Route to Japan in October 2025: Study Log

Japanese
#1

After being inspired by some study logs on Bunpro, I decided to start one myself, in order to keep myself accountable and keep track on my progress.

My study journey so far:
I started self-studying Japanese when I was about 10 years old and especially fell in love with Kanji. I would spend my whole pocket money on importing manga magazines and practiced reading hiragana and katakana, as well as basic kanji. When I was 20, I started to study Japan studies at university and spent a semester at a university in Japan. I probably reached N3 level by the end of my bachelor‘s degree (I never took the JLPT until then, though, but my knowledge probably was intermediate)

After my graduation, I took a looong break (several years) from seriously engaging with Japanese. In May 2023, I eventually decided to pick up reading in Japanese again. I started with 秒速5センチメートル and was shocked how little I was able to read. Grammar wasn’t really a problem, but I noticed that I didn’t recognize most of the kanji, let alone the vocabulary! I decided to sign up for Anki and created a vocabulary deck from the words from 秒速5センチメートル. However, I noticed that it’s not leading me anywhere, if I just randomly learn vocabulary without a strong fundament and knowledge about kanji.

3 months later, in August 2023, I fished out my old kanji book from my student days and started learning all 常用漢字 from scratch. I literally started on August 9, 2023 with Kanji No. 1 一 and worked my way all up to Kanji No. 2141 脹 (May 23, 2024). I learnt several kanji a day and with each Kanji, I learnt 3-5 words. I made sure to only choose compound words that I had previously learnt, and for each word, I created a new flashcard in Anki. I reviewed my Anki deck every day and kept learning new kanji and words every day, too. I also made sure to practice writing. I spent at least 2 hours a day learning, oftentimes up to 4 or even 6 hours. Everyday, I would read a few pages from some light novels to wrap up my study-day.

Now:
When I look back, I noticed that my reading comprehension has improved so much and now I am able to read 秒速5センチメートル relatively smoothly.

Of course, I still need to learn kanji every day, but I am confident now that I can read pretty good in comparison to the beginning of my re-start one year ago. However, when I took the JLPT N2 in July, I noticed that I lacked grammar. I do understand the gist of most texts that I read now, because I have good knowledge of kanji, and knowing the context of the text helps, too, but I really noticed that grammar is one of my weak points.

I came across Bunpro about two weeks ago and just started learning the N2 grammar. I also skimmed through N5, N4 and N3 grammar, and this is my current status:

IMG_2648
IMG_26482458×317 70.5 KB

Since I am going to start my master‘s degree in Japan studies from October this year, and going to study in Japan in my third semester (from October 2025 - March 2926), I target the following goals:

My goals until October 2025:

October 2024: Start master‘s degree in Japan studies.

July 2025: re-take the JLPT N2

October 2025: study in Japan

Grammar:
Revisit N3 grammar through Bunpro that I am not 100% comfortable with.
Learn N2 grammar through Bunpro
Learn N1 grammar after finishing N2 through Bunpro

Reading:
Finish reading コンビニ人間 (57/133 pages)
Finish reading ライオンのおやつ ( 130/226)
Start reading 死神の精度 afterwards

Listening comprehension:
Find a podcast or more that I stick to and practice listening every day for 30 minutes. Any recommendations is welcome, as I don’t love listening comprehension very much. But it’s another weak point of mine, so I really need to find a way to stick with it.

Kanji:
Keep on reviewing my Anki decks for Kanji and vocabulary every day
Keep on adding new vocabulary to to my decks from the books I‘m reading.

I am not sure how to best keep track now, but I think I‘ll start with short daily updates. I might change this later.

If you‘ve read until here, thank you so much! I would be glad if you‘d tag along and am open for any advice.

15 Likes
#2

For podcasts aimed at learners I think Yuyu’s podcast is good (can’t remember the exact name). If you are N2 then you should have very high comprehension when listening.

For podcasts aimed at natives I quite like the daily 朝日新聞 podcast as it covers a wide variety of topics and speaking styles however it is not an easy listen compared to some of the more casual podcasts out there, especially if the episode covers a topic that you have no prior knowledge of. Just in terms of variety and volume it is one of the best, in my opinion, although it could be tricky to understand if your listening is weaker.

Good luck in your studies!

6 Likes
#3

thank you very much, I will definitely check out the 朝日新聞 podcast! I’ve listened to some of Yuyu’s podcast episodes, but I don’t enjoy his manner of speaking so much, at least when I listen to a few episodes in a row. Actually, I am not a fan of podcasts in general (no matter the language), and I also rarely find the motivation to listen to my N2 CD from the Shin Kanzen master, I just find listening practice so tiresome and this is why I have a bit of a hard time with it. But I think that news sites suit me a bit better. Eventually, I want to be able to listen to audiobooks, but I have a long way to go. :slight_smile: ファイト :fire:

1 Like
#4

I’m in the same boat with you in terms of podcasts. Don’t really listen to them in English, so have an even harder time getting engaged with them in Japanese.

One series that I do quite like is 日本語の聴解のためのPodcast by あかね的日本語教室. Most of the episodes are only about 3-5 minutes, and are on a wide variety of topics, so I find it easier to stay engaged while still learning vocab from different areas. That being said, they’re a bit on the easier end, probably N3-low N2.

#5

Today, I accomplished the following tasks:

Listening: 30 minutes of “Learn Japanese with Noriko” while I was doing quiet tasks on my own during work. It was too easy to challenge me, but I enjoyed being able to listen to it on the side, without having to worry about loosing track.

Also tried the 朝日新聞ポッドキャスト. Didn’t work for listening on the side. Plan to set up a time slot for tomorrow morning where I focus on it with a fresh mind.

Reading: Reached page 77/133 of コンビニ人間. However, in contrast to yesterday, it felt a little harder and I had to re-read several long sentences. I got tired and a bit frustrated, so I stopped for now. Might read a bit further before bedtime.

Vocabulary: Reviewed about 100 cards from my own Anki deck and as always, added new vocabulary to my deck from コンビニ人間

Grammar: Ditched the N2 grammar for now to focus on the grammar points from N3 that I feel like I need to refresh a bit. Will be doing that until I feel comfortable with continuing with N2 grammar. Did my review for today and added 3 points from N3 to my queue.

Other: Found a few charming looking japanese picture books online. Might buy one or two for funsies. :blush:

2 Likes
#6

yeah, my problem is that I like to do stuff on the side and I tend to not like tasks that I need to focus on 100%. For example, I like reading, reviewing flashcards or writing kanji, because I can watch a video on the side, have a chat with my partner in-between or just let my mind wander for a second. With any listening practice, I find it hard to do so. I thought it might help if I go for a walk and listen to something while talking a stroll. Thank you for your recommendation, I will have a look at it tomorrow! :blush:

#7

I finished コンビニ人間 awhile ago and I just wanted to chime in that there’s parts of the book that suddenly feel like the difficulty shoots up before going back to normal again. When I get a bit better I’ve been hoping to go back and re-read it and see why but. But you’re not alone!

1 Like
#8

that’s actually helping me, thank you for sharing! I”ll see how today’s reading unit will go…頑張ります

#9

Today, I managed to do the following:

Listening:
I listened to Noriko’s podcast for about half an hour during work, again, and also listened to Akane’s podcast that was recommended to me. I noticed that I have listened to her before and even booked a trial session with her on italki. I am looking forward to chat a bit in Japanese, soon! :slight_smile:

Reading:
Only a few pages of コンビニ人間. Currently on page 79/133. However, I also read Bunpro’s graded reading for N3 and finished lesson 1-5.

Vocabulary + writing:
Reviewed about 140 flashcards in Anki and wrote down every word for writing practice.

Grammar:
added 3 new grammar points to my queue and finished my reviews for today.

2 Likes
#11

Today, I haven’t accomplished much. I just did my daily Bunpro grammar review. I might review my vocabulary Anki cards later. But I don’t think I will be doing that much today. I did immerse myself in some japanese websites, though :sweat_smile:

Let me show you the books I am working with:

IMG_2650
IMG_26501920×1821 401 KB

The upper three ones are just great! They explain all the grammar and are very detailed in explaining in how and when to use the grammar points. I rely on them a lot and even double-check all the information on Bunpro in this books, because I feel these books are even more detailed.

The Kanji books in the middle row are great, too. They explain all the 常用漢字 and their different readings. To every entry, they show several words containing the kanji.

The last row are fairly new, I just bought them recently. I don’t know, though, why I didn’t buy the N2 ones first. :joy: I will work with them once I feel comfortable with N2 content.

This is it for today! Thank you for tagging along :seedling:

5 Likes
#12

Today, I was positively surprised! After being frustrated with my reading progress, I noticed a significant change today:

Reading: I reached page 117/133 of コンビニ人間! ジャジャーン🎉 I don‘t know what happened, but it might be that the complexity of the text did raise when I was having a hard time making progress, and it might have gone back to the level from before. When I picked up the book today, I decided that I will be having fun and will not check any word that I don’t know.

I am usually a perfectionist, but I tried to get into a flow and actually did it. I thought to myself: English is not my first language and even though I feel like I am fluent in English, there are words that I don‘t know as well and that’s totally fine, right? Why should Japanese be any different? Of course I want to get fluent and of course I want to know EVERYTHING. But one step at a time.

Listening: I listened to 30 minutes of a podcast and really enjoyed it, too. Even though I have only slept about 4 hours (usually I like to sleep 8-9 hours :joy:). What I enjoyed was the fact that my beloved language, Japanese, was comprehensible to me for the whole time during the podcast. It was N3 level, though. Really need to step up my game, slowly.

Grammar: I added three more grammar points to my queue and did a kot of reviews in between. Today, they were fairly easy grammar points.

I did not review my vocabulary flashcards today, but that’s okay. I rescued an injured bird instead, (本当です！) during my lunch break, so I had a little less time than usual :sweat_smile:

5 Likes
#13

Yesterday, I finished コンビニ人間 (yay!) and I researched for my master thesis, which is going to be about modern japanese literature. I will only start the master’s degree in October, but I want to prepare thoroughly. Therefore, I researched a lot about primary literature as well as secondary literature, and did research about the university in Japan for my semester abroad next October. For now, I want to buy and read the following books in the following year until my semester abroad:

Primary literature:
風が強く吹いている
舟を編む
成瀬は天下を取りにいく
言の葉の庭
コンビニ兄弟
赤と青のエスキース
世界から猫が消えたなら

This list might change, though, but this is my first idea for books I want to engage with for my studies.

I don’t have any of these books yet, and I want to buy the physical books (I usually buy them digitally and read on my kindle), so I’ll proceed with ライオンのおやつ for now from today on. Simply for pleasure, I would also like to read 変な家. I read the reading sample and was pretty much drawn into it already. I also read the sample of 世界から猫が消えたなら and LOVED it. I even understood some of the humour and had to giggle while reading.

Let me share one or two thoughts on コンビニ人間 real quick:

So, the book is about a woman in her late 30s who works part-time at a konbini, no husband, no kids, so relatively unfitting for japanese society. Quite at the beginning, I thought that the protagonist was not very likable and she seemed pretty weird, even though I don’t mind people just minding their own business and I don’t care whether people want an “ordinary” life or not. But she didn’t seem to understand human interaction as such at all. For me it wasn’t about her refusing the
“normal” life, but at times I thought she seemed rather autistic (which is not a problem, but I feel like it should have been a bit more clearer). She met a man who was even more unlikable than her, and he was searching for a wife to finally lead a normal life, that everyone is expecting from him. But he didn’t search for love, though, he just wanted his family to shut up complaining about him still being single and jobless. Somehow, he was described as a very one-dimensional character with just one character trait and one cause in life, and I got a bit tired of him repeating the same thing about people haven’t changed since Jomon period all the time. I know the book got very good critiques and I appreciate the topic per se, because it can be tough in japanese society and their expectations of how people should live like. Not fitting into the norm is often seen as negative, right. But I am not sure whether I would re-read the book. Maybe, I should, as soon as I got better at Japanese, because I might have missed important nuances.

Yesterday, I listened to podcasts while I was driving to a friend. Normally, I don’t listen to podcasts while driving, because I always feared they might take up too mich from my concentration, so so I’d always just listen to music. But I tried it for the first time yesterday and didn’t expect to enjoy it so much!

3 Likes
#14

Do you know more specifically what you’d like to write about/research? I’m envious!

So when I first read this book my Japanese was pretty bad and I had the same impression. I’ve re-read it a couple of times since then my view has changed. I think her character should be read like the protagonist of Camus’s L’Etranger, although the manifestation is different. I think the tendency for readers to tend to want to medicalise this difference (thinking she is autistic is common amongst western readers, I belive) is a way to control and extinguish the very questions the novel raises. This isn’t to say that the character is or isn’t autistic but just that concluding that leads to a rather flat reading of the story, in my opinion. Of course it is possible to extrapolate deeper issues here, like the fact that she saw a psychologist as a child and had multiple incidents at school but was never diagnosed as autistic, but even then I don’t think this could be considered a main theme of the novel.

If you do re-read it then try and read this character as a Japanese version of an “incel” and it may make more sense. I believe he is ultimately a tragic character, as much a victim of social expectations as the protagonist, but the way it manifests in his case is toxic.

I personally don’t rate the book that highly but it is worth re-reading when your Japanese is stronger if you happen to become interested in it again, I would say. Keep in mind that a native could read through this book in 2-3 hours and that the prose is very light, again similar to L’Etranger. I personally think although the book is set in Japan the themes are not that specific to Japanese culture and instead are more a general commentary on neoliberal capitalist societies (this is based on having read a collection of short stories by the same author as well). Of course the exact way these themes are conveyed is through a Japanese lens but there isn’t much specific commentary on uniquely Japanese things, in my opinion. I’ll compare to L’Etranger again as I already brought it up. That novel is remembered for its existentialist/absurdist themes and not as a social commentary on French Algeria, even though the setting is crucial to the plotting of the story it is not crucial to the themes or larger narrative. I think Japanese novels in translation are often oversold for their “Japanese-ness” and in fact it borders on a form of orientalism (in Said’s usage of the word). The same thing happens the other way, of course, but that doesn’t mean one shouldn’t be wary of it.

Despite everything I have said above, I would agree that the final outcome of the novel is a rather shallow feeling, similar to what you said here.

Anyway, please keep posting your thoughts on books and about your masters! Not too many Japanese learners are literature focused and it is something I personally like so I’ll always be happy to read your thoughts if you post them.

3 Likes
#15

Thank you so much for asking, I didn’t expect anyone would be interested in it! :relaxed: As of now, I haven’t consulted my professor about it, but I do have an idea in mind. I would like to explore the usage of language and specifically of kanji in modern japanese literature. Since I learnt all 常用漢字 for about 10 months straight and didn’t do anything besides this, I developed the wish to learn more and more about them. And since I also like to read and fostered my (kanji) reading skills and understanding of japanese through japanese light novels and lighter books in the past year, I developed a strong interest in japanese literature. I would like to explore how kanji are used to create certain images, more layers or multi-faceted meanings to a text. I don’t know yet how many texts I will focus on, or if I will only use texts of one specific author etc. This is going to get clear when I talk to my professor and dig into secondary literature (which I also researched the past few days).

I also noticed during my bachelor’s degree (at the same university, so I already know one of their professor’s field of study is literature) that my fellow students didn’t take any interest in literature, for the most part. Most of them were more interested in the class where we discussed politics and society. But I think you can find these topics in literature, too!

Ah, but actually, I will only know IF I am going to study the master’s degree by the end of August, because this is when the note of acceptance (or rejection) is going to be sent.

During my bachelor’s degree, I had several issues that I don’t want to specify at this public space here, but I couldn’t give it my all and I didn’t take full usage and advantage of all the resources and opportunities I had, back then. I was so glad, that I was able to finish my bachelor’s degree AT ALL, that I couldn’t envision myself doing the master’s. But several years have passed and I have never been better in my whole life, and now I took the chance to apply for the master’s degree. I even wrote down how I want to make the most of my semester abroad that would be next October. For example, even attending readings or book launches. I feel like I want to redeem myself while having the pure luxury of being able to spend the whole day learning and reading.

Thank you very much for taking the time to share your thoughts on the book, I am so happy! I read your comments several times now and thought about them. I would say that I focused a lot in understanding the text, so I spent my time and energy mostly on following what’s happening, that I probably haven’t thought about the meaning of it all that deeply. I think you are right when you say that whether the protagonist is autistic or not is not the actual question here and even if she was, it wouldn’t erase the meaning of the story. I initially commented about this because I felt that if she hadn’t been portrayed that way, the message of the text might have been even stronger. She feels very odd and there were several incidents when she was talking with somebody else, when she was acting somewhat antisocial. For example, when the store manager cornered her and was talking about 白羽さん, but she didn’t want to talk about him and to whatever the store manager said, she replied something about karaage sticks, I believe. She eventually dashed off to do whatever it was about the karaage sticks. I understand that she sees herself as a コンビニ人間 and it is her duty to keep the store running. But in moments like these I thought it’s a pity that she was portrayed like this, almost antisocial. Because not everyone who doesn’t comply to social norms is antisocial or even “odd”. I myself, am 32 years old and decided to study again, right? I am going to move into a house with my fiancé soon and people around me would expect us to marry soon and probably have a child, too. Instead, I am going to study again and give up on my job which provides me with a stable and good income. To describe that the protagonist was seeing a psychologist as a child and her sister crying and asking her when she’s finally going to become normal, takes a bit away for me from the importance of the issue the text raises. But still, I agree with you that the question whether she is autistic or not does not take away from the very question and theme of the text.

I would like to agree what you said about 白羽さん! What I found interesting about your comment was what you said about orientalism. You are very right, and for the next book I’m reading, I want to be careful not to think too much in a box as “this is about japanese society”, you are totally right! Yes, it was written by a Japanese author and takes place in Japan, but it’s not a “japanese” topic per se. I wasn’t careful enough, here. This reminded me of something I am always sensitive about: the book covers of the translated versions of japanese books! It triggers me how pusblishers often take whatever they think is “japanese” and put it as a motive for their book covers. I cannot count how many translations of japanese books I have seen with women on the cover looking like geishas. I bought the german translation of 新宿の猫. I really like the japanese cover with a cat in the front, being illuminated by the fullmoon and the city lights in the background, Now, the german cover also shows a cat, but the background is just a 和柄 (precisely: 青海波). I don’t like that, because I feel as if even in the cover design, japanese books are reduced to them being from Japan. And therefore, I want to be more careful with this from now on. It’s a little excursus, here are three examples of covers from translations that I don’t like:

IMG_2655
IMG_26551920×1239 253 KB

(from left to right)
新宿の猫 / 推し、燃ゆ / 容疑者Xの献身

Thank you again for your comment! I actually would like to re-read the book in a few months, when i have gotten better! :relaxed:

EDIT: Please have a look at the german book cover of コンビニ人間. Again a book that is to be made to appear “japanese”, in my opinion. Too bad. The title is great, though! “Die Ladenhüterin”. “Die” means “the” in German and is the feminine article (some might know that in German we have three kinds of “the”: masculine, feminine and neutral”). “Ladenhüter” is a term for goods in stores that don’t sell well. “Ladenhüterin” is a word that does not exist, actually, since it is the feminine form of the word. So, with “Ladenhüterin”, the protagonist is meant. When we now examine the word “Ladenhüter” itself, it’s a compound word made from “Laden” (“store”) and “Hüter” (or “Hüterin” in this case) (“Guardian”). Isn’t that clever?

IMG_2656
IMG_2656722×1197 78.3 KB

3 Likes
#16

Today, I did the following:

Continue reading ライオンのおやつ (page 140/226)

learnt 3 new grammar points

worked on my 常用漢字 anki deck - I want to create a deck with all 常用漢字 and for each kanji, I want to write down every possible reading, and also collect compound words with each kanji. It’s a long-term project and I‘m currently at 1261/2141

learnt about the websites Natively and Aozora rōdoku

2 Likes
#17

As I can’t use my own laptop at work and can’t download anki on to the school chromebooks, would you still recommend I try Anki on mobile, despite not being able to use addons?

1 Like
#18

well, I‘m a purist and don’t use any addons. The mobile version can do everything that I need from anki: create a flashcard, create a deck, insert images, shuffle, download decks, choose different algorithms options, even reading out loud what’s written on the card etc. During my journey, there have been like 2 or 3 times when I thought: „now, I would need the desktop version“, but I managed to work around these situations. I always use anki on the sofa, in bed, during commute etc. so I also choose the mobile version over the desktop version for comfy reasons :sweat_smile:

4 Likes
#19

Today, I had a good day in regards to learning. I trained my kanji writing skill for about 2 hours and learnt some new compound words.

Reading: I just read until page 171/226 of ライオンのおやつ and I was completely in the flow while reading. I just stopped at a few words that I didn’t know, that I found very interesting, for example 遺影 (いえい, it describes a picture of a deceased person) or 次元 (じげん, dimension).

Actually, I started reading ライオンのおやつ before コンビニ人間, but the topic is not a light one, and therefore I needed a switch in between. ライオンのおやつ is a story about a woman in her early 30s (I think she’s 30) who was diagnosed with cancer and spends her remaining time in a hospice, called ライオンの家. I knew that it was going to be really tough, and I don’t like stories too much when I know I‘m going to cry. And this is precisely what eventually happened today. Since I got in a flow today and was able to soak in the story, and the story got really dense and emotional, I actually had to cry a little while reading, hence I stopped for now to calm down. :sweat_smile: But I‘m glad because I didn’t shut myself off from the story.

4 Likes
#20

Good luck! As you say it is definitely a luxury to spend one’s time reading all day. If I could live for a thousand years I’d probably collect several PhDs during my first few hundred years but, alas, I can’t live for a thousand years (as far as I know…)

Thanks for sharing - I’ve never seen these German editions.

Speaking of not liking book covers, there are two different editions of 人間失格 with anime style picture on the front which are very 中二病.

image
image706×1000 58.7 KB

image
image690×1000 123 KB

Better than the English version, I think. I’m currently reading a book about translation on the side which you may find interesting. Here is a link. The same guy has released a better looking book more recently but the one I linked looked easier to dip in and out of as each chapter is relatively self-contained.

1 Like
#21

In case anyone noticed that I haven’t done an update: I am currently on a business trip and have extremely long days. I do review my daily grammar and kanji and vocabulary whenever I have 5 minutes of free time. I will get back to you all properly around Monday/Tuesday :slight_smile:

1 Like