Why I've come to italki.com and what I hope to achieve here. Hello, italki.com! I'm a brand new student and I'm here to learn Japanese, so I will tell you in English a little about myself and why I am here. I'm a writer and artist. I also know some basic computer programming. I've always enjoyed anime/manga style art, but I've never actually watched a lot of anime or read a lot of manga and I still don't. However, I recently bought my first smartphone (yes, really late on that bandwagon, huh? haha) and was exposed to the concept of the "keitai" game. "Keitai" being a truncated version of the term for mobile/cellular phone in Japanese. Most specifically, I, as a woman, took an interest in what I believe are called "otome" (girl) games. I've also heard them called "ren'ai" (romance) games. After being advised by some friends of mine on some games to try, I have to admit - I got pretty hooked. I love this idea. Story-telling for girls and women through an interactive app is amazing, and the fact there is a specific, female-centric market for this in Japan makes me kind of jealous. We don't really have a comparable thing in America, despite the fact I think these type of games would do very well here, particularly as there is already a huge group of anime/manga fans for whom this type of artwork and these plot-themes would be familiar. After doing some research, I've learned just how many of these types of games there are, and just how little of that product gets translated and brought here to America. The obvious way to get around that is to...learn Japanese! So here I am. I am hoping that by learning Japanese, I can play more of those type of games, learn more about Japan and it's culture, and perhaps use that information in a story of my own. I mostly write romance myself (which is a large part of why I like these games), and I've contemplated setting a story in Japan before, but I simply lack the knowledge to make it believable. That said, I have a very modest foundation on which to begin learning Japanese - most of which I've picked up through what I described above. I've never taken a Japanese class, and I thought by sharing some of what I do know, a potential teacher will be better able to create lessons for me. I will make a separate post detailing that information in the near future. Thanks for reading!