I chose to study Japanese because I plan on teaching English in Japan next year and I wanted to have some background in the language. I think that's it's very important to make an effort to communicate with people in their own language when living somewhere abroad. I also focus on Japan within my major of Anthropology.
This summer, I lived in Tokyo for six weeks studying koto with a Japanese teacher. It was a fantastic experience but was a little difficult at times because my teacher did not speak very much English and I did not speak more than a few words of Japanese. Studying with Fukami-sensei encouraged me to learn Japanese. So far, learning to think fast using the correct grammar patterns has been the most difficult part of learning the language for me.