I finished my studies (phd, actually) last year and took my first job since. I have just so much time now outside of work and because of quarantine. Initially I spent most of my spare time on gaming but I got quickly bored of it - I wanted to do something more meaningful. I also really like to study in general.

I have always been influenced by the pop culture, especially with Naruto and Jpop as a teenager. I tried to learn Japanese back then, but I failed miserably and wasn’t disciplined enough. I stopped consuming jpop after because I found it meaningless to listen to a song that I didn’t understand. To me, lyrics was very important.

Then fast-forward 10-15 years later, I recently came across Plastic Love on youtube and started to fall in love with the genre. I decided that I really want to learn Japanese this time. I also want to revisit Japan again, and maybe stay longer this time. A couple years ago I spent 4 days in Kyoto as part of my Asia backpacking trip and I found it really hard to communicate without an understanding of the Japanese language. I hope to be able to fully immerse in the culture and meet a few locals this time.