ようこそ to my Japanese study log!
This is my first study log ever, and it might be a bit messy, but I’ll try to keep it as neat as possible.
This first part was inspired by NeoArcturus’ Study Log. I started this study blog to share my overall progress, to maybe even inspire other people, and also so that other people can make fun of my study routine. I also love having discussions about Japanese with other people! I’ll list most details about my Japanese journey so far, but I’ll warn you ahead—it’s very long and detailed!

Who I am
I live in Germany and go to the 10th class in Gymnasium (german equivalent to high school), my hobbies are learning Languages, I'm also trying to learn Game Development with Unity.
I also love watching Netflix and spending times with friends in general.
Why I started learning japanese
Most people learning Japanese had a lifelong dream of learning it, but I never did. I wouldn’t have even thought of learning it half a year ago. I started learning Japanese on the 17th of July, 2024.
It was shortly before the end of the school year, and I was really bored because I didn’t have much to do since gaming wasn’t as fun as it used to be. I was binge-watching a Netflix series called House of Ninjas. I usually don’t watch Japanese movies or anime, but this series really inspired me. I really enjoyed the atmosphere and story. It’s also the reason for my name on WaniKani since 忍び (shinobi) means “ninja” and is mentioned several times in the series.
Then, a couple of days later, I became literally obsessed with Japanese. It’s quite funny that a single series on Netflix made me start learning Japanese.
My journey with Japanese
I started out with Duolingo but noticed two days later that it doesn’t really teach kanji, just some vocabulary. I then found Tofugu’s Beginner Guide and learned all of hiragana and katakana in about four days. After that, I signed up on WaniKani and started learning kanji about 10 months ago.
I was looking for Japanese learning resources for several days. I tried BunPro, but it didn’t really stick with me. Then, I bought the Genki textbook and finished it 2 months later, including all the vocabulary and stroke orders of the kanji in the back. I moved on to Genki II, and I’m currently at the last chapter. I’ve also supplemented Genki I and II with the Tokini Andy videos, which have been really helpful. I’ve bought the Quartet Books, but haven’t started using them yet.
I’ve started reading Manga in Japanese as reading practice at about Level 12 in WaniKani and just after finishing Genki 2, at first it was pretty difficult understanding literally anything. I was sitting there and staring at a single page for 10 minutes. But now half a year later I’ve become used to reading Japanese every day and read regular News Articles in Japanese and some Light Novels. Most of my Immersion is still based on Migaku and watching TV and Netflix in Japanese.
I’ve reached about N2 Territory now and I’m not stopping there. I use Migaku and WaniKani to build up vocab and then Immersion to get used to grammar, my grammar knowledge is at about N3/N2. I’ve studied N5/N4 Grammar with Genki and I’ve also studied most of N3 with Bunpro and I’m trying to just acquire the rest through Immersion. Textbooks are boring😪
In total, I’ve learned about 7250 words using Genki, WaniKani, and Migaku so far. I can also recognize far more Kanji than I’ve learned through WaniKani, because I’ve just got used to seeing them while immersing.
My Journey with Mandarin Chinese
I’ve started learning Mandarin on top of Japanese because I just really like how the language sounds and I’ve also got some friends going to a local Language School for Mandarin and I wanted to see how fast I can study just by myself😂. I’ve decided to learn simplified Chinese since they are more common. My main focus is still on Japanese, so I’ve not been really learning a lot of grammar. But I’ve been learning quite a lot of Hanzi and vocab with HanziHero and I’m going to reach HSK 2 in the new HSK 3.0 System soon. My biggest goal is to read Three Body Problem (My favorite book) in Mandarin and I’m just waiting for where the journey takes me.
Korean
I’ve also started learning Korean, but there isn’t really a whole lot to say yet. I’m halfway through Migakus Korean Course and know about 850 words and basic Grammar. I’ve also tried Talk to Me in Korean but it was too expensive, I really wanna watch Squid Game in Korean though🤔
My Goals
- Reach WK Level 60 in 2026
- Take the N2 this year in December
- Reaching 10000 words through immersion with Migaku
- Read at least 3 Light Novels this year
- Staying consistent with my Goals and not giving up
- HSK 4 next year
- Reading Three Body Problem(三体) in Mandarin

[Exhausted breath] Well, this was a whole lot of text and details. As I already said, my studying routine is somewhat messy, but who needs routine and order😁. I’ve also noticed that learning Japanese has really been improving my memory overall—I can memorize details and facts in general way faster. I think balancing immersion, grammar/vocabulary, and kanji studies is very important. Japanese seems like such a difficult language, but it’s actually totally manageable, I really love that there are Kanji, without them you couldn’t guess meanings of new vocab so easily. I’ll give some updates about my progress in this blog, but without any schedule, since I’m busy most of the time lol.
Studying Methods:
(None of the links below are affiliated)
Grammar studies ![]()
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Genki and Quartet 1 + TokiniAndy (Finished)
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Migaku Course (Finished)
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Immersion with Migaku
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JapaneseAmmowithMisa for Topics that are hard to grasp
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Bunpro for N2 (not using currently)
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HSK 1 Book + Workbook(Mandarin)
Vocabulary and Kanji/Hanzi ![]()
Listening Practice ![]()
- Nihongo con Teppei 彼! (Intermediate)
- YUYUの日本語Podcast
Immersion ![]()
- Intermediate Book Club
- Netflix with Migaku
- Google News in Japanese
- Light Novels
Additional
- Japanese Phonetics Course by Dogen (Not using currently)
- Jisho for Dictionary lookups
- Yomiwa
- My Natively
Welcome to my study log everyone and I really hope you’ll enjoy seeing my progress!
読んでくれてありがとうございました!



















