[Childhood]

Raised in the rural parts of Japan, life was quiet. It was silent to the point that the Sakurai household looked abandoned. Nana’s parents are researchers who thrived for discoveries and answers -- bustling about and testing new things. It wasn’t that they didn’t care for Nana, they were awkward individuals that didn’t know how to express themselves to their first and only child. They only knew how to converse with their interests in mind-- parenting just wasn’t for them. Nana was left alone at home or with the elders next door for her childhood. They ensured she had some form of care even if it wasn’t from themselves. Though Nana was not with her parents for most of the days, she never felt lonely. Like her parents, Nana was always out and about, observing nature, animals, and people alike -- she wondered what drove her parents towards their adventures.

Nana wasn’t like the other kids in her neighborhood. While the others would play games together and run about -- Nana would observe them from the side. She always wondered why kids act the way they did. Why do they cry? Why do they seek affection? Why are they the way they are? She couldn’t figure out why she even thought like this. She just did. Since her parents weren’t there for her Nana became independent and caring of herself.

Even Nana felt that her time was going to slip away if she stayed the way she was. She took a step out of her observation shell to join the laughing and chatter -- it was a day she would remember. Nana realized how great noise and interaction was in her life and others.

[Adolescence]

As she grew older, she got to socialize with multiple different people. She enjoyed guessing what the conversation would be about or what her conversing partner would say or do next. It was like a game in her eyes, an endless type of guessing game. From her experiences, she learned that speaking in a formal tone was the best form of portrayal. Nana got to pick up traits like patience from observing her daily life. From all of her observations, she honed a sense of feeling — Nana could pick up body language and any visual/verbal cues.

Interacting with her parents was scarce of them all. Nana never got the chance to sit down and talk to them. She spent Elementary with occasional hellos and goodbyes — nothing more, nothing less. Middle school came along with the decision to converse with her parents. Nana wanted to ask them one single question. It was a simple question on what they were researching. She grew up never knowing what her parents were studying. It was always in the back of her head. The question sparked something between the three, and the Sakurai household was loud with chatter. Her parents found a way to converse with Nana and the quiet house was gone.

In Highschool, Nana was even more social than before. She would crash into conversations and play to her content. After conversing with her parents Nana wanted to learn more about people and people relationships. At times she would go out with people purely for the experience of finding out what romance was. Every action she made was for her self-experience. Because of her inquisitive nature, Nana would be found staring at random objects, spacing out, and acting out her weird theories. Her classmates thought of her as an easy target to tease. To their dismay, Nana never let her guard down. She would turn around the multiple scenarios placed in front of her. It was like reading an open book — Nana nearly found it amusing.

It was also around this time that psychology became a part of her life. Suddenly the world started to make sense — the reasoning behind every action was all connected to psychology. Wanting to learn more, Nana immersed herself in psychological studies. While studying psychology, Nana fell upon countless crazy sleep schedules. There were days she would go without eating just to satisfy her knowledge. Her body started to break down along with her mood. Food was a necessity to function the human body. With this mindset, Nana earned the gratitude and love for the food she could have. Her adoration for food ran deep into her roots and became her fuel to function. Even though she learned how important food was — she still found herself repeating the crazy days without food.

By the end of Highschool, Nana had become a well known psychology enthusiast. Out of all the topics, psychotherapy caught her interest. How an individual can help another through their life seemed so precious. The studies themselves were interesting. It ranged from endless types of therapy experiments to supporting people to maximize their experiences in life.

After getting accepted into Keio University on a psychology track, her parents gave her all the support that she missed during her childhood. Attending Keio University would be the start of her research and studies in life. As Keio was near Tokyo, her house was too far to commute. Upon researching a place to commute from, Hinode Hills sounded like the perfect place to live. As Hinode Hills accepted various people of different ages and ethnicity — Nana saw this as the best place to have fun and enjoy her studies.