Why I want to study Japanese

I visited Japan for a school project for a week when I was in High School. I found the culture so amazing that I would do anything to go back.
Of course this meant doing what any reasonable person would do.
I signed up to be in the NAVY so I could be in Japan. I was stationed on a ship and while my homeport was technically in Japan, we spent more time away from it vising other countries than we did being at home. I then went to Sicily for shore duty for my remaining 2 years. As expected, my contractor called me and asked if I would re-enlist for another three or four years. I told him if I could get shore duty (usually you are not allowed shore duty back to back) back in Sasebo that I would re-enlist for three more years. I told him this because I was expecting to be turned down.
My orders were in my inbox the next day. Yay! Back to Sasebo I went.
It took 5 years to actually get what I wanted, but it was well worth it.
While I thought living in Japan would help me learn Japanese, being on a military base and in a military friendly town made me very lazy. I learned no more Japanese than I had in High School because I could easily get away with English and being able to read hirigana and katakana just fine. I realize I need to stop being lazy and just learn the language, so here I am. :)