It all started for Jesse Burkett in high school with a hobby watching anime, the Japanese animation art form. When the Jacksonville, Florida, native arrived at Stanford as a freshman, he encountered the university's foreign language requirement and thought Japanese sounded as good a choice as any.
Two years later, Burkett found himself solo on an airplane to Japan, making the first travel experience of his life. The Stanford junior starting center and Japanese major could never have imagined the journey he began, when he started watching some cartoons.
"I decided to take Japanese on a whim my first quarter," he says. "I ended up loving it and have taken Japanese every quarter since."
As Burkett's passion for Japanese grew, he learned that his cousin serving in Okinawa with the Marine Corps was nearing the end of his tour. Armed with eight quarters of Japanese language classes, he bought a plane ticket to ply his skills during his recent spring break.
"My cousin and his wife were not going to be in Okinawa much longer, so I decided this was the time to go for it," Burkett says. "I was just excited to use the skills in a real-world setting, which I had learned for three years in a class room. It was a long time coming."
Burkett spent his first three days in Okinawa, the largest of the Ryukyu Islands 400 miles south of the rest of Japan. After visiting with his cousin, he took in beaches, visited 14th century castles and watched a baseball game.
The following three days staying in Tokyo on his own could have been fraught with culture shock, but Burkett's Japanese language skills served him well. There he discovered a fascinating new world.
"The strangest thing was seeing vending machines everywhere, selling everything," he says. "Things also run so smoothly and efficiently in Japan. The public transportation is really impressive. I don't think I waited more than 10 minutes for a train or subway the entire trip.
"The food was great. I ate a lot of sushi, of course. You sit next to a conveyor belt and grab anything you want to eat. They charge you by your number of plates at the end. I also tried Japanese curry for the first time. It's different from Indian curry – not spicy."
One special experience was a dinner together with Tsuyoshi Kawata, Stanford football offensive assistant and Japanese native. "T.K." is a unique bridge between the Cardinal program and Japan, having hosted several Stanford coaches for offseason clinics in his home country. He was also in Tokyo for spring break and joined Burkett, a pair of Stanford alumni and some Japanese friends. After nearly a week of exploring and eating by himself, Burkett enjoyed an evening full of conversations and social interactions in Japanese.
Back on The Farm after his whirlwind experience, Burkett is navigating spring practices with a course load that includes his ninth quarter of Japanese language and a deeper exploration of the Land of the Rising Sun: a class on Japanese literature and culture and a class on Japanese politics, economy and international relations.
"I can't wait to go back," Burkett says. "I'm glad that I'm studying this, and the plan is that I would love to live and work in Japan for a few years after football is over."