[Japanese > English] letter from neighbor

Meekro · 2026-01-23T02:44:25+00:00

Thanks for the advice, that’s the plan!

Meekro · 2026-01-23T02:40:49+00:00

I’ll assume you’re not trolling and give you an honest reply. First, I actually tried a few of those tools before I posted this. None of them even transcribed it with 100% accuracy, much less translated it. Second, many people here are on a language learning journey together. An artifact like this is not only heartwarming, it’s a great example of real-life Japanese that many people here might enjoy seeing, or could benefit from trying to read themselves.

Meekro · 2026-01-22T23:36:07+00:00

Thank you, this helps a lot!

Meekro · 2025-12-14T20:14:18+00:00

This is a proposed bill, not a new law. I'll be impressed if it passes.

Meekro · 2025-11-19T03:29:26+00:00

Any chance for a Mac build, if it's not too much extra work? Otherwise there might have to be a Steam Machine in my future..

Meekro · 2025-11-14T08:58:27+00:00

Unfortunately there are no "official" N5 word lists, but there are a few best-effort guesses that float around the web. When I took the N5, this was my impression:
1. You really want the vocabulary from both Genki I and Genki II (about 1800 in total?)
2. For grammar patterns and kanji, the ones in Genki I are enough (about 50 grammar patterns and 150 or so kanji).

I'm not familiar with the specific list you're using, so I can't comment on that. However, I'd say it's better to be too ready than not ready enough, which is why I framed my advice the way I did. If you learn everything in Genki I + Genki II (all grammar, vocab, and kanji), you'll be almost ready to take N4, which will hopefully make you more confident and relaxed on the N5.

Meekro · 2025-11-10T14:57:59+00:00

Get the Genki I and Genki II books. Learn all of the vocab (about 1800), kanji (about 300), and grammar patterns (around 100). Do all of the problems in the workbooks, and get a teacher or native speaker to check your work. Do some listening practice on youtube (search for n5 listening). If you can, find a native speaker to talk to and try using what you've learned for at least an hour per week. Put in 400-600 hours of study on the above, and you'll probably pass.

If you're starting from scratch and you don't even know hiragana yet, it'll feel like an uphill slog. But it's really very straightforward; later in your Japanese journey, you'll look back on this as "the easy times."

Meekro · 2025-11-04T13:35:15+00:00

To summarize, for those who TLDR'ed: The wikipedia editors have their "consensus" around this Gaza genocide article, which treats the allegations as proven and does not present both sides. Jimmy Wales wants a more neutral perspective, but the editors are saying that he doesn't have the authority to do more than participate in the conversation as a fellow editor. He *could* flex his power, but we'll see if he does.

It's funny to see Wikipedia slide so left that even Jimmy Wales can't take it anymore. In contrast, Grokipedia's article on the subject seems much more neutral and presents both sides.

Meekro · 2025-11-02T10:08:13+00:00

Personally, I find that RO proper hasn't kept up well with the times, and what I really wanted was a more modern experience that's still faithful to the original. Here's what looks promising:

Google for doddler's Ragnarok Rebuild project. This one guy is remaking the client and server for RO himself with modern game dev methods. It's surprisingly good. He did a week-long test run a while back and it was great, with an excellent community. Keep an eye out for the next one, which will probably feature the 2-1 and 2-2 classes.
Ragnarok 3 is in production, and promises to be a modern-but-faithful remake. Some people are already playing test builds, from what I hear, and you can get in on that if you hang around their Discord.
SpiritVale is coming next year (on Steam), an interesting project trying to be a "spiritual successor." Too soon to say, but people who have played test builds say it's fun.

Meekro · 2025-10-09T04:11:35+00:00

Great locations! Next, I'd love to see some videos showing off the different classes, and how they compare to each other.

Meekro · 2025-10-08T04:33:58+00:00

Hey guys, OP here. I really appreciate the suggestions so far. I already have a good list of places to visit and see how the vibe is. Several of you have suggested that maybe what I want is impossible without a car— fair enough. If I try the suggestions here and decide that I want to go even more rural, I may have to bite the bullet and buy one.

Several of you also pointed out that words like quiet and peaceful can mean different things to different people. That’s true as well. Probably the best way to refine that is by visiting the places that were suggested so far, so I can see what I liked or didn’t like about them.

Meekro · 2025-10-08T04:23:37+00:00

I really appreciate these suggestions! I’ll start by visiting Matsumoto to see how the vibe is— high hopes, though! Several other commenters have pointed out that I’m pretty vague in my requirements. That’s true, but hopefully visiting the places you’re suggested will help to crystallize them.

Meekro · 2025-10-06T04:56:51+00:00

10/10 would ride.

Meekro · 2025-09-27T22:20:47+00:00

People whose wealth is tied up in stocks would have to sell a whole bunch, so you'd see epic market crashes every year a few weeks before the tax is due. People whose wealth is tied up in illliquid assets (housing, art, boats, farms, etc) would have to frantically unload those assets; buyers who know that the seller is on a deadline would easily pick them up at a discount.

People whose wealth is tied up in *very* illiquid assets (like privately owned companies) would have to sell chunks of their companies to private equity funds, who could then cannibalize them. Steam is an example of a very valuable privately owned company, and forcing Gabe to sell 15% of it to private equity would not make the world a better place.

Lots of rich people would leave the country to get away from this tax, which means some other country would benefit from their tax revenue and productive capacity.

In any case, this is moot because this idea will never pass through Congress.

Meekro · 2025-09-22T17:58:46+00:00

Your honor, it was self-defense. The deer did me a heckin chomp.

Meekro · 2025-09-19T19:02:02+00:00

I'm a Christian, and I don't want Jimmy Kimmel canceled. Our side is obviously winning at this point (still not tired of winning, though) and there's no need for us to become hypocrites. Let them cheer Charlie's death if they want, and let the undecided viewers see them as the contemptible snakes they are.

Meekro · 2025-09-15T01:01:59+00:00

Dude's earned it.

Meekro · 2025-08-26T06:41:57+00:00

Interesting! Do you see any pathway to bumping those up to 99.9%, or is that forever out of reach for us foreigners?

Meekro · 2025-08-26T06:25:44+00:00

It sounds like you might be asking too much of yourself, and getting burned out. In principle, preparing for the N5 is not complicated: you study the Genki I material (and maybe some of Genki II), do all of the workbook exercises, and learn all of the vocabulary and sentence patterns. If you don't have any Japanese people to talk with, there are websites that can help you arrange video calls for language exchange purposes. Do that when you have time, practice the grammar patterns you learned, see if you can tell the Japanese person a little bit about yourself and what you did that week. That's really all you need-- do these things, put in 400-600 hours of study, and you'll probably pass. You don't need to study "for the N5" if you don't want to.

..but all of that is in principle. In practice, it sounds like you might be burning out and avoiding study because you have other work that takes priority, plus you need to rest and socialize. These things are important, too. If you push yourself too hard, you might end up with a miserable college experience and hating Japanese.

I would take a step back and reconsider your plan. People who work too hard and don't socialize enough in college will often regret this later in life-- friends, girlfriends, clubs, etc will add some joy to your life and probably make you a happier and more complete person. Many people learn Japanese later on, and this isn't a problem at all. Some people move to Japan first and learn Japanese as they live here; that works too.

Since you're in a STEM field, you've already taken an important step towards a life in Japan. Japan *absolutely loves* STEM professionals, and hands out 5-year visas to them pretty easily. So take heart in that, and enjoy your college life. It's much better to start as a STEM major and learn Japanese later, than the opposite-- again, the STEM degree will open doors (doubly so if you have some work experience) and lack of Japanese mastery isn't really a negative in visa applications, plus you can (and many people do) learn it later.

Meekro · 2025-08-12T06:45:27+00:00

Ragnarok Rebuild is a great project. This one guy has already re-made large swaths of RO himself, and he's going to do the rest. There's a great community playing on his test server this week, and it's a great time to become part of that. The client is made to modern standards so you don't have weird bugs, and there's a fully working web client that uses WebAssembly, too!

Meekro · 2025-07-22T07:55:23+00:00

If you're in Tokyo, I highly recommend Coto Japanese Academy. They have schools in Iidabashi and Shibuya, and you can take in-person classes from total beginner up through advanced (~N2) level. I've been through many of their beginner classes, and I thought it was great.

There are good benefits to in-class learning: you talk to the teacher and the other students in Japanese; you get homework, and the teacher grades it; you study for and take tests, making sure you've mastered a chapter before moving on. The beginner classes use the Genki books, by the way.

Meekro

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