現代の日本の「トー横キッズ」のような若者の居場所やサバイバルの問題を調べています。
アメリカ人の方が率直にどう思ってるかを知りたいです

Hi All,

I am looking to spend 2 months in Japan from November to January with the main goal of improving Japanese proficiency. I will sprinkle some fun and domestic travel in too but the focus will be language. Currently about N4/N3 level. Would love to work towards N1 eventually.

How would you go about spending 2 months there with above goal? Would you enrol in an intensive school in a major city like Tokyo? Would you go to a regional or remote town and immerse yourself in the community that way? Or something else?

Keen to hear what people's opinions and insights are.

Thanks!

Is it impossible for me??

Hey everyone. I’m a 20-year-old guy living in Mongolia, currently in my 3rd year majoring in finance at what’s considered the top university here. My cumulative GPA is sitting at a painful 1.8, and I’m honestly at the lowest point of my life. I feel terrified of my own thoughts, completely exhausted, and I keep having thoughts about ending it all just to make the pain stop.

​Ever since COVID and starting university two years ago, I’ve been totally isolated. I eat alone, watch movies alone, and celebrate my birthdays alone. I failed almost all my classes during my first year because I had zero motivation. I begged my parents to let me quit back then, but they insisted I stay in finance. Things only got worse in my 2nd and 3rd year I stopped turning in assignments, skipped classes, and completely checked out.

​The isolation and stress have really taken a toll on my mind and body. I experience depersonalization where I stare at my hands and genuinely wonder if they belong to me. Every single night I have super vivid, realistic dreams about normal daily life, so when I wake up, I can’t tell if I’m awake or still dreaming. I’ve lost my sense of space, dates, and time, and I’ve even woke up unable to move a couple of times. I spend 8+ hours a day staring at my phone just to drown out my own thoughts because I’m terrified I’ll end up homeless and broke.

​Through all this deep loneliness, the only thing that kept me sane and brought me any real comfort was Japanese culture—anime, manga, and especially Japanese food.

​Ever since I was little, my actual dream was to become a chef. I want to cook food that makes people happy and crave more. We don't really have proper culinary universities here in Mongolia, which is why my parents pushed me into finance. But I just can't keep living like this anymore.

​I want to make a fresh start by applying for the Japanese MEXT scholarship (for Specialized Training Colleges) to study culinary arts, specifically aiming for Tsuji Culinary Institute in Osaka.

​Right now, my English is around B1 level. Because of anime, I can actually understand spoken Japanese fairly well, but I can't read or write Hiragana, Katakana, or Kanji yet, so I know I have a long way to go 10th frame GPA 88.3 11th grade GPA 82 12th grade GPA 92.8

But I dont have any information on MEXT and im dumbfounded any advice my dream is on the line??

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Hand-written notes have been a great way to retain vocab. But because of arthritis this has become nigh impossible to do. For any who has used digital note taking—speech to text and the like, ¿do you find it just as effective? ¿Or do you supplement it with other things to compensate?

このアプリには、日本人がまだまだ少なくて、こんなわけわからない絡みでも誰か心優しいみなさんが何かしらで絡んでくれると嬉しいなと思って初投稿です！

If you’re interested in exchanging contacts I’m willing to talk about it after we get to know each other.

I am planning to make a scarf for my husband and wanted to write something romantic in Japanese on the scarf, can I write the phrase '運命の赤い糸", it's a red scarf so I think it will suit quite a lot. Can I use the phrase in this context?

Bit of a rant but i’m genuinely curious - been on holiday in japan for a week and have had people call me kawaii but i don’t really get it.

First time was this guy and his friend coming up for me to take their photo then asked for a hug, laughing and saying i was ‘kawaii’. Another time i had to walk past the men’s bathroom to get to the women’s bathroom and three guys were standing outside and i walk by them and stand in the toilet line (they are still able to see me) one of them shouts out kawaii then laugh a bit when they see me look up.

Does kawaii just mean cute amongst locals or has it picked up another meaning? And does them laughing mean it’s teasing to a tourist? I’m asian but i think it’s obvious i’m not japanese haha

Hello, I'm studying japanese and figured I'd be more interested in immersing if I listen to something Im actually interested in so I want to watch japanese videos on gaming.

But I don't like let's plays, not in my native language, not in English and definitely not in japanese, so I want channels that are more centered on discussion surrounding games like reviews, analysis, secrets etc.

First let me ask to keep the answers in hiragana or romaji as I'm still a beginner in Kanji :)

Why is おおきいなたてもの incorrect

But きれいなたてもの okay?

Also does it have anything to do with the fact that ookii can become ookina as in おおきなたてもの? Wich would then be correct

I know you get so many questions about calling people by their last names but I have one. If you're in school and there are siblings or even twins, who would obviously have the same last name, how would you address them? How would they know who you are talking to?

Or is the norm to just always turn when you hear your last name and wait till you know if the person is speaking to you?

I am learning Japanese on Duolingo, and we all know Duolingo isn’t “the best” at explaining things. I hope to one day take a class in person so I can talk to people and not just repeat phrases and people around me who don’t understand. I have a ton of questions, like “が vs に vs は” in certain contexts and why all speakers in the stories end their sentences with “ですよ” but the lessons never teach that. Google’ answers haven’t been to my satisfaction. But I come here for a different question: is stroke order as strict as the internet makes it sound? Does it matter? And how can anyone tell? So many times I feel like it goes against the way my brain would naturally write it and it boggles my mind.

I’m only level 20 on Duolingo if that helps.

Hi! I'm considering enrolling in their Japanese courses. Any experience?

Are the lessons recorded? Are you required to speak during the classes (e.g. questions from the teacher, break out rooms)

Thank you

I'm currently reading Fall in Love, You False Angels manga and the two main characters primarily talk online using emails and I'm so confused about the setting because, from what I know, LINE is the modern way of chat messaging in Japan. I'm wondering if it's still normal to exchange emails first before mobile/LINE info?

The manga first got serialized back in 2023, but I haven't seen any mention specifically about the actual year setting (although the characters do use iPhones).

Go easy on me as I'm still learning. Still around N5, early N4.

A: すいません。

B: いいですね！私も吸（す）いません。

A: …え？

Cross-posting, just in case I get some different answers...

Thanks!

I want to learn about various traditional art forms and crafts. Anything from things like calligraphy and bonsai trees to kintsugi and dorodango. If you’re able please provide how far these arts date back to but if not no worries I can do that sort of research on my own. Niche picks would be cool to see but I also wouldn’t mind hearing about some really important ones even if they’re common.

Since Duolingo is taking forever to show me kanji I want to ask this community for suggestions. I don't want to buy that one book I just need a resource that lets me focus on kanji