First day of a new novel, I’m so excited 
I remember being so stressed asking a Book Off clerk to help me find this book 2 years ago in Tokyo and got all emotional about it.
Kaze ga tsuyoku fuiteiru (anime) actually got me into long distance running and it’s safe to say it changed my life because of that. Which is why I was so excited to buy the book during my first trip, and now I finally get to read it and relive this story 
Anyways, enough rambling! Update for today:
- WK reviews zeroed out, still no lessons to get the accuracy up on those recent items
- JPDB 31 reviews, 45 new cards. Still building up my known vocab database so happy to say just that session alone raised my coverage on Kaze ga… deck from 49% to 59%
- YT video - Yuyu’s guide to Saitama prefecture
- 6 pages of Kaze ga tsuyoku fuiteiru. Wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, though definitely has less furigana than Konbini Ningen!
8 Likes
Hectic day at work again which sabotaged my morning routine. Managed to get back a bit though
- 99 WK reviews and 10 lessons
- JPDB 75 old cards, 21 new cards
- YT: Kent’s video about the new kirby riders game
No reading today. I was mentally tired and sad about not having time to do any game dev recently so I decided to ditch the reading to make time for that. Feeling better and will make up the pages over the next couple of days
8 Likes
Congrats on the milestone! May you read many more 
9 Likes
Thanks so much! I feel like the first one was the hardest, so I’m sure there will be many more 
8 Likes
Feeling a bit under the weather and stressed out with work and renovation so struggling to keep up with the routines. Taking a break from DIY today, but still barely just managed to finish everything I wanted. Oh well, I guess it’s to be expected that all this stuff would take its toll. Luckily monday is a bank holiday here in the UK so hopefully will be able to catch up on stuff (and sleep).
Update for today:
- WK - something over 100 reviews, 10 lessons
- JPDB - 50 reviews, 20 new cards and a bunch separately marked as already known
- 7 pages of Kaze ga tsuyoku fuiteiru. One scene from anime is so long in the book! I get to read about their internal dialogues, fears and feelings so it gives another layer to the story, which is really cool
- Yuyu’s video about recognising different levels of anger in Japanese people. Kinda funny, kinda educational, hopefully I won’t ever have to use it in real life
7 Likes
Oopsie, forgot to log yesterday but it was a lighter study day with ‘just’ Wanikani and JPDB lessons and reviews. Tried to listen to some podcasts during DIYing but it was too loud so gave up after few minutes
Today:
- WK 102 reviews, 10 lessons
- JPDB 70 old cards, 20 new cards
- 1 episode of terrace house
- 1h italki lesson
The italki lesson was probably the worst I’ve ever had 
The conversation didn’t flow at all, I kept trying to throw him some things to talk about, but he just seemed completely uninterested in having a conversation which, ironically, is what I paid for.
When I mentioned reading a book in Japanese he just said that books have objective style of writing and it’s not natural Japanese so for that it’d be better to just speak. I mean, duh? 
When I mentioned gaming (apparently his hobby) he just said I should prepare some sentences to talk about it next time, even though we were clearly struggling for topics.
5 minutes before the end I think he just gave up, because he opened up a spreadsheet with his feedback and started asking me if I understand why these were wrong and that I should think about not only the correct form but also why I was wrong in the first place.
During the session he kept pausing to write down feedback and going into fine detail about how I should talk to sound more natural. The problem is, I’m at the level where pretty much all my sentences are wrong, so I spent most of the session watching someone type. I can appreciate this type of session could be very beneficial at a higher level but I don’t see the point perfecting my running form when I can barely walk. I guess it was just a huge mismatch 
At least I don’t have to worry about which teacher to pick anymore. I bought a 10-lesson pack with the other person who I’m clearly more at ease with because I manage to build decent sentences and get my point across most of the time. I’m also thinking about introducing some shadowing practice soon, because output really is my weak point 
9 Likes
Oof that lesson sounds awful. I’ve also had a few tutors where it was obvious we didn’t vibe at all and you end up just watching the clock and waiting for it to be over. Sorry that happened to you but glad you already have another tutor who you do mesh with!
Plus I do think it’s possible to give feedback about sounding natural in a way that doesn’t involve us staring at them type. Just repeat the sentence back with better phrasing and have the student repeat!
5 Likes
For real it would have been so much better! I guess I wouldn’t mind this teaching style so much if the conversation at least was interesting, but I guess it was just a complete mismatch of expectations and styles!
That does make me grateful that I am at least in control of this process. Flashbacks to school and university where we had to suffer through months or years of such mismatched teaching styles makes me shiver
5 Likes
Hey hey, we follow a pretty similar trajectory in our Japanese studies, so I decided I’d jump in and try to follow this thread ^^
Really sucks that your italki lesson didn’t work out that well, I can recommend Mana Shinozaki on Italki, she was great and often laughed at my jokes and was helping me to finish sentences when I was stuck without giving me judging stares ^^
Good luck on the N2 study!
3 Likes
What was it and where can I find it?
2 Likes
Hey hey! Thanks for popping and for the recommendation, I’ll have a look at her profile 
All the best with your studies as well!
3 Likes
Phew, managed to open that book after two days break! Weekly goal not met this time, but we were supposed to be in Denmark for a couple of days so I probably would have done even less Took a break from physical renovation stuff today and visited a few stores to pick the kitchen and tiles. Happy to report it was a success, and even happier that I got to eat Ikea meatballs again
- WK reviews and 10 lessons.
- JPDB 55 old cards, 20 new cards
- Kaze ga tsuyoku fuiteiru 7 pages, weekly goal unmet with 25/35 pages
- Another YT video about Kirby Air Rider from Kent
Results day tomorrow. I know for sure I didn’t pass but still am excited/nervous to see how I did🤞🏻
9 Likes
Results day! As expected I did not pass, but I also didn’t do too bad all things considered.
I started from the end of reading and spent way too much time on the last task. I was misled by how comfortable I was with time doing mocks so didn’t even check the clock, going at my own pace. Finished the longest two tasks, looked at the clock and couldn’t believe how screwed I was. Enter panic mode, I ended up going back and forth between reading and vocab which I knew I sucked at but also knew I needed SOME points in order to pass. Funnily enough I got the exact same score on both sections. Talk about a balancing act
Listening went quite well especially considering I was thrown off by the wheezing guy who eventually fell asleep, started snoring and caused a commotion causing me to entirely miss the last question.
All things considered I guess I should have a shot at passing if I continue at the current pace.
Today’s update
- WK 73 reviews, 10 lessons
- JPDB 56 reviews, 20 new cards
- Kaze ga tsuyoku fuiteiru 6 pages
- YT: Yuyu’s guide to Hokkaido prefecture
- 15min shadowing using Haruka’s podcast. Not sure I’m doing it right, but I’ll try a few more times before passing judgment
Ngl I’m a bit bummed out wanting to do more, go faster, see better progress but I know I need to make sure I build my habits in a steady and sustainable way otherwise it’ll go nowhere (again). At the same time I usually want to do more on a day off. Back to work and renovation tomorrow and I’ll be struggling for time again
10 Likes
Back to work today after long weekend. Growing more and more disillusioned with the company I work for, I miss working with tiny startups and just doing cool stuff with cool people 
I awoke the hungry developer gods within me and considering starting a new side project for polish learners. We’ll see if I still remember it tomorrow
Also! I remembered that I had started Pokemon Arceus in Japanese some time ago and ended up playing for about an hour yesterday after doing my update. It’s nice to just do simpler and fun, as reading novels is still a bit of a mental cardio for me
Today’s report:
- WK reviews, 10 lessons
- JPDB 110 reviews, 20 new cards
- 5 pages of Kaze ga tsuyoku fuiteiru
- Haruka’s oyasumi podcast about ghibli films and going to the zoo
- 50min passive listening to Kent’s podcast about switch 2 game predictions while scraping old plaster off the walls
- 35min playing Pokemon Arceus
10 Likes
How are days going by so fast I really need to slow down at work. I’ve been doing more hours than usual, forgetting to take lunch breaks and staying longer just because THERE’S SO MUCH TO DO. I’ve been stressing out over falling behind, but as always turns out it’s all just in my head because my manager couldn’t be happier with me handling such a vague project with many moving pieces. He’s not bothered with the results, just wants to see me working in the way we all agree is the best for the team. Surprisingly sensible, right?
Anyways, my routine may be all over the place but my commitment stays strong 
Trying out new things and building up my dailies these past few days 
Today’s report:
-
WK 100 reviews. Getting a large batch of reviews tomorrow so skipped the lessons
-
JPDB 77 reviews, 20 new cards
-
5 pages of Kaze ga tsuyoku fuiteiru. Starting to feel the itch to get back to running long distance 
-
This podcast that I saw shared somewhere on the forum. It was a bit slow, but the conversation style podcasts seem fun so I’ll try to find more of them
-
1h italki lesson that was actually fun and we had some good laughs, thank god! I realise I keep using the same basic words for everything though so I really need to practice my output more
-
3 Bunpro lessons. First time using it, seems like a good way to fill in the gaps from the previous levels and perhaps a build a foundation for N2 as I couldn’t retain a thing from SKM. I’ll carry on with it for a bit and see how it goes 
10 Likes
I lied yesterday! I thought I did Bunpro lessons but it turned out I had mistakenly installed Bunpo instead When I realised that, I felt morally corrupt so I quickly did Bunpro as well. We can add that to the list
In other news some kids broke into the abandoned house that forms the other half of my semi detached house today. They’d been messing around there for a while and they’d been told off multiple times but today they got the idea to actually break in. We realised that too late but still decided to call the police. All the neighbours will know now us as those crazy ‘old’ ladies who called the cops on some kids 
Anyway, back to Japanese! Report for today:
- WK reviews and 10 lessons
- Some conversation podcast about house chores and cleaning (bit boring but I didn’t want to be rude to them so I watched it all)
- 6 pages of Kaze ga tsuyoku fuiteiru. Not the best focus today. I skipped two pages and barely realised that
- JPDB 44 reviews, 20 new cards
- Bunpro 3 lessons, 3 reviews
9 Likes
29/08/2025
Stress from work and renovation is accumulating, and I’ve started waking up earlier or in the middle of the night. Feeling really weak and tired 
Hopefully we can through it soon.
Today’s update
-
WK reviews
-
YT: switch 2 kirby game review by Kent
-
5 pages of Kaze ga tsuyoku fuiteiru.
-
JPDB 109 reviews, 20 new cards
-
Bunpro 3 lessons, 6 reviews
7 Likes
Forgot to log yesterday so here is a combined weekend update!
30/08/2025
- WK reviews (about 100)
- JPDB 70 old cards, 20 new cards
- Bunpro reviews
- YT: Yuyu’s guide to Tottori prefecture
- 8 pages of Kaze ga tsuyoku fuiteiru, which meant 35/35 pages weekly goal met, leaving me with some extra time for DIY today
31/08/2025
- WK reviews (about 100)
- JPDB 112 reviews, 20 new cards
- Bunpro reviews
- YT: switch 2 news from Kent
Level up day today! 
Level 48 was my goal for this December N2 exam though I still have a bunch of older level lessons to get through. I want to catch up on all those items before we go on our trip end of October and then stop new lessons completely until end of this year to have a bit of a lighter SRS load for a while especially when travelling
In other news we’re pretty much done with demolition part of the renovation which was a huge effort. Just need to get a decent contractor to sort our the big structural work before we can crack on with the fun stuff. I’m half happy that we get a bit of a break half nervous as handling contractors is just so overwhelming and we tend to have bad luck with them Oh well, taking it one tiny step at a time 
9 Likes
