I always seemed to latch onto Japanese things from a young age. Voltron, Transformers, Robotech were some of my favorite things. I liked the bits of Japanese culture that would come out of Ninja Turtles. Around 1999, the Internet finally happened for me, I connected with anime fans, got fansubs of Sailor Moon (my first real exposure to Japanese language), and it snowballed from there. Now, anime, JDramas, music, traditional culture like Go, whatever I can get ahold of I'll try.
I did the Pimsleur's thing, and got up to halfway through the third book of Japanese For Busy People. I'll finish that someday, I swear. It's just so... dry.
Unfortunately, having picked up so much from TV, when I speak I naturally want to use very casual speech. I had to consciously think about what I was doing when I went to Japan so I didn't come off sounding like a disreputable high school boy or something.
![Laughing :lol:](/static/images/forum_ro/smilies/icon_lol.gif)