I currently do not have a personal tie or relationship to Japan; however, I do appreciate the culture and history of Japan, and I would love to learn more about Japanese history through this course. I have briefly learned about some aspects of Japanese history in high school and through a couple of courses here at UCSD, though, I’ll admit that I do not remember much from what had been taught in high school. As such, I hope that this course will broaden my understanding. I had always wanted to visit Japan and was planning to before the pandemic hit. I still hope to be able to visit Japan one day in the future once it is safe to do so.