Charlotte's Web

This week I listened to “Lemon” by Yonezu Kenshi. I used to go to Japanese-style karaoke rooms with my friends back home, and I had heard this song from there before. I thought I’d give it a proper listen and really liked it. I keep up with Japanese entertainment quite a bit, but I don’t really listen to Japanese music, so I might start listening to more this semester as practice!

This week I started watching Alice in Borderland, a Japanese sci-fi thriller/dystopian TV show. I had heard about it when it first came out back when I was still in high school, but never had the urge to start watching it until recently. I'm typically not really a fan of sci-fi or thrillers, but I do like the plot and suspense of dystopians and mysteries so I was intrigued. I enjoyed the first episode and continued watching, although some heavy plot points were a bit much for me, so I couldn’t binge the show like I typically do with others.  Overall, two things stood out to me the most. First off, I found it really interesting to hear the difference in dialogue between people who are friends as opposed to strangers. Since this show is a thriller with a lot of emotional scenes, it was also pretty cool to hear the differences in the actors’ tone of voice. I plan to keep watching the show and am excited to find out how it all plays out!

I decided to take Japanese in my last semester of college, because I grew up surrounded by Japanese culture, but have never formally learned the language. My hometown (Honolulu) is a huge melting pot of cultures, affecting the food, products, media, and entertainment I consume. Some of my close friends back home are fluent in both English and Japanese, so I heard it around me a lot while growing up. Due to my (relatively close) proximity to Japan, I also grew up vacationing there quite frequently and always had an amazing time. I hope to improve my Japanese language skills and be able to communicate with others the next time I visit!