Amanda

book review: どんなときどう使う日本語表現文型辞典

I bought this book last month and have been using it to prepare for conversation classes and with my own personal writing. If I had to describe it, I would say it’s a book of useful expressions and grammar structures for learners of all proficiency levels. Expressions are listed alphabetically (kana order) and are easyContinue reading “book review: どんなときどう使う日本語表現文型辞典”

drama review: familiar wife / しってるワイフ

Familiar Wife is a drama I started watching earlier this year while it was airing after it was recommended by my Japanese teacher. I did try watching it live but only got the gist of the story, so very quickly found somewhere to watch with subtitles. Note – this review is for the Japanese remakeContinue reading “drama review: familiar wife / しってるワイフ”

resource review: wanikani

Just in case you didn’t know, WaniKani is a web-based platform for learning kanji and vocabulary with it’s own SRS (spaced repetition system). It’s what I use to learn kanji and I will admit that I have a long and complicated history with it. After going between WaniKani, Anki and other kanji based books (KodanshaContinue reading “resource review: wanikani”

mini update: sumo news!

The July basho has just ended and I couldn’t be happier for this man – one of my favourite rikishi, Terunofuji! He didn’t win BUT he only lost to the current sole yokozuna, Hakuho (the most successful sumo wrestler with 45 championship victories), with an impressive 14-1 record. With his past three performances also containingContinue reading “mini update: sumo news!”

drama review: ossan’s love

I’m very late to the Ossan’s Love party but now that I’ve watched it I just have to share my love for it! Ossan’s Love is a drama about a real estate agent called Haruta who is unlucky in love and in work – his last relationship was years ago and he can’t get theContinue reading “drama review: ossan’s love”

july 2021 goals

I can’t believe it’s almost July already! This year has really flown by and I’m going to start sharing my language goals here as a reminder to myself of what I plan to achieve by the end of the month. Japanese Kanji – aim for level 11/12 on WaniKani – I’m averaging a level everyContinue reading “july 2021 goals”

amazon.jp kindle set-up

Recently I took advantage of the Amazon Prime Day to get myself an Amazon Kindle Paperwhite – I have had my Kindle Fire since 2013 but it doesn’t give me the same experience as a normal Kindle, plus I’ve wanted a separate device for using with the Amazon Japan Kindle store. You can only registerContinue reading “amazon.jp kindle set-up”

how i’m preparing for jlpt n3

Firstly, thanks covid for the multiple cancellations! I first took the JLPT N3 in December 2017 at a point where work was chaotic, I was dealing with big changes at home and I was super stressed. Needless to say I didn’t have time to study and I failed, but by a small margin. I thenContinue reading “how i’m preparing for jlpt n3”

#minimmersionweekend – may 1-2

If you’ve been in the Japanese studygram community on Instagram you may already know what this is, but #minimmersionweekend is a retreat based around immersing yourself in your target language for a weekend with no rules (which I love, as I’m not a fan of many of the challenges often posted). It was created by @leaf.ling_learns and @rubygagotoku andContinue reading “#minimmersionweekend – may 1-2”