Why Learn Japanese?

As a first-year East Asian history student, Japanese is a requirement. Japanese comes in handy while researching modern history not because contemporary scholars have provided commentary, but because there is a wealth of primary sources archived in Japan in Japanese. The first archive that comes to mind are the notes commissioned by the Japanese government prior to World War II on Chinese society, not precluding the geography of the northern areas, including Korea. Other sources include official documents on Japanese reconstruction, newspaper reports that depict attitudes of the time and debates on land reform in Japan. I look forward to reading these sources first-hand in the language it was originally written. It will be exciting to finally be able to read in a foreign language!