Send Me to Japan Please! (^-^)

My interest in Japan began when I was 8-years old and I met Maki, a Japanese exchange student my grandparents took in while she was in college. I had never met anyone so exotic or foreign compared to myself before then, let alone the interesting items that she brought with her. Since then my fixation with Japan has grown into a passion for the language in which I’d like to incorporate into my career after college. I have made a great effort to learn as much as possible about Japan since I was 8-years old. I started taking Japanese language courses in high school and since my sophomore year of college, I’ve been involved in two different Japan clubs. I’ve had the opportunity to make many new Japanese friends who I’m able to practice casual conversations with as well as learn about their culture.
In the past several years, I have involved myself with as many opportunities concerning Japan as possible and yet, I still have not experienced it enough. I began taking Japanese language courses in high school and although it is one of the most difficult languages I’ve ever studied, I enjoyed every minute of it. Unfortunately, Kalamazoo Valley Community College did not offer Japanese so I earned my Associates degree in one year so that I could attend a school that did. It was after going an entire year of not studying Japanese that I realized that it was something that I truly loved and wanted to continue to study. Since I have been a student at Western Michigan University, I have done everything possible to immerse myself fully into studying and learning about Japan. I joined Japan Club within the first few weeks of the semester and made many new friends who shared my love of Japan. With every new experience, I became more and more captivated with Japan and the language. I joined the Japan Club Promotion Team to help get other students involved in Japan Club and I was a part of this year’s Ja pan Festival. I believe that studying abroad in Japan would not only be a great learning experience for me as well as beneficial to my future career, but that it is just the beginning of all the fascinating things I will discover about Japan.
“A place to establish one's destiny.”
After carefully reviewing and studying each sister university, I know that Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto is where I would like to study next year in Japan. The quote above is what I came across when researching about Ritsumeikan. As cliché as it may sound, I found it to be inspiring and more of an indication that Ritsumeikan was where I need to be. One of my main reasons for believing that Ritsumeikan is the right for me is because it is well known in Japan for having the best international relations program. My interest in Japan expands over many different topics but my main interest concerns the relationships that have developed between Japan and other countries. My main career goal is to help improve these relations and hopefully make a positive and constructive difference in the future. I would like to work in a field with the goal being to help build these kinds of relationships. I believe that studying at Ritsumeikan will not only help me to achieve this goal, but also the experience of interacting with foreign students, learning and coming to understand their culture up close. My second reason for wanting to study at Ritsumeikan is for the fact that it is located in Kyoto, one of Japan’s oldest capitals. I firmly believe that it is important to understand and learn about Japan’s history to see how it has evolved into what it is today. I would love to study in Kyoto and have the chance to explore some of Japan’s oldest, original historical sites as well as to observe the culture it offers. As scary as it would be to go to foreign country, especially one as different as Japan, I’ve wanted nothing more in the past several years than to be thrown in and completely immersed in Japanese culture and lifestyle.