10. My earliest childhood memory is of falling off a swing in a park near my family's apartment in Tokyo. My father was standing behind me and pushing me when I slid off the seat and fell face-first onto the gravel. I remember him lifting me up to the water fountain to rinse the blood off my mouth.?

9. ?I use Softbank. If you do too, we can talk for free before 9 p.m.!

8.?I don't have a vested interest in politics, so I'm afraid I'm not informed enough to have a strong opinion about the upcoming presidential election. Obviously my age and demographic make me inclined to support a candidate who would make higher education more affordable, but my guess is that Hilary and Obama would both take measures to put that ideal into practice. Although I don't particularly identify myself as a Democrat or a Republican, I tend to have more liberal rather than conservative viewpoints.

7. Like most Asian parents, my mother forced me to begin taking piano lessons at age five. I, however, in the spirit of a true American child, refused to go on bearing the unendurable pain of piano practice somewhere around the fifth or sixth grade. Instead, I decided to switch to a more portable instrument, the voice, and joined my school choir. I continued singing for six years, entering various competitions and traveling with my high school choir to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Although I don't sing in any serious groups now, I still enjoy singing as a pastime, especially when I go to karaoke in Japan.

6. My favorite flavor of tea is chamomile. My favorite flower is the lily.

5. I like writing. I hope to be a writer in the future. I chose to be an English major because I love literature, but if you ask me who my favorite author is, I'll probably give you a different answer every time. ?

4. Right now I live in a dormitory that is about 45 minutes away from school by train. I like it very much, but if at all possible I recommend you avoid the Keio Line on weekdays from 7-9 a.m.?

3. I've traveled to these major cities, and other smaller ones: Tokyo, Houston, Washington D.C., New York City, Boston, Tampa, ?Madrid, and Paris. These are some of the places to which I would like to travel in the future: Bangkok, Mumbai, St. Petersburg, Geneva, London, Dublin, Copenhagen, Athens, Sao Paulo, and Seattle. Of course the list is always open to revision, so if you can give me a convincing argument for putting a different place ahead of these, please don't hesitate.?

2. I am in Japan for a limited time only. My time here expires on August 16th, which is the date for which my plane ticket back to Texas is currently booked. That is because I am an exchange student studying at Sophia University for one semester. My home school, called Wesleyan University, is in Middletown, Connecticut. On our campus there is a big green hill that is covered with beautiful red and gold leaves during the fall season.

1. When people ask me where I am from, what they are really wondering is, "How come you look sort of Japanese but not really?" To answer that question simply, my mother is Japanese and my father is American. Usually, though, people are not satisfied with that answer. They'll want to know, for example, where I was born (Tokyo, Japan), or where I grew up (The Woodlands, Texas, which is a suburb just north of Houston). When I say I grew up in Texas, it's not uncommon for them to assume that I speak Spanish, at which point I will correct them because I cannot speak Spanish except for a few simple phrases. Sometimes they ask where my parents met (Japan) or whether they can speak Japanese and English (both my parents can speak both languages), or what languages they spoke to me (my father has always spoken to me in English and my mother has always spoken to me in Japanese). Didn't this confuse me? (No, it didn't. In fact, I'm very grateful to my parents for raising me in a bilingual environment because it has given me so many great opportunities)?

Thanks, and I'm looking forward to meeting all of you.

みなさんに会うのを楽しみにしています！英語のビギナーでも緊張しないでどんどん話してください〜間違えとか失敗をしても日本語が分かるので助けてあげます！リーフカップは私にとってすごくいい経験になってますので、みなさんの意見と話をぜひ聞きたいと思います。では、よろしくお願いします〜。