Create meetup in Tokyochevron_right
Select a place on the map to change the location.
I want to meet
Verified required?
want to meet at fmd_good Glaze
want to meet at fmd_good Adventure Park
explore Tokyo Guides
bar_chart Trends in Tokyo
How do you improve Japanese fluency if you are always tired after work?
But in order to improve future career opportunities, I know that getting N1 or improving fluency would be a great help.
What language improvement plans do you guys do to really take your Japanese from good/great to near fluency? Even when you are tired after work.
I already know the general tips like read more, watch more Japanese tv, etc. but I'm more curious about people who use some kind of system, like read this at least per week or learn this number of words by this day, etc. and a system that can work even when you are super tired after work.
Hoping to hear your ideas.
Thanks
tbh when im that tired i just switch my phone to japanese and set my netflix to japanese audio with japanese subs even if i dont fully pay attention. my brain picks up patterns without me trying. also started doing one italki lesson every sunday morning when i have energy and that forced conversation really pushes me past the plateau more than self study ever did
I've been in that same rut. What worked for me was ditching any plan that required willpower after work and instead embedding Japanese into my existing wind-down routine. I started listening to the "バイリンガルニュース" podcast while cooking dinner -- it's bilingual so your brain can drift in and out without guilt. For weekends, I picked one 15-minute segment of a show like "月曜から夜ふかし" and watched it three times: once with Japanese subs, once without, once shadowing the lines. No new content, just deep repetition on something you already half understand.
The key is to treat tiredness as a feature, not a bug. On days I was truly wrecked, I'd just open the NHK Easy News app and read one article out loud, even if I stumbled through it. That's 3 minutes max. I also stopped trying to learn 20 words a day and instead focused on mining 3 phrases from something I actually encountered that day -- a sign in Shinjuku station, a line from a coworker, a menu item. It felt less like homework and more like noticing.
Just lower the bar to basically zero effort. I kept an Anki deck with only 2 new cards a day and did it while brushing my teeth. That was it for weeknights. On weekends I'd send one voice message to a language partner, no prep, no pressure. Anything more ambitious
load 1 more reply
Where can I find crispy, pan-fried bacon similar to a certain international style?
if u have a costco membership the kirkland thick cut is the move, 4 packs of 500g for around 2500 yen and it crisps up proper in a cold pan. for smaller runs, precce in azabudai hills & the basement at isetan shinjuku both carry imported US & danish brands in the chilled case, just read the label for "thick cut" or "smoked" and not "loin". also worth knowing japanese bacon is often wet-cured so pat it dry before frying or it steams instead of crisping
kaldi coffee farm is hit or miss but their smoked bacon from denmark shows up pretty regular, the 200g pack runs about 600 yen. what actually works better for me is asking the butcher counter at peacock or life to slice the block bacon thick, like 5mm, they do it for free and it crisps way better than the pre-packed stuff. also fwiw cheap bacon crisps faster, the fatty supermarket kind at 300 yen a pack works fine if u cook it from cold in a dry pan and pour off the fat as it renders.
tbh the gyomu super store brand bacon is surprisingly decent for crisping up, its not thick cut but if you cook it low and slow it gets pretty crunchy. the key is the dry cure vs wet cure thing, wet cure steams. also check hanamasa if you have one nearby, they sell big packs of american style bacon thats actually smoked and firm.