Why am I studying Japanese?

         I have really been enjoying studying Japanese these past few weeks. I have been interested in learning Japanese for a number of years now, but this is my first time taking classes. I think it's a beautiful sounding language, but more than that, I am fascinated by the structure of the Japanese language. I am curious about the ways in which languages both inform and are informed by culture. Something as simple as placing a verb at the end of a sentence instead of the start can change the way in which people learn to listen. And what might the implications/origins of having an alphabet used exclusively for foreign words be? These are just of a few of the things I've been wondering about.
         In addition to being interested by the grammatical components of language (Japanese in particular), I really love reading. I have come to find that I really enjoy Japanese literature. Sadly, I can only read it translated, but even so there remains a particular sensibility which sets it apart from most literature written in English. There are often tinges of magic realism, but it's much more than that. My (very uneducated) impression is that this unique literary sensibility is connected to the presentation of time and spatiality. Time and space often appear linked in the Japanese novels that I've read, and not just linked, but almost elastic. It is often a subtle thing, and may be more the result of translating into English a language which has less rigid word order and temporal conjugation, but either way I'm fascinated and would love to learn more. I hope that one day I might learn enough Japanese to read a Japanese novel in its original language, but I certainly have a long way to go before then.
        I only speak English and rudimentary Spanish, and it has been an adjustment for me to be learning a language which I feel I have no intuition for. My past language-learning experience does not help me in that there are no cognates, few structural similarities, and very different methods of pronunciation between Japanese and Spanish or English. It almost makes the process more fun! I see results only for the effort that I put in, and I can't fake any results. Because of this, I find learning Japanese incredibly rewarding, and I'm excited to keep doing so!