I can read most textbook Japanese! But I can't read 'real' Japanese?

Reading is my weak point, but I can speak pretty fluently. In my opinion the best way to learn native like Japanese, is to watch interactions between native speakers. I was lucky enough to be able to be in an environment where I could hear Japanese between native speakers. The big problem with many Japanese is when they speak to you, and hear the way you talk a switch in their brain turns on and they usually go into talking with a foreigner mode. Many speak unnaturally slowly and try and use simple vocabulary, etc.

If you don’t have a chance to live/work in a Japanese environment, probably the next best thing is to watch Japanese shows on Netflix. Terrace House, Ainori, Realove etc give you many hours of Japanese interacting with other Japanese. You will have the option to use English or Japanese subtitles, or none at all. When I watch I usually have Japanese subtitles on and use it as reading practice.

Is your listening good enough to pick up Japanese at native speed? Watching shows at native Japanese speed will improve your listening, but getting people to speak to you in a normal manner is quite something different. Most need to feel comfortable enough with your comprehension where they won’t try and dumb it down for you. Unfortunately for most foreigners learning Japanese you may have trouble with a native style of pronunciation/intonation/cadence. Many Japanese people go into speaking to a foreigner mode when they hear anything but a native sounding accent.

Hopefully the Netflix will allow you to improve your listening. Only a lot of listening and pronunciation practice will get you over the second hump.

These tips were mostly for speaking obviously. I would recommend NHK easy, and within they have articles to the non dumbed down versions of the articles. You can read them with easier Japanese to begin with, then once you know the jist of article you can see what regular Japanese would get.

I hope this is helpful for you.

Makotochan