Learning Japanese

I decided to learn Japanese for my kin interest in Japanese art and the need for academic study in the future. I went to Japan this summer and visited many museums and temples in Japan. Japanese art really has its own charm and inspires my interest to know more about it. Though I will focus my graduate study on Chinese art, the close geographical relationship between China and Japan and the contribution that Japanese scholars have contributed to the field make it necessary for me to learn Japanese.
In addition, I love learning languages and experiencing different cultures. Learning Japanese can let me know more about Japanese culture and communicate with Japanese directly.
As a native Chinese speaker, it is interesting to see the similarities in some aspects of the two languages, and often it helps me to memorize. But I am still not used to read Hiragana directly. It takes me some time to spell it out and get the meaning of the word.