I’ve tried to learn Japanese a few times over the years, the earliest attempt at which was some time in high school while I was watching an episode of Fullmetal Alchemist and casually looked up how long it would take. I quit as soon as I’d decided to start. Years later I was hosting a weekly recap podcast about a Japanese reality show called Terrace House with my friend and thought “it’s silly for me to be talking about this show every week without understanding any Japanese. I need to learn.”