Hello! My name is Jessica Dobbs, and I am the creator of this website – My Nihongo Journey. Nihongo is how you say, “Japanese Language”, in Japanese.

Here you will find that I write about my trials and successes throughout my journey pertaining to learning Japanese! I will try to focus primarily on sharing useful information to those who are also learning Japanese, while also sharing little bits of my personal life from time to time. (When it applies to learning Japanese.)

Some Personal Information

I am a professional photographer by trade. I have two dogs (Collies; think Lassie) and two cats. I live near Detroit, Michigan. I love being outside in nature most of all, and I love to travel when I am able. I am married, to a wonderful man, Jeff, who is supportive of me no matter what I wish to do. I can be pretty shy about things, and yet, very overt about other things. I consider myself to be a happy-go-lucky woman, who has yet to “grow up.” I do not have any children of the human variety either. I love to learn new things, and explore new places. I also love Pocky and Ramen.

How I Became Interested in Japanese & Japan

Many Americans may be in the same boat as I am, when it comes to what initially piqued their interest in Japan and the Japanese language. What is that, you may ask? Well, when I was roughly 13 years old, Sailor Moon started playing on a local television station. Granted, this was the English version, but I didn’t care. This was truly my first encounter with what started my initial interest in Japan and the Japanese language; Anime.

While enjoying Sailor Moon, I started to research more into it and other similar shows. During my search, I found Pokemon as well. (I think I’m starting to give away my age now. Lol) Loving both shows, I started to talk about them to my friends in middle school. One of my best friends at the time, knew all about Sailor Moon, and was already knee deep into the world of Japanese Anime.

When she found out that I was interested in Sailor Moon, she invited me over to her house to watch some episodes she had subbed on VHS. She also had some other Japanese Anime shows as well, including Outlaw Star, Cowboy Bebop, Revolutionary Girl Utena; just to name a few. She showed everything she owned to me. At first, I was a little distracted by having to keep up with the subtitles, this being one of my first encounters with a foreign language.

However, I soon began to gobble it all up! I wanted more Anime, and I wanted to learn more about Japan as well. Throughout school, my friend would invite me to her house anytime she acquired a new Anime for us to watch. We also, were able to find an Anime club in our small hometown, and went once a month to a whole night of Anime viewings. It was a lot of fun and really made my interest in Anime, Japan, and the Japanese language increase tenfold.

Learning Japanese Later in Life

My teenager years were filled with Anime viewings, and even a couple feeble attempts at learning the Japanese language. However, once my adult life started, so too, did my falling out with Anime. Don’t fret! When I was roughly 25 or so, I picked Anime back up, having some real money to do so, and some actual time to spare. I was even able to convert (lol) my husband into an Anime-loving fiend!

Back in October of 2017, I finally couldn’t resist any longer. I had to learn Japanese. I had to visit Japan. I had to experience everything that I had seen in Anime and in photos found around the web. The itch to learn, has always been strong with me, and when I found an app called “HelloTalk“, I was hooked. That was when I took the first of many steps, in my journey to learning Japanese.

I am now 30 years old, soon to be 31 in July. I’m still young, but my priorities have begun to shift into a different direction than I ever anticipated them to. When I was a teenager, I would dream of the day that I could speak, write, and listen to Japanese without a second thought. I would dream of visiting Japan, wearing a gorgeous kimono, and eating all the ramen I wanted! (And this was before I had tried anything other than the instant variety of ramen.)

Now that I am a bit older, I still cherish these dreams I had in my younger days. However, I am now able to properly pursue these dreams, and this blog is one way in which I am doing so. Work takes a lot of time out of my day of course, as does taking care of my fur-babies, but when I get the chance, I buckle down, and try to learn new words or phrases or sentence structures.

Going Forward

Going forward, I have a few goals in mind. First, I am striving to become fluent enough with Japanese, to speak conversationally without any issues. Second, I am striving to save for my very first trip overseas, to Japan hopefully. Third, I am striving to learn more about the culture of Japan, it’s people, and more. Fourth, in regards to this website, I am hoping to make new friends, help people to learn at least as much as I have learned (hint: it’s not too much at this moment in time), hold myself more accountable in my own studies, and to simply have fun throughout the process.

I sincerely hope you enjoy the information that I will be posting to this blog. I know when I first started this journey, I had no intentions of making a blog and posting about my trials, tribulations, or successes. However, I am quite happy that I have decided to take this extra step. Please help me along my way, or learn with me, as we enter the world of the Japanese language, one small step at a time.

ありがとう,
Jessica