Hello! My name is Jordan Cheresnowsky and I am planning on being an East Asian Studies major with a minor Japanese at the College of William and Mary. My general interest in Japan began in eighth grade when a friend of mine threw a volume of manga at me, claiming that I would like it because of the pink and girly cover. Obviously I did, but not for the story. Growing up in a small town I did not experience foreign cultures too often. To be holding another country’s art form, their literature, in my hands and be able to see how lives were different overseas drastically changed my life. I could not get enough of the Japanese culture, reading everything from manga to light novels, online blogs to travel books, and even the occasional historical account. The summer of my junior year I dove headfirst into the Japanese language by attending the Virginia Governor’s Japanese Language Academy for three weeks. By the time I went home I realized my dream of becoming a Japanese translator, so I could one day bring to the English-speaking world the books and works that changed my perspective so drastically.
(Of course my mother would tell me years after my general interest in Asia began that when I was younger she kept me away from Japanese animation, like Sailor Moon, because the eyes freaked her out. It seems to have backfired just a bit.)