School: MacArthur HS

Grade: Rising 10^th

Fun fact: I was born in DC, but moved to Massachusetts at the age of 3. I lived in the Boston area for 10 years. Moved back to DC in 2024.

Future Career: I don’t have a specific career in mind, but I’m interested in photography, art, IT, and maybe something diplomacy related.

Why I’m in the program:

I joined Japan in DC to learn what Japanese culture is actually like, not what’s just shown in pop culture and social media. I’m also doing a global diplomacy related program for school, and this is somewhat similar to that.

Personal statement:

I think people tend to romanticize Japan because they only see it through anime, manga, games and social media. Place, Japan and all that. I used to think this way as well, and eventually grew out of it. Now I try to view everything in a much more neutral light, especially countries. It’s kind of a survival instinct to group things together, think about people as a collective, so some people only see the good parts of Japan and ignore the bad parts.