmother doesn’t really talk about it. There was a falling out of sorts on that side of the family which contributes to this; two years ago I met my great-aunt on that side and learned a bit more, but before I didn’t even know she existed. All I know is that that side is generally of Eastern-European descent (Poland/Ukraine).

An interesting thing is that over the summer I actually met a relative who lives in Japan. He would be my grand-father’s cousin. I had a chance to speak to him in Japanese (since that was all he spoke) but I got really nervous trying to use my Japanese and ended up not saying much. Hopefully I can try that again sometime.

....And that's it. This probably long enough to have it's own set of encyclopedias so I'll stop here. Somehow I don't imagine anyone actually reading all of this. :p