I’m not at a very high level yet with my listening, but I like podcasts where the speakers chat very casually. It’s not really about comprehension. While it’s nice to understand snippets here and there, the real reason I listen to this type of podcast is just to have the sounds and cadence of casual Japanese in my head—I don’t live in Japan, so this is my paltry substitute for immersion.
Here’s where I get very particular:
The best podcast I’ve heard like this is Rebuild by Tatsuhiko Miyagawa (some of you listen to this, I’m sure). It’s casual, laid-back, and the host and guest are almost always soft-spoken, and they are not doing joke riffs, or talking like TV presenters, which is rare, I find. Instead, Rebuild is about gently sharing experiences and opinions. Those are the kinds of conversations I eventually want to have, so you could say I listen to Rebuild because the speakers speak the type of Japanese I want to speak.
The only problem with Rebuild is that the subject matter is a tad boring to me. It’s all computer languages, consumer electronics, and Silicon Valley-type stuff, which I am somewhat interested in, but it gets a little boring and repetitive.
So my very particular request is this: Does anyone know of something with the same low-key vibe and tone as Rebuild, but in which the topic is pop culture? Or politics? Or pretty much anything besides tech?