How cool! I can't imagine being in a Japanese Taiko group – there's a great random fact about yourself that you can refer to in the future.
I've thought of spending a year in Japan or Korea for a while now, but figured these last couple years may not be the best moment for that.
Qs:
- Could you read any Japanese before moving to Japan? And how long would you say it took you to reach a point where you can read most things and generally understand what was being said?
- What would you say was the single most helpful thing, if any, for getting more comfortable in Japanese?
- Why did you move, and how long do you plan on staying?
Yeah I highly recommend anything like taiko or another group just to integrate yourself and stay busy. Great culturally too. I liked rhythm games, and musical activities growing up so I quickly picked up the rhythms. I highly recommend living abroad in Asia, even for a couple years.
-You should 100% know the phonetic (pronounced) characters Hiragana/Katakana before coming! This is the basic, basic. I could read most menus, warning signs, and basic directions upon arrival. I could read children's books (almost no kanji) with 80% understanding too. I dedicated myself to learning a new Kanji character everyday (there's a good "kanji a day" desktop bg set on Google). Most people say don't practice writing (b/c its not tested on JLPT), but it was a great trance-like motor activity that really imprinted the N5/N4 kanji in my brain. I quickly was reading most things in everyday life by my second year. Japanese learning never ends, there's always something I don't know. I'd say you can generally understand most common written words and phrases around you by your 3rd year if you're consistently studying. (Realize there are people here for 10 years+ with little to no Japanese too).
-Surround yourself with Japanese people, and look up literally everything on your dictionary app. Be the annoying foreigner trying to keep up with the conversation. (Most) People will respect your desire to learn and push you in the right direction. I dated exclusively Japanese girls, purposely limited my time with other foreigners. Walk into a bar with 3 other foreigners, and no one will talk to you, its too intimidating for most Japanese. But walk in by yourself, & start a chat about the weather or your country with the bar tender & you'll attract their curiosity and people will enjoy the game of trying to communicate with you. Stay eager to learn. Even when you make big mistakes, earnestly say "sorry, still learning" and move on. (don't overdo the sorrys though).
-I've always been attracted to the culture. My older siblings were semi-otaku, I thought I was too. I still love gaming culture and feel nostalgic about Shonen Jump/Toonami/Ghibli/etc, but I realized my interest was truly in the deeper culture and history of Japan. Studied Kurosawa & Ozu movies in University & this rekindled my interest. Despite studying Business and Film, I took an Assistant Language Teaching (ALT) interview and got the job, which covered travel and visa stuff. Also, despite a big family, I don't feel strong roots in the US. I haven't been back once since coming, and don't particularly miss it. But I've seen others suffer culture shock. I think I'll stay much longer, maybe 10 more years, but I'm really not sure. It depends on my job and relationship. I like the idea of moving back, or somewhere else just for a year and then returning to Japan, though.
