TIAN JIARONG

When I was at elementary school, I became interested in Japanese life because of my favorite anime.After entering junior high school, I started learning Japanese. The more I learned about Japan, the morefascinated I became and wanted to study abroad in Japan. I am particularly fond of cities with a richhistory, so I definitely wanted to live and study in Kyoto.

Kyoto is a beautiful city, as I saw in the photos and videos. I like taking photos, so I often go out with myfriends to various places to take photos of Kyoto-like scenery. Kinkaku-ji Temple, which I visited on asnowy day, was particularly wonderful, and I successfully took some very nice photos. I have also hadmany other first-time experiences since coming to Kyoto. For example, I first tried watching a moviewithout Chinese subtitles at a movie theater. American movies have Japanese subtitles, and I couldunderstand them because I know Chinese characters, but I couldn’t keep up with Japanese moviesbecause the story develops quickly. Not discounting such mistakes, my life in Kyoto has provided mewith many novel and enjoyable experiences.

I have always loved cooking and wanted to know more about Japanese cuisine and food culture. I wasparticularly attracted to the cute colors and shapes of Japanese sweets, and I was happy to see and eatthem in Kyoto, which is also the home of Japanese sweets. From this spring,I will go to a college of cooking in Kyoto and I would like to gain a genuineknowledge of cooking and learn about Japanese sweets. And mygoal in the future is to get a job related to Japanese sweets.

I like amulets and have got some from temples and shrinessuch as Kiyomizu-dera Temple or Fushimi Inari TaishaShrine. I made a wish on an amulet to pass the entranceexam for the college, and I successfully passed it.