Q1 JAPANESE STUDY RECAP + Q2 STUDY GOALS 🇯🇵📚 ｜ Everything I read, watched & listened to in Japanese

Hi friends, the first quarter of 2026 is over, so let's check if I accomplished my goals. So I had a few goals for the first quarter and the first one was finish the quartet book and I did that and I will also film a review for it later, so the review will come out after this video, so stay tuned. I started it before I went to Japan last year, now it's finally over and I can move on. I also wanted to do one chapter of the N3 Tango 2000 and I mainly did that, so I think for January and February I did a chapter every week, which was kind of easy at first, because I already know quite a few words, but I don't only want to recognize the words, I want to produce the words and there are a lot of words in this book that I can recognize when I read, but yeah, I still put them into Bunpro and decreased my level for the ones that I already had in Bunpro and that I wasn't able to reproduce, so there are actually a few more words that I have to study compared to my expectation, so in March I realized maybe I have too many vocab words that I'm currently studying, because my Bunpro reviews were just way too high and I don't want to do 200 cards a day, because then I don't really have a lot of time for other things and I also like to immerse and stuff, but yeah, this didn't really happen in the first two months, so from March on I cut it down to half a chapter a week and with this speed I should still be able to finish it before the JLPT in summer. I still feel like it was a success, because I continue to study with it every single week and yeah, that's a big plus. I also did one chapter a month for the Kanji Master N3 and yeah, this is pretty easy going. I mean, there are also quite a lot of vocab words that I haven't heard of before and that are N2 and N1 level, so not necessarily fitting for N3, but since the Kanji are N3 level, they try to find a word for every pronunciation of the Kanji, so sometimes there are quite a lot of difficult words in there and I'm trying to study them as well, but yeah, as I said, there are just too many words now, so I don't always do it, but I still do all the exercises and also review the Kanji writings with Anki and then I wanted to do three new grammar points in Bunpro every single week. That's going pretty well. There are not too many reviews that are piling up. There are also some grammar points that I already knew, so it's quite easy to go through. I just realized maybe I need to up it to four grammar points per week. I will barely make it until the JAPT if I do a three a week, so maybe sometimes I need to do one more and then my last goal was to do one chapter a week from the Bunpro buddy book and this one I really, really, really like and I'm always very happy when I have to use it or can do the exercises again, because it's very fun and there are also a lot of JAPT exercises in there, so yeah, I really enjoy it and I do it every single week, except for this week and last week I had to split a chapter over the two weeks, because it's Easter and I also went on a work trip last week, so I didn't really have a lot of time. I would still count it as a success and I will still be able to finish it until I think the end of May, so yeah, I'm still very well in time. And when it comes to the study resources that I use, of course I used all of the textbooks that I just showed you and when it comes to apps I used Anki of course for my kanji writing practice, Bunpro for vocab review and also grammar structure review and Shiarabichisho, which is the dictionary app I'm always using when I'm reading. And then for immersion resources I only watched one show and that was Jojo Romantica and I didn't really continue it in March, because it's not really my cup of tea anymore and I feel like it's a bit pointless sometimes. I mean it's kind of funny, but maybe I'm too old for it. But yeah, I stopped watching it and I think I watched until the start of season three. And then when it comes to podcasts I listened to the Thinking in Japanese podcast, which I also finished, so I listened to all of the episodes. I listened to the Bite Size Japanese podcast, which I'm still listening to. I think I'm And then I also started a new podcast, which I don't know the name of, but it's Something with American Life and I will put a picture here. It's made for native speakers, so it's a bit harder than the podcasts that I'm usually listening to, but it's still okay. Like if I put it on 0.8, 0.9 speed on Spotify, it's doable. Like I kind of get the gist of the episode, not necessarily every single sentence, but I know what I want to convey. And this was very eye opening. And when it comes to the YouTube channels that I watched, I will put you all the pictures with names here. And then when it comes to reading, I finished Kohiga Tsumetai Uchini, which I gave four stars. So I liked it, but some parts didn't really resonate with me and sometimes it was a bit slow. But yeah, it was still quite a good introduction into proper fiction and yeah, not just great readers or books that are written more easily for school kids. I would still recommend it if you like coffee shops and if you like moving stories with a few stereotypical elements. And then afterwards I finished Yuru Cafe, which I gave four stars and I read it as ebook on my iPad, so I can't really show it to you. I also finished Hachiko Monogatari, which I gave three and a half stars. I did like the story, but to be honest, it was not as interesting as I thought it would be. I mean, I only watched the movie ages ago, so I knew what it was about, kind of. Not my favorite, but it was okay read. And then I also finished the last volume of the manga, so the fifth volume, and I was a bit disappointed. I mean, it was better than the fourth volume, but still. I don't understand why they banned the manga series in America. Apparently it got banned from parents or something and I was very intrigued to know why. I mean, it deals a bit with like different sexuality and gender identity, so I guess maybe that's why. But it was very funny at the start of the series, but the longer it ran, the flatter the jokes got. But I bought all of the volumes after I finished the first volume, so I went through with it. And now I'm very happy that I finished the series and I gave the last volume three stars. And then I started a few books and I haven't finished one in March. I'm currently reading Miss Bon. You know nothing, but it's still fun to read. Psychology. I do really like it and I think it's very interesting, but somehow I just didn't continue with it. I guess it's because it's not a fictional story, so it's not as intriguing to read the next page and then the next chapter. So yeah, I think I'm like 15% in or something, so maybe I will continue it next quarter. And then I also started and stopped to read Oboeru, Manaberu, Tanoshi, Todofuken. So it's about the Japanese prefectures. I already read one other book of the series about all the different countries in the world and I really like the one with the countries, but this one I feel like it's a bit boring to be honest. I read it because I wanted to see where I want to go in Japan for my next few trips there, but I feel like some cities and prefectures kind of sound the same. I mean it's kind of expected that some have similar properties or things they are proud of, but I felt like I read the same thing over and over and over again. But maybe also because they just use the same words to describe things over and over again, so there's not a lot of variety in the writing style. So maybe that's the problem actually and not the prefectures or like the information about the prefectures. But yeah, I read like 20% probably of it and then I stopped reading because I just wanted to read about northern Japan and everything above Tokyo, because next time apart from Magano I just want to go north. I guess I will continue reading it one day if I plan another Japan trip. I will still keep it, but I'm not finishing it in a typical sense of reading a book. Then I'm also currently reading a book about cleaning up and organizing, which I don't have here and I forgot the name of, but I will put the picture here. I think I'm like 30% in and that's the book that I'm currently actively reading. It's very fun, it's pretty easy to read and I was very surprised that I know most of the words already. And there are also some tips in there that are quite good, because I would say I'm pretty well at organizing and keeping my house tidy or like my flat tidy. But yeah, there's still some organizing tips that I think I will also use in the future. And then for my fiction book I'm reading Mata Onaji Yume wo Mite Ita, which I read on my iPad as well. I think I'm also 30% in. It's a bit slow. I mean I like the theme, but yeah, not a lot of things have happened until now and I read the synopsis after I started the book, because I just knew a lot of people read it and a lot of people liked it. So I just went in blind and apparently there's not a lot happening in this book in general. So yeah, I'm currently keeping my expectations low, but yeah, I'm reading a few pages every couple of days, so maybe at the end of next quarter I will be done with it. And then something new I tried this quarter was to listen and to watch more native content and it was not as bad as I expected. So yeah, I should do this more often probably, but to be honest my immersion just falls to the wayside currently, because I'm trying to do all my textbook stuff and then usually I don't have a lot of time left. So yeah, I'm not really watching a lot of things currently, but yeah, maybe I should put it back on my to-do list for the week we see. And reflecting on the quarter I would say I would have liked it more if I had more time to read, but I'm prepping for the JLBT, so it's to be expected that I don't have too much time. But I will definitely make more time after JLBT is over to just immerse and read and watch fun things, so I'm looking forward to that. But that's the topic for quarter three. So let's quickly look at the goals for next quarter. They're kind of similar to my Q1 goals. So for the N3 Tango 2000 I want to do half a chapter a week now, because I adjusted the goal to the circumstances I guess. For the Kanji Master N3 I will continue to do one chapter a month. For the Bonepro app I will do three to four grammar points per week, depending on how much time I have. And if I already know some of the grammar points then I will do one more. I will also continue to do one chapter a week for the Bonepro buddy. And all those books except the Kanji Master workbook I will probably finish by the end of May. So I have to pick something new and I think I will do the Drill & Drill book. I already used it in Japanese language school to prepare for the N3, so I think I will just do some of the exercises again. Maybe I will try the Migi JLPT app for some practice tests. And maybe I will also do the Shin Nihongo Go Hyakumon. I already have it, so I feel like I should use it. So maybe I will do this rather than the Migi app. But yeah, I will just see how much time I have and how far I will get through the book. But yeah, those are a few ideas for June and then in July there's already the test. So there's not too much time to prep for the test anymore. But yeah, I'm very certain that I will pass the test and that it will be fine. So that's it for the base video. Please don't forget to like the video if you enjoyed it and also subscribe, so you don't miss any of my future videos. Also let me know how your quarter went, what your goals are for the next quarter and if you also plan on doing the JLPT. And I will see you in my next video very soon. Bye-bye!