I’ve been focusing on listening practice quite a bit over the past month or so while also preparing for the JLPT in December, and during the process I’ve been using a few YouTube channels that are useful for listening.
I’m sharing each channel I have used below with an explanation, along with a video or two that I recommend to get an idea of what the channel offers.
Practicing
During active practice, if I’m having trouble understanding the video, I usually follow these steps which were recommended to me by my italki conversation partner to improve listening ability:
- Watch the video with English subtitles (if available) to get the gist of the video.
- Watch the video again with no subtitles.
- Watch the video again with Japanese subtitles.
- Watch the video again with no subtitles.
If the speech is too fast, I’ll usually drop the playback speed to 0.75x until I’m confident enough with the video to move it back to full speed.
For passive listening practice (e.g. listening while working), I’ll typically set the video to loop and put it on 0.75x speed and listen to the same video consistently for an hour or two trying to pick up as much as I can.
Recommendations
Onomappu - Hitoki’s channel is focused on explanation of various onomatopoeia in Japanese and exposure to everyday spoken Japanese. He speaks entirely Japanese in his videos, and his Japanese is very clear and easy to understand. Most of the videos have subtitles for 10+ different languages as well. This has recently been my go-to channel for listening practice.
- Japanese Superstition about Lightning and Explanation of ピカピカ Onomatopeia - He talks about the Japanese superstition of covering your belly button when lightning is outside, as well as the ピカピカ onomatopoeia.
- How to Keep Language Exchange Going - Discussion and tips about keeping a language exchange going with a native speaker.
- Teaching Japanese Slang used in Daily Life - Hitoki teaches various slang terms used in everyday Japanese.
Miku Real Japanese - Miku’s channel focuses heavily on Japanese Grammar, but she has many different videos that are great for listening practice where she either talks with a friend or speaks directly to the camera.
- Top 5 things you should do in Japan - This is a video where Miku discusses directly to the camera about things to do in Japan entirely in Japanese.
- Discussion with Alex from Learn Japanese Pod - The first 30 minutes or so of this video is normal conversation with Miku and Alex, a non-native speaker. I found Alex’s Japanese fairly easy to understand since he speaks slowly and clearly.
- Playlist of Japanese Conversations
- Playlist of various Japanese Listening Practice videos
Learn Japanese with Tanaka san - This channel has cartoon-based YouTube videos targeted at learners, and has many different videos that target listening, grammar, slang, and various other Japanese topics. The “Tanaka Radio” videos on this channel are excellent for listening practice.
- “Tanaka Radio” Ep. 4 - Part Time Jobs in Japan - Tanaka discusses part time jobs in Japan and their experience with them.
- “Tanaka Radio” Ep. 2 - Funny Mistakes in Japanese - Similar to the previous video. Tanaka shares some funny Japanese mistakes that learners have made that they received on Instagram.
もしもしゆうすけ - This YouTube channel has two main series. For the first one, he walks around Japan and talks about certain topics in Japanese. The other includes normal Japanese conversation with another person. Both formats have subtitles for all Japanese (and usually translations as well).
- Monologue in Japanese about Earthquakes - Monologue about Earthquakes while walking around and filming.
- Conversation with Sayuri-san - A basic conversation with Sayuri-san (also a YouTuber).
あかね的日本語教室 (Akane’s Japanese Classroom) - This channel is mostly Vlog based where Akane walks around Japan and discusses various topics.
- Tokyo Vlog - Conversations at Restaurants and Hotels - Akane goes to a coffee shop and a hotel and speaks with the staff.
Comprehensible Japanese - This channel has videos for beginners to intermediate learners. The format is usually a story or discussion entirely in Japanese and each video is labeled between Complete Beginner, Beginner, or Intermediate.
Japanese Ammo with Misa - I’m sure most people are familiar with Misa’s channel, it has an absolute wealth of information about grammar with lots of examples. She has quite a few videos on her channel that focus solely on listening as well.
- Read Japanese Literature - The Restaurant of Many Orders - Misa reads a short story in Japanese.
- Full Listening Practice Playlist
YUYUの日本語Podcast - This channel is mostly lengthy podcast format episodes about various topics. Some episodes include guests where the two speakers interact throughout the episode.
- Discussion Miku Real Japanese - This is a long format podcast with Miku from Miku Real Japanese.
- Discussion with Akane from Akane’s Japanese Classroom - A long format podcast discussion with Akane from Akane’s Japanese Classroom.
Nobita from Japan - Nobita has a documentary-style channel where he usually speaks about a social topic in Japan and interviews Japanese people. The videos mostly have both English and Japanese subtitles. He does often speak English during parts of the videos, but for the most part the main parts of the videos are in Japanese. Some of the topics on his channel might not be suitable for younger audiences.
- Japan’s Loneliness Crisis - A video discussing loneliness in Japan, 孤独死 (dying alone), and mental health issues.
- How Japan is Dealing with Hikikomori - A video discussing Japan’s plans for helping to resolve the hikikomori crisis.
Daily Japanese with Naoko - Naoko’s channel has various video formats with topics about vocabulary, slang, food, and vlogging all in Japanese. The channel is relatively new so there aren’t many videos yet, but she posts fairly frequently, a few times a month. There are not usually English subtitles on her videos.
三本塾 -Sambon Juku- - This channel has two people, Akkie and Ayano, and they have various types of videos including some podcast-style discussions as well as grammar point explanations. The “Sambon Radio” videos are usually fairly long with one of the two talking the entire time and are especially good for listening. One downside is there are typically no Japanese or English subtitles.
Also, if you’re looking for some channels that are targeted at native speakers instead of learners, here are some suggestions, although these can be fairly difficult and might not include Japanese or English subtitles:
- 杏/anne TOKYO - An actress from Tokyo (who is also Ken Watanabe’s daughter) who does various things on her channel like cooking and exploring Paris.
- Okayu (Hololive) - Okayu is a Hololive vtuber and mostly does streams between 4-8 hours of playing various video games. Her voice is nice to listen to (subjective), but the Japanese is fast and difficult to understand.
- Algometry - A channel that focuses on true-crime and unsolved cases. Mostly has English subtitles.
- うわさの探偵たち【噂話・雑学・都市伝説】 - A channel that talks about urban legends, rumors, and unsolved cases.
- ひろゆき, hiroyuki - YouTube channel for Hiroyuki (the creator of 2channel)
- エンジニアチャンネル - The Engineer Channel posts videos for people who want to become engineers or programmers.
- Atsueigo - He posts videos for learning English targeted at native Japanese speakers but his videos are mostly in Japanese and he does a lot of videos where he speaks with another person like this video with Matt vs. Japan.
That pretty much sums it up for now. I hope this list helps someone that is looking for videos in Japanese to improve listening skills. If I find any more channels that are useful I will update this post.
I would love to hear other recommendations, so please feel free to post any that you might have as well!
