My Life
I was born on May 5th, 1991 in Tokyo Japan. After few months, I moved to Yokohama.
I lived in Yokohama until age of 12. I enjoyed playing dodgeball and baseball with my friends, and playing video games with my friends.
My father was a man with a dream of living in Hawaii, tropical paradise in the Pacific.
When I graduated from elementary school, my father decided to move to Hawaii.
I was very young, and I was unaware of how much of a difference that would make in my life.
This was the first turning point of my life: Moving from Japan to the United States
From April 8th, 2004 I began my new life in the United States. I did not how to speak English, so I spent whole summer at Summer School at the Mid-Pacific Institute
where I attended from 7th grade to 12th grade.
Learning English was not challenge to me because I had a good ESL teacher. Learning new language was much easier and more enjoyable than learning new mathematics. I spent three years at ESL (English as Second Language) program. By then I formed strong bases of English grammar. When I was eighth grade I was awarded outstanding ESL Student.
After completing ESL requirements, I was able to choose courses that I want to take. My school advisor told me that I did not need to take foreign languages because ESL classes were qualified as foreign language credits since my first language was Japanese.
Instead of having free period, I chose to take French.
This was second turning point of my life: Learning French
I chose to take French because at that time I wanted to be a fashion designer. I thought in order to be one I needed to live in France. To live in France I needed to speak the language. However, my dream of fashion designer did not last long. I continued taking French because I liked it. I realized that my academic passion was to learn new language.
I lived in Yokohama until age of 12. I enjoyed playing dodgeball and baseball with my friends, and playing video games with my friends.
My father was a man with a dream of living in Hawaii, tropical paradise in the Pacific.
When I graduated from elementary school, my father decided to move to Hawaii.
I was very young, and I was unaware of how much of a difference that would make in my life.
This was the first turning point of my life: Moving from Japan to the United States
From April 8th, 2004 I began my new life in the United States. I did not how to speak English, so I spent whole summer at Summer School at the Mid-Pacific Institute
where I attended from 7th grade to 12th grade.
Learning English was not challenge to me because I had a good ESL teacher. Learning new language was much easier and more enjoyable than learning new mathematics. I spent three years at ESL (English as Second Language) program. By then I formed strong bases of English grammar. When I was eighth grade I was awarded outstanding ESL Student.
After completing ESL requirements, I was able to choose courses that I want to take. My school advisor told me that I did not need to take foreign languages because ESL classes were qualified as foreign language credits since my first language was Japanese.
Instead of having free period, I chose to take French.
This was second turning point of my life: Learning French
I chose to take French because at that time I wanted to be a fashion designer. I thought in order to be one I needed to live in France. To live in France I needed to speak the language. However, my dream of fashion designer did not last long. I continued taking French because I liked it. I realized that my academic passion was to learn new language.