Hi. My name is Max. I live in Shanghai, China and I’ve been studying Japanese since November of 2005. Or, as might be more appropriate 平成17年.

I’ve always been interested in Japan. My aunt lives in Japan, so one of my cousins are Japanese. I traveled to Japan often as a kid, and was always sorry to leave. Every time I have left 東京羽田空港1 I have sworn to return.

I come from a bilingual family, so when someone asks me how long I been learning, I usually dodge the question and say ‘quite a while’. I haven’t been reading and writing for long, but since coming to Shanghai I have seriously tried to master Chinese.

At the time of my last trip to Japan, in November of 2005, I was already seriously learning Chinese. I was so interested in Japan that it was a natural step to start learning Japanese too. After returning to China I stumbled upon Japanesepod101. I’ve listened to it every day ever since.

With this blog I hope to keep you informed about my process in learning Japanese. I am lucky that my significant other speaks Japanese very well. Her name is 森爱香2 and she will be helping me (and us out). Here she is now:
Oh sorry, she’s on the phone, I’ll get her to introduce herself later.

Also, I hope to be writing in Chinese occasionally. I hope you all know your 漢字, you’ll be suprised how much you’ll be able to work out if you’re determined.
1とうきょう・はねだ・くうこう. Tokyo’s International Airport.

2もり・あい・か, or just ‘Aika’.