Hi everyone!
My studies tend to be all over the place so I thought making this study log might be a good way to keep things more organized. I also tend to be pretty forgetful so hopefully writing things down more will help with that.
Study Background
Hi I’m Pyororon, I’m a college student majoring in marine biology and studying Japanese is one of my main hobbies.
I started studying around four years ago, learning hiragana and katakana with an app before taking a semester at my college. After that I found Wanikani, and have been studying on and off since then. So far I’ve made it halfway through Genki I in class, then halfway through Minna no Nihongo I by myself before losing motivation and realizing that I’m not a big fan of textbooks. For grammar after that I used Bunpro + Dictionary of Japanese Grammar for more in depth info on each point, as well as Game Gengo’s N5 and N4 videos. Then in 2021 I realized I could kind of read (emphasis on kind of) and got distracted playing otome games and reading manga and didn’t do much active studying, although I did look up a lot of unknown grammar and vocabulary so I think the reading experience there has helped me a lot. Now I’m trying to add some more intensive reading in and maybe try and give textbooks another shot with Tobira since my grammar knowledge is kind of all over the place and I’m aiming to take the N3 this year.
As for my Wanikani journey specifically, I started in 2019 and have reset twice, once from level eight to zero, and then once down a level after a long break. So far things are progressing well this year and I’ll be hitting the fast levels soon (rip).
Main Goals
Read as much as possible
Start Tobira
Keep up with WaniKani (shooting for 60 before the end of this year)
Take N3 in December
Keep up with book clubs
Secondary Goals
Try and take an Italki lesson every other week (on hold)
Watch youtube videos
Study marine life related vocab
Go through Bunpro grammar points
Will probably change some as things progress
I’ll try and post here at least once a week about what I’m studying and my progress, most likely along with a lot of random thoughts and things I find interesting while I’m studying. Feel free to drop by anytime! よろしくね~
18 Likes
I probably should have considered that I wouldn’t be able to keep up this schedule while on a trip. I think until I get back I’ll focus on reading and listening practice and maybe crack into Tobira. I’ll leave Wanikani on vacation mode since I haven’t been able to consistently do my reviews. Unfortunately I’m currently stuck in self isolation with covid, not great for my trip but I guess I’ll have plenty of time to study now. On a more positive note, made a new little friend
Current goals this week:
Make home post for summer reading challenge
Read 夜カフェ 12
Read Flesh&Blood 5 6
Read 夜は不思議などうぶつえん
2 Likes
Oh no. I hope you recover quickly and fully. And that it happens during a trip can’t be fun at all.
Your new friend is super cute. I admire people who manage to make friends of random kitties while traveling or out and about. Most cats I meet seldom want to get close. 
2 Likes
Thank you! And I usually have a pretty similar experience this guy was just extremely friendly, he’ll follow my family on walks if he sees them
1 Like
So much for that 
But now I’m back! And I’ve suddenly realized the JLPT is in less than two months so it’s really time to get studying. I picked up 新にほんご５００問 N3 and I’ve started going through those everyday. Doing that I’ve realized once again how all over the place my grammar is. While working on those I’m going to continue through Tobira and hopefully finish both before December. From looking at practice tests, listening and reading seem mostly ok but I’m really bad at picking up numbers when listening so I need to work on that before the test comes. One of these days I’ll try a mock test with the same time limit as the real test and see what sections I need to work on the most.
As for Wanikani, adjusting to going back to school left that pretty on and off in September so my first fast level wasn’t so fast, but I’ve managed to get it mostly back on track. I already know at least one reading of most of the kanji on level 44 so it’s going pretty smoothly, hopefully that will continue for a bit since I can’t seem to remember most of the more complicated mnemonics well.
Some boxes for more motivation.
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Weekly Goals:
Finish Flesh&Blood 4:
Take mock N3:
Make first week (two week?) summary post in daily reading challenge:
This weeks listening practice: This playthrough of Kenka Bancho Otome
4 Likes
Week of October 16th
This week I have a good amount of free time so I want to try and squeeze in some extra study before I get busy again. I tried a mock test for the N3 and it went well, out of all of the sections I missed the most on grammar and listening so I’ll shift more focus there after this.
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Weekly Goals:
Finish Chapter 1 憧れの作家は人間じゃありませんでした:
Start Flesh & Blood 5, read at least 5 chapters:
Reach level 46:
Finish Tobira chapter 2:
Listening this week:
Continuing from last week.
4 Likes
Week of October 23rd
Last week I ended up doing a lot less than expected, a lot of it probably because I managed to completely destroy my sleep schedule. Slightly more fixed now so hopefully this week I can get back on track. I do have a Physics test later this week though so I won’t be able to get as much Japanese studying in. As for studying for the JLPT, I realized doing the practice problems for the N3 that I need to focus some more on keigo.
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Weekly Goals:
Read Chapter 2 憧れの作家は人間じゃありませんでした:
Read Flesh & Blood 5, 3 chapters:
Reach level 47:
Listening this week:
Continuing Kenka Bancho Otome playthrough
Various streams
2 Likes
Week of October 30th
I think I’m going to drop Tobira for a bit, I’m not making much progress through it. Plus I’m coming up onto another exam so might need to slow things down a bit for a while. On a personal note, I’m starting a volunteer position looking after chickens this week so expect chicken pictures 
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Weekly Goals:
Start Flesh&Blood volume 6:
Reach level 48:
Listening this week:
Going to try listening to some drama CDs I got as extras with some games
4 Likes
It’s looking like I’ll be able to go to Japan this December so it’s time to get back to italki lessons and get some speaking practice in. I always avoided speaking practice because I get way too anxious that I won’t be able to come up with anything to say and then can’t bring myself to start so I just booked a bunch of lessons so I can’t avoid it anymore. Had my first one today and it went well. We had a good chat about places we’ve been on trips. Learned that snorkeling is シュノーケリング and struggled with the pronunciation of that for a bit lol. Also struggled a bit with counters in output, I’ll know the first one and then not how to pronounce any of the numbers after that. My pronunciation was complimented though which made me really happy. Hopefully after a while I won’t get as nervous before lessons.
5 Likes
Nice to meet you, Pyoro! I never saw your study blog until today. It seems like a marine biologist could find a lot to do in Japan! 
I’m rooting for you with the N3!
3 Likes
Hi Shannon, it’s nice to meet you, thanks for stopping by! I’m definitely planning a lot of aquarium trips when I go, I’m excited to learn more about the creatures that are native there. From your log it looks like you’re taking the N3 as well, good luck to you too! I can’t believe there’s only a month left now. 
3 Likes
Week of November 6th
Had an exam at the beginning of this week so I didn’t get much done then, but now that’s done and I have a day off on Friday so hopefully I’ll be able to get some good study in then. Also got my info for the N3 test so now I can start planning for that. I’m currently debating between staying the night before in LA or making the long drive up there the day of.
The promised chickens
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Weekly Goals:
Finish 憧れの作家は人間じゃありませんでした
Reach level 49
Finish 新にほんご５００問 N3 first go
Listening this week:
Misc. streams
9 Likes
Week of November 14th 
I’m gonna take it easy on the studying this week. If things are looking up later in the week I might go over the problems I missed in 新にほんご５００問
ちょっとしたグチ
今週色々あってストレスめちゃくちゃ高いからできる限り本の世界に引っ込むつもり。が、金曜日に物理学のテストがあるからそれさえ叶わないかも…週末が早く来たらいいね… 気軽な気持ちで読みたい 
The new Jack Jeanne novel comes out tomorrow so things are looking up there at least, I think I’m going to slow down some of my other books to pick that one up.
Edit:Things ended up being worked out for the most part so I’ll probably be able to throw in more study this weekend, maybe an italki lesson or two.
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Weekly Goals:
Finish chapter two of ゴースト・テーマパークの奇跡
Start ジャックジャンヌ ユニヴェール歌劇学校と月の道しるべ
Reach level 50
Listening this week:
Misc. streams
6 Likes
It’s out! 
The cover’s so pretty I’m not able to get much in for another few days but I can’t wait so I’m just going to start it. The first novel was the first book I ever finished in Japanese so it will be interesting to see how I’ve improved since then.
5 Likes
Things have been hectic for the past few weeks with finals and the JLPT so my studying hasn’t been very consistent over that time. Now that the JLPT is over things have calmed down a bit so I’ll probably restart my normal study but a little less until after the end of next week.
As for the JLPT, it went well I feel pretty confident in my score.
I drove up to the city early so I’d have time for breakfast before heading to the test site. The test was at a university so finding parking and the building where the test was was a struggle, I got there on time and still almost ended up late for the test 
But after running after some of the similarly panicked looking people I managed to make it on time and everything went smoothly after that. My testing room was pretty small and there were probably only around 20 of us in there. I think I did best in reading, I ended up with enough time to read all of the questions through twice and still have some leftover. I probably did the worst in listening, I zoned out a bit through some of the questions and there were some words I didn’t catch.
Some pictures from the city
For breakfast before the test I got these really tasty onigiri, one was sukiyaki and the other was spicy tuna mayo
Then I went to Kinokuniya (and bookoff on the way home) and got a small book haul
Then finally after the test I went to get some udon and rest my tired brain for the drive home
It was overall a really fun day but I was dead tired after it all was done
Now I want to start working on material for the higher levels. I picked up 新完全マスター N2 and I’ll add that to my daily schedule. Drew this daruma an eye with the eventual future goal of passing the N1, no idea when it will end up but hopefully he gets his second eye someday.
Another consequence of the past week,
Time to get to work on whittling these down
7 Likes
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Weekly Goals:
Get review count to 0
Do level 53 lessons
Finish Flesh & Blood 6
Listening this week:
Various streams
7 Likes
Sounds like you had a fun day despite doing a test!
I’m a bit jealous of people that have Japanese restaurants within a reasonable driving distance.
Good luck on the review pile. Been there, done that. Hope the burns goes well! 
1 Like
I won’t be able to finish Genki II or my Nihongo Sou Matome N3 review books! 
