Konnichiwa!
My name is Kanako Matsuda and I’m a freshman at the College of William and Mary. My plan is to major in either Chemistry or Biology, but that’s only because I have no idea what I want to do as a future career and majoring in the sciences seems like a safe bet. What I do know is that I like to dance, paint, draw, and add to my plethora of useless trivia knowledge by relentlessly surfing the web.
An important fact about me that I absolutely must get across is that I’m Japanese. This is pretty obvious from looking at my name, yes, but my love for Japan is something that can’t be communicated as easily. Growing up, Pokémon and Doraemon (the cartoon about the adorable robot cat from the 22nd century) basically were my Saturday morning cartoons, and natto (fermented beans) was what I considered the ultimate comfort food. Since then I’ve moved onto obsessively watching Japanese dramas, listening to obscure J-rock, and maintaining a constant supply of Pocky. Summer of my junior year, I was fortunate enough to visit my relatives in Japan. Needless to say, it was an eye-opening experience.
Coming to William and Mary, I was eager to enroll in as many classes on Japan as possible since my high school fell tragically short in that department. Japanophilia seemed to be the ideal freshman seminar to take, and thus, here I am writing my bio for this web page at 4:30 am. Sleep-deprivation aside, I’m pretty pleased to be here. ^.^