Acc to the Wikipedia pg it’s a specific yearly event in August, composed of schools from around the country. So I think it’s akin to regionals/nationals (スポーツから知らんけど)
Intro paragraph:
全国高等学校総合体育大会（ぜんこくこうとうがっこうそうごうたいいくたいかい、英語: All Japan high school sports）は、全国高等学校体育連盟が主催する高校生を対象とした日本の総合競技大会。毎年8月を中心に開催され、インターハイ、インハイ、または「高校総体」や「高総体」と呼ばれることも多い。高等学校全日制課程・昼間定時制課程、中等教育学校後期課程、高等専門学校1〜3学年、特別支援学校高等部に在学する者が対象となる。
Hah, it didn’t occur to me that it might be one particular competition.
Those are some chonky kanji strings, though. Are you sure this isn’t the Chinese wikipedia? 
四字熟語 not doing it for ya? try 12字熟語 笑 
Very late, but thank you!
乗車券 (じょうしゃけん) vs. きっぷ
As I just (re)learned the word 乗車券 recently, I couldn’t help but wonder whether this was commonly used? I know that it is slightly different from きっぷ, more specific in its meaning, but is it really something commonly used by native speakers or one of those archaic word that no one ever uses (eg. けいたいでんわ vs. スマホ)? I, at least, don’t remember ever encountering it when I was in Japan.
乗車券 isn’t obsolete, but it is arguably Japanese railway jargon. The 乗車券 is the base fare ticket (priced based on distance), and with one on its own you’re only allowed to use normal trains, not express or shinkansen trains. To use those you need to also have a 特急券 which is the express supplement. Traditionally if you bought a shinkansen ticket you got two separate pieces of cardboard for this, but I think they mostly print both on one bit of card now, unless you’re doing a more complex journey that’s part shinkansen part other services. (For instance when I travelled from Hirosaki to Hakodate I bought the tickets at a ticket counter, and they gave me a 乗車券 covering the whole journey, plus a 特急券 for the express from Hirosaki to Aomori and another 特急券 for the shinkansen from Aomori to Shin-Hakodate; the last leg from Shin-Hakodate to Hakodate was a non-express service so the 乗車券 was all I needed there.)
JR does use the term in customer facing stuff: at 2m40s in this video there’s a station announcement reminding passengers that they need both a 乗車券 and a 特急券 to board the incoming express service, for example:
It also is used in the Japanese UI on ticket machines, which you can see later in the video.
Me being very ignorant… 
Thank you for enlightening me!!
I guess that using only the スイカ IC card and never any physical tickets meant that I never encountered this specific word. The only time I had bought something, was the 青春 18 きっぷ. (It is not a well known alternative ticket pass, that is dirt cheap and until 2024, you could travel 5 non-consecutive days for around 10 000 yens on normal and express trains. I did that twice, once between Tokyo-Kyoto-Osaka-Himeji. But I just saw that since 2024 it is 5 consecutive days, so it is worth a bit less, I think.)
Yeah, both the suica card and 青春18 have the same “local (including rapid) trains” validity of a 乗車券 (neither covers express trains, so 特急券 still needed in that case). The guy in the video says a lot of Japanese people don’t really understand the system either…
The Wikipedia photo of a 青春18 ticket shows that it does actually say in the small print 普通列車乗車券 (top middle, just under 青春18):
Yeah, you are right. But these days everyone is using some sort of IC card for daily commutes and transport, at least in Tokyo and big cities where I have been. So that is pretty convenient 
I use the shinkansen pretty often so I have to use these tickets. Including yesterday. Iirc they have a way to load the ticket itself onto an IC card now but you sadly can’t just walk through ticket gates and tap your suica and let it calculate for you like with the standard JR ticket gates
Ah that is a shame Are you commuting with 新幹線 or just taking trips with it? I heard that there is a commuter ticket for 新幹線 as well.
Just trips
Hi everyone, I don’t know if this is really the place for this question, but I’m hoping to get some advice. If there is another thread better suited for this question please don’t hesitate to let me know.
For context : I started studying Japanese 10 years ago with a wonderful year-long university course, then I dropped off for a few years after graduating, then picked it up again on my own, but inconsistently. About three years ago I started taking a weekly Japanese in-person class and since then I have tried to be more consistent. I don’t live in Japan and I work full-time.
Also, I failed the JLPT N4 by a few points when I took it a few years ago: despite solid reading and kanji scores (thanks Wanikani) my listening score was awful.
In 2026, I’d like to pass the N3 in December, even if I feel it is a slightly ambitious goal.
Here is the studying I’m now doing consistently :
To this, I have added Tobira Gateway to Advanced Japanese, which I’m self-studying on weekends/in the mornings before work. I am currently working through chapter 1.
My question pertains mostly to the many new grammar points introduced in Tobira (there are 16 grammar points in chapter 1 alone, although many are not too complicated). I’m concerned about retaining this new grammar, and am considering adding a Bunpro subscription to help me drill the information in.
However, I wonder if adding yet another app is a good idea, or if this is overkill, and the best thing at this point would be to just proceed doing the exercises in the book and not worry to much about SRS for grammar. I also have considered making, simply enough, physical flashcards with the grammar points and going over them from time to time.
I also know that Renshuu recently solidified their intermediate grammar + vocab offerings on the app. I love Renshuu and started doing these lessons, but found that with the new grammar and vocab in Tobira it was a bit too much all at once to retain.
What do you think is the best to do to, especially with the JLPT N3 goal at the end of the year? Any ideas/advice/criticisms you might have are very welcome!!
Thanks in advance. Illie
I wouldn’t add more apps to your workload. My recommendation would be to use bunpro to to get an overview of what grammar you are still missing for N3. Just do it once no subscription required.
The list is just so you have a rough overview how many items are missing and what they are. Tobira for example doesn’t strictly adhere to the N3 grammar and will include some other stuff as well.
Instead of doing grammar drills I’d recommend to engage more with the language during the year. You already started the book which is a good step. Engaging with stuff helps me much more with grammar than simply drilling it. Try to always do some reading during this year. It helps with reading speed, subconsciously drilling grammar AND makes you faster at reading.
Oh and for listening you might be able to add some anime episode or dramas in japanese in. Rather than just podcasts they have the visuals as aid but are probably harder language wise. Don’t go for high comprehension as with the podcasts, but use it more as leisure time when you feel like it. This will push your listening to get better at ignoring stuff you don’t understand.
I would then do a test quiz (can also use bunpro for example for free) of N3 around summer. Adjust your studying after according to your weaknesses. If you find grammar as a big weakness then, and only then, I’d recommend investing in shinkanzen master N3 which you can work through in 3 months as preparation.
Overall don’t push yourself too much. It seems sensible what you are doing and you still have quite a bit of time. Keep it consistent and I think you’ll do well.
Thank you for this very concrete advice!! I think you’re completely right about proceeding without doing drills and then checking in when summer rolls around to see how I’m doing.
Amongst JLPT prep books, do you think Shinkanzen master is the best option ?
Theres a minor thing I don’t fully understand and I was wondering if anyone else could explain - is there a reason sentence-ending particles are sometimes written in カタカナ instead of ひらがな? I know that non-loanwords written in カタカナ are often meant to add emphasis (or so I’ve read) but I’m not too clear on whether that’s the case with sentence-ending particles too, or what that means. For example: …というわけで、ちゃんと来てネ was the most recent instance I saw this in.
Katakana ending particles often convey character’s foreign accent, or weird pronunciation in some other way.
E.g. that Chinese girl in Sakamoto Days, or Petelgeuse in ReZero.
Alternatively it could just be a one-off emphasis.
I mean, it depends on what you mean by best option.
I think they are one of the hardest books for grammar. They go into good detail and cover nuance about different grammar points pretty well, I think.
It’s also a raw grammar book without any texts or vocab or listening etc. thrown in.
I think there are better books to get an overview over a JLPT level, but when it comes to raw drilling grammar specific to a JLPT level, they are one of the best.
On the negative side, they are pretty dense and straight to the point. So I don’t think they are ideal as a first point of contact with the grammar in a level either.
That doesn’t mean I’d advocate for all other books of the series. Reading is okay but honestly can be also learned by just “reading” you know. Same with listening. They might prepare you for the test a little, but I honestly would prefer to just do 2 mock exams as preparation instead. They might be worth it if you are not interested in improving your language ability but are pressed for time and need to increase your chances of passing a good bit.
The Kanji book is pretty useless when you do WaniKani. The vocab book is not bad, it basically has a bunch of related vocab together in one place, but you need to find a way to drill that stuff yourself → I also feel like seeing the vocab in actual material works better. It might be okay to fill in some knowledge gaps?
If you are looking for more general JLPT N3 level books I can also give some recommendations, but as I said, if you find that grammar is your weak point in summer, I think sniping the grammar shinkanzen master N3 is not a wrong move. I think that + applying the language is a better strategy than drilling another SRS.
But I have to say to each their own. Some people love SRS because it feels productive and doesn’t need self direction. For me personally, I’d find it too boring if done for more than 30 min a day. Much more enjoyable to actually use the language. And research shows that you learn much faster if you are actually having fun.
It’s also a little a question of what your priorities are. Naturally improving at the language and using it for a value ad in your life or focusing on passing this N3 test? These goals are not 100% mutually exclusive but you can veer more in the direction of one or the other.
Mmm, I always felt KM worked well as a “fill in” resource for the more minor grammar structures, but was a bit thin on detail to be good for anything that needs more than a few lines of explanation.
