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Its currently 33°C in Sweden, which is really fucking hot and people are struggling, AND OF COURSE American / Australian fuckers have to chime in like ROFL YOU THINK THAT'S HOT???? MY CUNT IS LITERALLY ON FIRE AS WE SPEAK NOW THAT'S HOT HA HA HA

Like YEAH? You're used to the heat? It's a NORDIC COUNTRY, WE'RE NOT USED TO TEMPERATURES OVER 20-23°C DURING THE SUMMER??? actually fuck off I hate you all.

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Frog in pond by Shibata Zeshin 

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Shibata Zeshin - Painting of a Mouse (19thC)

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So almost a year later I am reflecting on this and I have been pretty good at keeping up with:

MaruMori reviews, and sometimes doing a decent batch of lessons

KanjiDojo for writing practise / additional vocab practise

And that is realistically about it now that I am full time employed again. I try to do at least a little each day, but it is not anywhere close to the amount of studying I was getting in at school. Sometimes I do open Wanikani/Bunpro and do a bit with them.

I am at least (having obtained my N3) now able to immerse a lot more effectively, but it's still a bit all over the place. Daily life type stuff is generally fine, whereas getting through a highly themed otoge like Byakko (or my currently-playing, Toki no Kizuna) can be a real slog cause it varies from "I understand 40-60% of this dialogue" to "there were so many kanji I have never seen before in that section that I can't even begin to guess at what is going on anymore, someone pass me my google lens".

My ongoing plan is really just to keep up with MaruMori in particular as much as I can and then really just do extra stuff on the side when I feel up to it.

My real priority for this summer while I'm just incredibly busy is to get through this Toki no KIzuna route I'm playing right now before getting on to a bit of Mononoke Chigiri when it comes out (which I'm really looking forward to cause it looks like my niche exactly). I mean that's immersion which is basically like studying, right?

Once I have a few more clear weekends, I'll be able to put time more consistently into finishing off my English subs for the two MeiKoi stages and I hope to release those before the end of the year but conservatively speaking it might be an achievement if I get them out before Easter, it really just depends how much reviewing it takes to get them to a point where I'm not ashamed to release them.

Another overall goal for this year is also just to get through more reading, since I'm kind of a few pages in to a lot of stuff, between some manga and junior readers. That is kind of getting pushed into leftover pockets of time but I would like to be more consistent with it.

I kinda wanna write something up properly reflecting on my time at Japanese language school but the main thing I've learned from being here has probably been how I best learn a language and what I'm going to keep using to continue studying after I leave, especially since I signed up for the N3 in December.

Not that I'm an authority on learning Japanese in any way but in case these help someone else I figure I'll make a list of what I'm finding most useful (w web/Google Play links where applicable!) as learning resources. Just an NB for anyone looking for recs, I have ended up paying for most of these services either for additional unlocks or just because they are fully paid but most do at least offer some functionality or a free trial so you can check them out and decide if you also find them worthwhile.

Kanji

I like apps on my phone for this and what I'm using at the moment to prep for kanji tests at school is Kanji Dojo since it lets me create custom lists that can include individual kanji or full words including compound kanji and okurigana and I can set it to review my word lists with writing practise since we get tested on writing kanji not just recognising them (for me these are two _very_ different things and just know I envy you if you can remember how to correctly write a more complex kanji from memory without practising it like crazy beforehand).

On a similar vein, I also really like Kanji Study although its main shortcoming is that you can't add full words to custom lists for writing practise, it's just individual characters. But otherwise I really like all the features and the fact that it as an additional library beyond just the JLPT kanji lists.

If you don't feel the need to learn stroke order/writing then I think the undisputed king of kanji learning is probably Wanikani since it really focuses on teaching you how to see complex kanji in terms of radicals also gives you a lot of vocab on the side. Speaking of which:

2. Vocab

So if you can look up a word for something once and just remember it, great, but if you're like me and have to encounter a word a few hundred million times before it forms a solid part of your instinctive vocabulary then you can't go wrong with plugging into an SRS system regularly. I feel like Anki is the big dog in this space but personally I came to Kitsun first via getting the premium version of it bundled with another service I'll mention later and I really like its web UI. But whichever, really. I know you can add existing lists to your library or make your own custom ones with both of these so solid options.

I'll also note here that both of the services I'm about to discuss in relation to grammar also have vocabulary learning systems on the side, but I particularly like being able to make custom decks for mined vocab really easily using Kitsun (the card generation tool that lets you hook right into Jisho.org's database is very helpful).

3. Grammar

What I've loved most about language school is having teachers explain Japanese grammar points in terms of whatever Japanese we already understand. So while the services that I'm going to list next give text based explanations in English, I also like to try to find YouTube videos where the usage and nuance of grammar is explained in simple Japanese and plenty of examples are given.

I mainly use these because on top of getting an understanding of the grammar point that way, if I want to actually be able to use the grammar smoothly and correctly myself I have to get used to, for example, putting the verbs in the right form on the fly - so again good SRS systems that will drill me on that kind of thing are a real necessity for me.

Currently, I think Bunpro has the most complete grammar library in terms of JLPT coverage however I do think it's worth mentioning what I think is probably their main competition in this space: MaruMori. MaruMori is still adding N3 content and I don't think has anything for N2 or N1 yet at all but given the speed of their development and the amount of features they already have not to mention what is on the roadmap I feel comfortable giving them a rec. The overall style might be on the cutesier, more casual side but I have to say I do actually find the conversational and humourous style of their grammar explanations more engaging and less dry than Bunpro's.

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Details from my library: gallery wall

Laudate Solis print by Tettix / Judson Cowan

ミュージカル『薄桜鬼 真改』土方歳三 篇 flyers (two versions)

剣劇「三國志演技〜孫呉」 postcards (two versions)

Watercolour art commission of Hakuouki-style Hijikata Toshizou by Byrsa Art

舞台『モノノ怪～座敷童子～ flyer

ミュージカル「暁のヨナ」 flyer

Please don't laugh at how badly hung these are, my husband insisted he could do it without a spirit level and totally just eyeballed the whole set up...

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doing a bit of a purge of old posts and came across this one and YEAH could hardly have called it any better

oh well

flights are booked, accommodation is booked, guess we're doing Christmas Hakumyu

Hakumyu giving me basically everything I wanted for Heisuke hen and LIVE 4 but scheduling them for June/"winter 2025" (read: best guess is December - Christmas themed Hakumyu?) is such a Marv move to pull.

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Just been trying to practise writing in Japanese again cause since the last time I had to write something for school I don't think I have committed any kanji to paper...

I haven't felt like doing much actual studying lately so it's mostly been a few reviews each day and any progress in the N2 material I was getting started on is pretty stalled, but since I've been attempting to play more JP release otoge I guess I have been immersing?

I've been watching anime and stuff as well of course (how stacked is this season?? I'm going to have a hard time keeping up cause most of my weekends are busy!) but what really grinds my gears is that I recently noticed Crunchyroll (on top of all the other insidious shit they get up to) have turned off the option to set the subtitles to "none" with Japanese audio, which means either I have to be distracted by English subs or just some random other language at the bottom of my screen while I'm trying to watch.

Apparently this is a policy decision and it is implemented region by region, so in theory I can VPN to a region that doesn't have that restriction every time I want to immerse if I am determined enough (and to be honest it's enough of a hassle to figure out how to set up on e.g. my TV that I probably can't be bothered).

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My ita bag is not only a) an incredibly shitty backpack b) with gaps (room for more without needing to rearrange) but also c) extreme chaos gremlin levels of mismatched and comprised of assorted fandom pins and also just random pins I got out of gachapon in Japan

I hear it's controversial to not have a neat design in your ita bag because that's how they usually do it in Japan (usually a whole load of the same pin or a pattern made with many copies of a couple different pins repeated) and sure I've never seen a Japanese person do their ita bag as randomly and disorganised as mine but ah well

I like mine like this!

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Finally finished (one ending of) Ookura's route in BYAKKO yesterday and had to giggle at the "i'd follow him to hell and back but i wish he'd just stop going there" of it all.

Not gonna say too much about the game so far in case of spoilers but damn. I'm glad I am a Hakuouki fan, that's all I'll say for now. It's no surprise considering they are both "otoge set in the bakumatsu where the main character is directly involved with the historically canon losing side of the boshin war" that they touch on a lot of the same themes. It still feels pretty fresh and different to me though, but I will admit that might just be because I am playing in Japanese and my Japanese is still extremely mid so whether I get 100% of a sentence or about 20% is still a bit of a lottery.

I'm definitely going to work through the rest of the game eventually, but I just got 十鬼の絆 for Switch and want to play at least Shin's route of that, then モノノ怪契り is coming out at the end of the month and it looks like exactly my kind of thing so I'll probably jump into that.

(And, unrelated to otoge, just in case anyone was wondering, I am still going to try to fit in a Hakumyu rewatch and doing the version of the 30 day challenge I reimagined recently. All this while I am pretty busy over summer and we keep having heatwaves - I've definitely put the 明治東亰恋伽 stage subtitles on hiatus for now cause it's just too unpleasant to sit at my computer for hours on end in a hot room upstairs when I can be watching stuff and playing games in the coldest room of the house...)

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I've rarely seen a more validating sentence in my entire life.

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So does anyone else need to scream about Byakko or is it just me

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i feel like we as a digital society have forgotten the important rules of the internet

Don't feed the trolls

Never give out personal information

Anonymity is the best defense

Don't click suspicious links

Don't click popups and ads

Just because it's written doesn't mean it's true

You are responsible for your own experience

There is porn of everything, act accordingly

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Other people: you can learn conversational Japanese through immersion!

The words I learn through immersion:

人身売買

悲劇

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[Personal] some general advice!!

I would like to address some fandom related stuff because things are currently going in the wrong direction, so please keep reading and try to re-think about certain actions!

① DON’T STREAM STAGES (stream recordings ❌ dvd/blu-ray rips ❌) on youtube, bilibili or any other streaming site!

ESPECIALLY DO NOT STREAM MOVIC  and MARVELOUS PRODUCTIONS‼

even if you own a DVD/Blu-ray and want to share your love… do it PRIVATELY if you have to but DO NOT stream!!!

I don’t know if you guys realised it but a lot of productions use PIA LIVE STREAMING or Streaming+ these days (instead of dmm or niconama) to stream their shows. there are several reasons why they choose these services (like the streaming stability provided by these sites) but one of them is, that unless you have a Japanese Credit Card/can pay at a Japanese convenient store and have a Japanese Phone you can’t get access to these streams, which makes it ‘almost’ impossible for people outside of Japan to get their hands on them. YES, the industry is well aware of illegal actions performed by a lot of foreigners and is trying to make it harder for foreign fans to see their favourite show, which is a biiiigggg step back!! and sorry to say that but this is partly the fault of those among us who think it is a good idea to upload these videos on streaming sites!! you are NOT doing the fandom a favour!! the opposite is the case!! you are actually ruining it for the international fandom!!

which brings me to my second point

② DON’T POST GIFS/SCREENCAPS of stages (stream recordings ❌ dvd/blu-ray rips ❌)

well at least try not to post them on twitter!! especially not when you are following Japanese actors! ‘western culture’ is colliding with the Japanese at this point (and the law…) the majority of Japanese fans are not amused about it because it’s an unwritten rule here in Japan. NO GIFS!!! NO SCREENCAPS!!! try to keep it as private as possible!! I’ve been doing it here in the past so I’m definitly not an angel… but I’ve never done it on twitter! so if you don’t want to get into trouble with the law… stop at least doing it on twitter!

speaking of getting into trouble

③ DON’T RE-POST ‘OFFICIAL’ PICTURES FROM ACTORS (pix posted by actors on twitter, their blogs/fanclubs ❌ or official pictures like genepro-pix ❌)

again, at least try not to re-post them on twitter!! to be honest, I’m still debating with myself about this point… I mean, I’ve never re-posted pix on twitter… but those of you who follow me for quite some time now know that I like to promote my 3 oshis from time to time (using their pix) BUT I always put my sources in my posts!!! anyway, the recent post by >>荒牧慶彦 official<< (translation by Christie on twitter) made me rethink. meaning: for now I won’t post pix of my oshis (nor genepro-pix) here on my blog. so please do the same (at least on twitter) and instead of re-posting the pix just simply retweet them and give the actual post a big LIKE ❤️

thx for reading! let’s try to make to this fandom a better place for all of us and not ruin it! we have come so far these years, so seeing that there are steps in place to make it less accessable for foreigners again is really sad!!

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I became the 132nd supporter just now!

Having been through the process, I can tell you it's pretty simple, I just signed up using my LINE account and then I could select from different donation amounts.

They have difference bonuses you can get for different support amounts, bearing in mind this is a fundraiser so the value you are donating exceeds the actual value of any item* you might select. However you can get special Shinsengumi related designs of an umbrella, pendants, a badge or a scarf for example. They also have some special lectures and tours you can access if you can visit the site in person in the specified time period.

You can enter your name to be displayed on the Maekawa House website amongst the list of supporters and once you have checked out you can also edit the support message displayed on the project page with your username attached.

*the shipping address for any items should be within Japan, so you will need a proxy address or a friend residing there to receive the item for you. The final shipping dates are also not confirmed, some are for example only expected to ship in early 2026.

I did not have any issues with the site accepting my foreign-issued bank card.

Shinsengumi history enthusiasts 📢

There is a fundraiser currently running to collect donations for the Maekawa House's maintenance!