Marking my 10 year Japanese “study” anniversary, I reached Level 60 on Wanikani and passed JLPT N1 within 24-hours from each other.
It’s been a long rollercoaster of a journey, and it’s far from over. In this post I will share my journey with you all. Anyone looking for concrete, to the point study advice, you won’t find it here. My journey has been more like Frieren collecting magic than a serious study attempt.
A little bit about me as a person
I was born and raised in the Netherlands. As long as I can remember, I’ve been a gloomy (perhaps depressed) and low self esteem kind of person, struggling to trust people. By no means someone very dedicated to completely mastering anything. Or rather, who assumes it’s impossible from the start…
I first started studying a new language (English) during my final years in primary school. I sucked. And yet, I applied to a bilingual school where most subjects were taught in English. I struggled through the first year, being scared to make mistakes, I resorted to speaking Dutch whenever I could, until being threatened with low evaluations for English speaking by my teachers. I sucked, but being in an environment where I was forced to use the foreign language in my early tens, I improved and gained confidence. Sure, I’m still not native level, but this method worked for me, especially as I realized language isn’t as black and white as school made me think. I can make mistakes and still have a great conversation in a foreign language. This experience became the base of my approach to studying Japanese.
My Japanese “studying” journey
My Japanese journey officially started in February 2016, during my 2nd year in college (I feel old). But why? In middle school (around 2010), I became friends with a group that enjoyed watching anime a.o. In high school, my younger sister got to go on a 1-week student exchange to Tokyo. Even though I attended the same school, as a senior I wasn’t allowed to go because Japanese students would come to our school after I graduated, making me unsuitbale as a host (in my opinion, 2 Japanese students could have stayed with my sister).
Spring 2015, 1st year in college, a couple of friends had also been to Japan and I was incredibly jealous, so I decided I’d go on a solo trip to Japan. A year was way to long to wait, but I needed to save money, have a good plan, and wanted to stay as long as I could afford. I don’t get out of bed on time unless I really have to, so I started looking for projects, or some kind of summer school in Tokyo. I found a Japanese Language school in Sapporo, despite it not being Tokyo, I was pretty much sold as soon as I visited their website. It was decided, in 2016 I’d go to Sapporo for 6 weeks, go to language school and enjoy family life with a lovely host family.
Few months later (October 2015ish), I thought I might as well start studying now, so I can communicate the family on a very basic level. I suck and self discipline, so I figured I’d look at what my university had to offer. International Studies would start with a beginners course at the start of the 2nd semester. I was motivated. I sent them an email, at first they refused, then I asked for the reason why, it wasn’t a good one so their “no” turned into a “maybe”. For 3 months I sent them regular emails (spams), until the day before the first lecture. I got a “yes”, and rushed to the bookstore to get Genki I.
I enjoyed the course, was far more motivated than for any course I took as part of my major. That summer, I had the time of my life in Japan, also finding a new passion in Japanese baseball. For the rest of the season, I’d watch Japanese streams (immersion) instead of paying attention during lectures (still passed without major issues). This time around, my requests to continue studying Japanese at International Studies were quickly approved. Also, on September 30, 2016, I created my Wanikani account. I loved it and got lifetime at the end of the year.
The next summer, I went back to Sapporo. Same school, same family, and an amazing 10 weeks. I wanted more. I graduated from college, wasn’t motivated to get a graduate degree in my field, but also wasn’t ready to join the working force. I was pessimistic to say the least, I couldn’t imagine building a life and thriving in the Netherlands. I spoke with some people I met during my previous trips and decided to apply to a Japanese language school which would help me get a student visa.
In October 2018, I started at my new school. The school, in my mind, was never meant to be my main tool to learn Japanese. But rather, they would provide the tools I would figure out using in the outside world. At first, I was a bit ahead from my classmates, but slowly I started falling behind. There was one building block I didn’t pay the necessary attention to: kanji. The one block we were told to study by ourselves. That’s right, whenever I was in Japan I was the least tempted to continue using Wanikani. I still passed N2, but failed N1 in December 2019. My grades will acceptable, I enjoyed lengthy conversations with customers at my favorite job, but I couldn’t get my self to read, at most a baseball manga which had furigana…
I graduated in March 2020. The graduation ceremony was cancelled due to the pandemic, the country closed for tourists, and my planned job at the airport went down the drain. I started working at a golf park, but the long weeks, irregular hours and the handwritten kanji the way senior Japanese write them killed my motivation and 4 months later I was without a job.
In March 2021, my partner and I separated after pretty much a year of continuous fighting, and I went back home. In my mind, I failed, and I still think that way. However, going home brought me good things too (although not immediately). The first half year I didn’t work, I also wanted nothing to do with Japan (related things).
April 2022, after having worked at a bank for a few months, I joined a small company with a Japanese parent company. My Japanese was rusty, but it didn’t take long for me to enjoy using the language again. I started having fun again. Started picking up Wanikani again and reset to level 1, but it wasn’t until the start of 2024 that I seriously started making an effort to reach level 60. Soon after, I considered taking N1 again to get revenge (my younger self would never have considered taking a test voluntarily). I don’t really remember what else I did during those years to improve my Japanese, it certainly wasn’t watching anime. I guess I was just having fun, but at this moment, I was getting motivated to challenge myself.
So, in February 2024, I signed up as a volunteer at the baseball week as liaison (interpreter). The tournament was held in July and loved being a part of it. In April 2024, I started reading my first book. In September I went back to Sapporo for the first time since leaving the country in March 2021. It was like coming home, even though I was going through one of my countless depressive episodes. I met so many friends from previous trips and my short time living there. A former Japanese teacher helped me find textbooks that would be easy for me to use to prepare for the July exam.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t sign up for the exam. After being delayed by 4 weeks, registration was closed within 4 hours. All available seats were already taken. I couldn’t handle it, so I gave up. Trying to find a different location was too much effort. December would be my month, and I spent months deciding on where to take it. Denmark it was.
In August 2025 I found a new job as a Dutch, English and Japanese interpreter at a factory under construction. Halfway September they temporarily pulled the plug due to finance issues, a 2-year delay and market changes. All of a sudden, I found myself going to the office with no work to do. Many Japanese colleagues flew back to Japan by the start of November. The day before I headed to Denmark to take N1, they sent me home with a settlement agreement. I won’t go into details, but it was ugly and reached out to a lawyer. I went into the exam completely stressed and overal unable to enjoy Copenhagen.
Quickly after, I found a new job. I consider this pretty much the dream job of everyone not being able to live in Japan (I want to, yet I can think of many reasons to at least postpone this). On the 29th I reached level 60, and on the 30th I learned that I passed N1. The climax of a 10 year journey.
Any advice?
Just have fun! Reaching fluency was never my goal, and I don’t consider myself fluent (because I can always get better). Since graduating from language school, I never touched a textbook again, only one filled with practice questions to familiarize myself with the questions in preparation for N1.
Find ways to interact with the language that don’t feel like studying. For me, I specifically searched for jobs that required Japanese knowledge. There aren’t that many positions, but also not that many people applying. I do read, but I only look up words when I’m not sure how to read them (not even always…). I don’t even recognize grammar parts. One on my middle school teachers once said “you only need to be able to read 80% of the text to understand it”, and that’s pretty much how I look at a text.
When people ask me how I got motivated to learned Japanese to the level I am at right now, I always say it’s a hobby that got out of hand. Right now, it is a big part of my identity. So, I won’t do anything different after reaching level 60 and passing N1. I will continue having fun.
This post ended up being more of a summary of half my life than anything else, but this is my journey. We all have our own unique journey, cherish it, there are many beautiful milestones to enjoy along the way.
Enjoy your life’s journey!!!
hard relate, I didn’t know these were the words I needed to describe my journey as well
I really hope you enjoy the new position! 
