LEVEL 60 
It’s been five long years.
目次
JOURNEY
THE BEYOND
TIPS
WHERE DO I GO?
CAKE
THANK YOU!
. .
The State of Affairs:
I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve browsed level 60 posts, and thought about making my own. Over the years, level 60 has felt beyond reach. I began studying Japanese 10 (!) years ago, and I neglected kanji and reading for most of this time. Finishing Wanikani is a significant turning point, I can feel that ~the beyond~ has been unlocked.
Here is the journey of an undisciplined, chaotic, chronic procrastinator, who learned she can learn Japanese.
A brief shoutout to 2019. I was in my third year of studying Japanese. Japanese was an elective, so I never dedicated significant time to it. My friend introduced me to Wanikani, and I thought, ‘this is great, I can learn kanji smoothly at last’. As you can see, my enthusiasm lasted for about a week before I got distracted with an intense load of coursework.
Memory from 2019: Sitting in the costume shop of our theater department, working on a show, doing Level 1 reviews on Tsurukame, as they had just become available.
2021 
After graduating college, I was scheduled to depart for the JET program in 2020. We perhaps all remember how that year went. After months in a paralysis, doing next to nothing, I decided it was high time to work on my Japanese. I signed up for regular tutoring sessions on Italki, and restarted Wanikani in earnest. This is the only time I have ever reset Wanikani; from March 16th of 2021, it has been continuous progress.
With a surplus of time under my control, I spent the first few months in earnest. Come June I was distracted by fun and friends until my departure for Japan in November. I kept returning to Wanikani, determined to progress, but unable to stay consistent. Feelings of progress stagnated.
Memory from 2021: A rainy day at our belated college graduation, doing reviews as I walked across the quad with my friends.
2022 
After settling into life in Japan, I returned to fairly regular progress, with a notable lack of time on weekends. The effect of using Wanikani was already noticeable, I was having an easier time picking up on the words around me. Around summer I signed up for the JLPT N4, which became my priority. As I worked through the Kanzen master series, Wanikani again fell back, but I never expected to give up. My studying paid off, I passed the N4 
.
Memory from 2022: Having to catch up to a review pile in the 1000s during deskwarming, sitting next to my ALT BFF, and racing each other to tackle our reviews in increments.
2023 
I prepared to move home, and did so at the end of March. You can see where my life pattern was disrupted and Wanikani discipline fell off. From April until October, I was lost! I searched for employment. I was unsure what to do next. Wanikani progress was very sparse. My only Japanese engagement was a tutoring session once per week. At the end of November, I got a steady job at a coffee shop. With a bit more structure to my days, I find the power to add Wanikani to my routine. I decided to focus heavily on my language study while working in the service industry and figuring out what to do.
Memory from 2023: Deciding to make Wanikani my home, coming back to myself and my goals after a long period of directionless confusion.
2024 
I used the routine of my coffee shop job to fuel the routine of Wanikani. At the end of March, something miraculous happens: I was hired as a Japanese interpreter! Though my reading skills were abysmal, my focus on speaking and listening paid off. From April to June, I dropped Wanikani as I adjusted to my new, intense, technically difficult job. I received a list of 1000 technical terms to learn, and was encountering new language and phrasing every day, so I prioritized studying for my immediate job concerns.
In July, I signed up for the N3 and became very serious with studies. Alongside regular Wanikani, I maintained an Anki deck, worked through Kanzen Master N3, and took practice tests. This was an extremely busy time, but I was fortunate that Japanese study was direct training for my job, so I could fit everything in. After taking the N3, I took a break to recover.
2025 
After a month of dawdling, I recommitted to studies in earnest. At this point, I could feel the extent illiteracy was holding me back. I experienced consistent progress in 2025, and I attribute that to having a steady job/routine, not needing to focus on grammar/speech/listening as desperately, and making Wanikani a higher priority in my mind.
In October of 2025, I was around level 40. At this time, the dashboard layout was updated, and I found it refreshing for my motivation. In November, I explicitly decided to make Wanikani my number one priority. I was finally in a place with a consistent life pattern, where I wasn’t stressed trying to learn how to do my job, where I felt like it was time to learn how to read!
I did a few things to help me prioritize getting through Wanikani.
- I set timers in the evenings and on weekends to remind me to do my reviews 3x a day.
- I wrote out a plan for each level so I’d consistently level up within 9 days (if I kept to my lessons).
- I made little charts to stick on my desk that I would fill in with each day of progress.
- I added visual reminders everywhere—a little Wanikani sticker on a whiteboard as I was leaving my house, for example.
- I let myself use Tsurukame for reviews when I was feeling too exhausted to get out of bed.
I got a passing result for the N3 this year, and took the N2 in December.
2026 
I miraculously passed the N2! But Wanikani was still my #1 priority, and around this time I entered the fast levels. I adjusted my strategy and started taking about 6 days per level. So much of my day, for years, had been taken up by Wanikani reviews. Even when I wasn’t actively doing Wanikani, it was still weighing on my mind. I was so excited to reach the end and see what lies beyond.
Starting in January of this year, I decided to read at least 1 news article per day. This quickly became 2-4 articles, usually. Each level I completed on Wanikani, I noticed more and more kanji becoming recognizable.
On March 30th, I leveled up to 60.
I had a backlog of about 900 vocabulary lessons, which I began to work through, 25 a day. Something clicked on level 60, that I hadn’t even felt on 59. When reading, I had a sudden confidence. “I should know this kanji. I think I’ve seen it before.” When stumbling on a kanji in the past, it felt like more of a mystery, something I needed to look up, something 仕様がない because I’d never learned it.
After level 60, I find myself experiencing something like… trust. And clarity. I don’t feel like the words I’m encountering are beyond me anymore. I don’t feel like they are a mystery. Even though I do encounter new words all the time, and occasionally new kanji, I wasn’t expecting to feel this sudden spark of confidence while reading Japanese.
Memory from 2026: Working through the final 75 vocab lessons at once, in my pink notebook at my desk.
THE BEYOND
Currently, I am dealing with the consequences of doing the final 75 vocabulary lessons at once. I am going to continue with Wanikani reviews, possibly until burning them all. Wanikani has been so deep in my mindset for five years, and part of my daily routine for two. I’m not sure what it will be like to slow down, but I’m looking forward to it.
Genuinely, I am so excited for the amount of time I’m about to have. Going from 3+ review sessions per day to 1 is going to be life-changing. I’m beginning my N1 studies, which shall be detailed in my study log.
One of the best lessons I’ve learned after doing this for years has been how to choose priorities. While I would have liked to finish Wanikani in 2 years, and had this kanji knowledge long before now, I don’t regret the turns of my journey. I can recognize, looking back, that disruptions in my Wanikani progress have always been accompanied by breaks in routine or big life changes. I can also recognize when I, consciously or unconsciously, was making the decision to focus on Anki, Kanzen, listening, JLPT, or other areas of study.
In the moment, I often did feel some stress and disappointment with myself that I wasn’t finding time to do Wanikani lessons. But at a point, perhaps around year 4, I learned to forgive myself, and recognize when life changes or other priorities would naturally disrupt progress.
Would you like some tips? Here are little things that took me years to figure out!
(Note: I have been doing all this with unmedicated ADHD. The following has helped significantly with my need for dopamine and object impermanence).
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Visual Cues.
I learned to remind myself of 1. Wanikani 2. I am doing Wanikani 3. My progress in Wanikani by drawing very simple cute charts and sticking them where I look every single day. I also made a small goal board with magnets, and put Wanikani right at the top. No matter what, for the past two years I have gone to my desk and been reminded, “I am doing Wanikani. I want to finish Wanikani!”. -
Flexible timelines.
At a point, I stopped holding myself to being at a certain goal by a certain day, and that removed the pressure if I needed to adjust. As you can see from my visual cue charts above, there are no dates, but each square I fill is a day where I completed my lessons. It was good motivation to think, “I can be done with the level in X days if I do my lessons today!” -
Timers.
Implemented when Wanikani became my #1 priority. I regularly forget to do evening or weekend reviews on time. Not when I have a recurring timer to remind me! -
Priorities.
It took me a while to consciously determine which of my study goals were top priority, and when I didn’t have a clear distinction, I often felt overwhelmed spreading myself thin and not feeling clear progress in anything. Sometimes, deciding on a clear priority to make noticeable progress in one area has been a boost of confidence. Wanikani is sometimes a priority, sometimes not. -
Remove friction.
I have not been excited to do reviews (or lessons) maybe 90% of the time. Make it as easy as possible for yourself to show up and get started. For me, this meant using Tsurukame on Anki mode on days when I was too overwhelmed to sit at my computer and type. Wanikani in the bath, Wanikani in bed, it’s all ok! -
Trust your brain.
I’ve been faced with review stacks in the 1000s multiple times. I’ve felt uncertain most of this time. I chose to never reset, and even when the backlog was bad, to get through the knot and keep going. My short-term studying has almost always felt stagnant. Nevertheless, over the long-term, there is progress. That’s why it’s nice to keep a log and see how far you’ve come. -
Forgiveness.
Sometimes, you might stagnate on a level for a long time. Sometimes your life gets crazy and you neglect Wanikani for months. Sometimes you have a low accuracy day. Sometimes you need to prioritize other things. Sometimes you (cough cough) have so little energy, it’s all you can do to keep reviewing, and you can’t maintain a cute or consistent study log format. That’s ok! If you want to keep going, keep going when you can. Let yourself live and mess up and don’t let guilt keep you from showing up and trying something new again.
WHERE DO I GO?
Onward. I am rearranging my study priorities and trying out a new plan next week. I am excited to detail it in my Study Log, where I will be posting 
soon . One day, I will surely join a book club…
After five years of Wanikani, I walk away with more than kanji knowledge:
- I learned how to work incrementally toward an extremely long-term goal.
- I learned how to choose my priorities in study and daily life.
- I learned how to teach something to myself.
- I learned what I need to keep discipline, regardless of motivation.
- I know I can learn Japanese.
I commissioned a cake, gathered my friends and family, and made them celebrate me. > : )
At last <3.
THANK YOU!
Thank you to all of you, folks who have posted your thoughts, ideas, and journeys on this forum. Thank you to all of the Wanikani team, for creating and maintaining such a creative and effective tool. Thank you to level 60 posters, study loggers, POLL participants, book clubbers. I haven’t been the most active in these forums, but I am sincerely grateful for this community.
So interesting to read through this as someone near the beginning of this journey, thank you especially for sharing your tips.
Good luck with your Japanese language journey going forward!
fight bravely on 
I used to do a lot of pixel art and daydreamed about making some for this post, but I’m so busy these days! I want to get back into it. Maybe in the future I’ll decorate my study log.
I’ve been following your progress!
You can be very proud.
the JLPT isn’t the best at showing someones real knowledge in japanese, but I thought companies want certificates