For all you maths nerds, here are my statistics
Levels completed: 60/60 (100%)
For anyone who enjoys history, romance, drama etc…
昔,昔 (むかし,むかし）
This story starts several million years ago, or at least it feels like it some days. I am 23 years old, studying Japanese in Tokyo. Kanji is the weakest of my language skills, but there’s a limit to the number of handwritten flashcards a girl can cope with. I have a crush on my Taiwanese classmate, and 6 weeks before our school year ends, he reveals similar feelings. He is married and I am in a serious long distance relationship, but we spend a lot of time together in those last weeks. We talk about visiting each other in the future. Later, we send each other letters in Japanese, but it gets harder and harder over time – first to write them, and secondly to read them. Eventually we lose contact.
Some time later
After many years of not knowing what has become of him, I receive a Facebook friend request from my Taiwanese crush. I am delighted, but have very little confidence in my Japanese ability, and we exchange only very brief messages.
6 years ago
I am on holidays in Sydney with my family, when I see on Facebook a picture of my Taiwanese friend – standing in front of the Sydney Opera House. My hands are shaking as I message him to say we are in the same city. The next day, we meet for the first time since we parted in Tokyo, half a lifetime earlier. It is magic, but while he uses Japanese almost daily for work and is thus completely fluent, I can barely string a sentence together. I resolve then and there to get my Japanese level back to where it used to be, as best I can.
Don't panic
In the weeks and months that follow, the two of us track down and reach out to more members of our Tokyo class. I start going to the local Japanese cultural centre, borrowing books and DVDs and haltingly practicing 会話. It seems I have forgotten most of the kanji I ever learned, and this is a barrier to my progress. The following year, I discover WK. I am 42+ and love all the Hitchhikers references.
An unexpected hiccup
It is 23 November, 2017, a Thursday. I have a swallowing anatomy exam in four hours time, but am excited because next Monday I am flying to Korea to catch up with one of my Tokyo classmates. I am expecting my GP to tell me the lump in my breast is a benign fibroid, as it is a family condition. Instead, she tells me I have cancer. I walk out in a daze, but can’t bear the thought of deferring the exam. Every so often, part of my brain screams something along the lines of, “Oh my God, I’m going to die!” and another part of my brain responds with thoughts to the effect of “Oh shut up, that’s not in the exam. Focus!!” I drive home, phone my parents, cling to my husband and cry myself to sleep.
What got me through
The following week I have surgery. Faced with chemotherapy and radiation therapy in the new year, I decide to take a semester off, but need something to occupy my mind. I tip-toe into the WK Community forum, and discover that someone has suggested a group read 魔女の宅急便 (Kiki’s Delivery Service) together. It is a turning point. The book turns out to be quite difficult for many who started it, but it’s the right level for me, and on my good weeks, I contribute words to the vocab sheet, grammar explanations and English summaries to the forum. The weeks I have chemo, I am too sick and rely on others to do the vocab. I share nothing of what I am going through at the time, and WK becomes my happy place where no-one worries about me and my health. I enjoy all the entertainment of the forums. I also learn (and re-learn) a bunch of kanji as a not-insignificant side benefit.
After my treatment finishes, I return to university and retreat from the hustle and bustle of the forums, but I keep reading with WK. As much as I want to be able to speak Japanese, I realise that being able to read it fluently is just as important, but I am not self-motivated enough to do it alone. One book club group after another keeps me going. I complete four long practicums and a research thesis, and start work as a speech-language pathologist after 8 years of part time study. It is not easy, and at times I struggle with depression and anxiety. One book club group after another keeps me going, and the read aloud sessions become one of the highlights of my week.
The cherry on the cake
Books take you places you can’t otherwise go. Websites give you knowledge and resources you can’t get locally. But nothing beats real human connection.
I would like to thank everyone who kept me entertained on the forums – there are too many of you to list and I’d be sure to forget someone important, but your humour and kindness and ridiculous polls and free flirts were greatly appreciated. May the Crabigator bless you all.
I would also like to thank everyone who shared their knowledge, tips, explanations and links to resources. I have learned so much more because of your generosity.
Mostly, I would like to thank everyone I have interacted with through the book clubs, especially @Belerith @Naphthalene @NickNickovich @NicoleIsEnough @Radish8 and last but definitely not least, my bookclub BFF @seanblue who (among other things) filled out the Kiki vocab sheet those weeks I was too sick to contribute, introduced me to Aria, and even promised to study grammar with me one of these years (nudge, nudge).
In late 2018, I spent a few days in Tokyo, where I met the elusive Naphthalene – at a bookshop, of course!
In 2019, the lovely Nicole messaged me to say she would be in my city at the time of the JLPT, and would I like to sit an exam with her? Well sure, why not? 
So I sat N2 (and passed), and we had a fun few days touristing together as well.
In 2020, I travelled with my family to Taiwan, for a very enjoyable two week holiday. It was well timed, not long before covid caused world travel chaos. We crossed paths with Nicole again, and best of all, we spent several days with my dear Taiwanese friend, and we talked a lot, and pretty much all of it was in Japanese. The feeling of 満足 was amazing.
What’s next?
I still need to finish recycling my leeches burning kanji and vocab. I want to return to grammar study at some point, and continue reading with the book clubs. I would dearly love to spend more time in Japan, and I’ve promised my family they can come with me next time. I would like to meet up with some more WK人々. And maybe one day in the future I can get my language skills up to the point where I could work with Japanese clients, who knows?
TLDR
Slow and unsteady doesn’t win any races, but it can still get you where you want to go, especially if you have people who help you along the way. Now go join a book club. 
Congratulations!
