I haven’t studied Japanese in twenty-three years. It’s hard for me to grasp that. I majored in Japanese Studies. I loved learning the language. Then life took me into creative writing and libraries. Last week though, I returned to the language after one of my co-workers urged me on. They are currently taking Japanese.

So many words came back to me. Learning hiragana and katakana as well, brought back memories of being in the language lab in Graves Hall. Listening to tapes. Practicing the correct order of strokes. There were four of us who majored in Japanese. We’d been in classes together all four years of college. We had the same professor, Nakajima Sensei, for everything.

Returning to Japanese has brought back my love for the language. It’s fun. I still know a lot. And it’s triggering so many happy memories of my teens and early twenties.