Imagine you are watching a blank projector screen. Then, visualize the following: A headline in big, bold letters saying, “Where would you go in your flying house?” The screen begins to show people from all nations, ages, ethnicities, and living circumstances. Every person has a different response: France, China, Narnia, U.S.A, Egypt, Brazil, Madagascar, home. Every person has a different reason: To see friends and family, to have fun, to learn about foreign cultures, to simply escape the mundane cycle their life has become. There’s only so much a few seconds can reveal about each person though. For every response, there’s an untold story that reveals the bigger picture of why they want to go there. Finally, a thirty-five year old woman from Estonia has now been replaced by a Korean teenager, me. Having only a few seconds to reply, I simply say, “Japan. I’ve always wanted to go there since I was little.”
My desire to go to Japan started when I was eight. My mother made me go to a Japanese academy every Saturday for a few months to learn Japanese. She was determined to add another language to my linguistic repertoire, which by then consisted of Spanish, English, and 1/8 Korean. Even though I’m Korean, Spanish is my first language. Born and raised in Bolivia, a Spanish-speaking country, and having gone to an English-speaking school, Korean simply got lost somewhere. Not knowing the language I’m supposed to know can be quite frustrating, especially when somebody comes up to me to ask for directions. I wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about waking up so early in the morning to pore over numerous Japanese characters and memorize their specific pronunciations. A I U E O. The two alphabets could not be any more different. Even the order of the vowels wasn’t the same!
One time, I was staring at the posters on the classroom walls and my eyes landed on a certain character, äº, the kanji for person. I thought it was rather odd that it looked like a person leaning on another. It was only until later in my life that I would realize that a person can’t go through the hardships of life without having someone to hold them up. Back then, I only saw it as another tedious character to memorize, but now I think it’s the most meaningful one in the Japanese language. From then on, studying all those characters didn’t seem that bad at all. During my time at the academy, I was able to see other facets of the Japanese culture. One of them was its food. I believe that food is one of the most crucial components of culture. When a person says France, one thinks of cheese and lengthy baguettes. Mexico invokes images of tacos and quesadillas. People can associate with a certain culture through its unique food. My first taste of Japanese cuisine took the form of yakitori, a type of skewered chicken. As I sunk my teeth into the bite-sized pieces of chicken meat, there was only one word in my mind that could appropriately describe the flavor: glorious. With time, my palate was delighted with other Japanese dishes such as takoyaki which are spherical, fried dumplings containing a piece of octopus, ramen, and of course, sushi.
Not only was I fascinated with the food, but I was also captivated by Japanese animation. One day, the teacher showed the class a Japanese animated film, Spirited Away. The only animated films I had been exposed to were Disney classics, but Spirited Away was unlike anything I ever saw. I was completely engrossed by the whimsical plot and intriguing art. Ever since, I have often found myself watching Japanese anime. From the bustling metropolis of New York to the lush, green pastures of Ireland, I have considered many locations to go to in my flying house, even fictional ones, but I came to realize that there is no other country I would like to go to more than Japan. Throughout my life, I have come to grow fond of the *little things* that make up Japanese culture: cherry blossoms, Mount Fuji, haikus... Perhaps, over summer vacation, my wish to go to Japan will step up into a reality.
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