The whole time I grew up with manga/anime/shoju, I always thot most fanatics only fantasized over wide-doe-eyed Japanese girls in school uniforms. After befriending a fellow stranded passenger at a stop-over in Japan in 2004 en route to my Southeast Asian Birthday Tour, I was introduced to a manga magazine of Hanazakari no Kimitachi E. Although I didn’t understand the Nihongo 日本語, I enjoyed the Shakespeare references and only Asian people would understand laughs, as translated to me.

Because of the shortened title, I only realized today that they made it into a tv show!!! Watching Hana Kimi come alive via kawaii-silly-ness inspired me to continue learning the Japanese culture and practicing the language, however tough KanJi 漢字 is proving to be. I understood some of the verbs/adjective and most of the slang. Sensei 先生would be proud!