Captivated by the beautiful, musical sound of Japanese

 Meet Masood Affaf, an international student who reads Japanese novels daily and now speaks Japanese so fluently that it comes more naturally than her native language. Drawn to Japan from afar, she continues to study hard to fulfill her dream of working here in the future.

 "The first time I heard Japanese, it sounded like beautiful music," says Masood, an international student from the UAE. She became interested in Japanese after watching anime and documentaries with her siblings from a young age. However, with no Japanese language schools nearby, she began studying on her own. She expanded her knowledge through dictionaries and used novels and interviews with her favorite Japanese artists as study materials.

 After graduating from high school, she finally came to Japan and spent her first year attending a language school to prepare for enrolling at a university. There, a teacher encouraged her: "If you want to become a novelist, you should aim even higher." While searching for a university, she discovered Kansai University. In addition to its broad curriculum and awards for high-achieving students, Masood was drawn to the lush greenery of the Senriyama Campus, which felt like walking through a forest. "In the UAE, there are no universities with such rich natural surroundings. I felt it was the ideal environment to study while feeling at peace."

 Now a second-year student in the Faculty of Letters, Masood initially struggled since all classes are conducted in Japanese. Now she enjoys them without difficulty. She also attends Professor Yuta Mori's Japanese linguistics seminar, which first inspired her during her entrance interview. "Learning about the evolution of Japanese and analyzing words using usage examples allows me to do exactly what I've always wanted: to study Japanese more deeply. I couldn't be happier." Looking ahead, she's eager to explore new fields such as business, economics, and health and sports. Outside of academics, she actively engages in various activities, including helping Japanese high school students with English translation and volunteering at the Hyogo Field Pavilion during Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai.

 Her favorite quote is from the 13th-century mystic poet Jalal al-Din Rumi: "What is patience? It is looking at the thorn and seeing the rose, looking at the night and seeing the day." "Patience doesn't mean sitting and waiting; it means foreseeing. After high school, financial reasons delayed my study abroad plans. But I never gave up, because these words supported me. That's why I'm where I am today."

 Now she's so accustomed to Japanese that her native Urdu doesn't come as easily when she returns home. "I used to struggle with communication, but in Japanese I can express what I want to say more easily and speak more confidently. I'm truly glad I encountered the Japanese language. In the future, I hope to work as a translator while also writing novels in Japanese."

*Academic year and other information are as of the time of the interview.