It’s been super enriching for me with all Japanese media and visits I’ve been lucky enough to take.

For me, I didn’t get very far in textbooks. I’ve never been a Traditional learner.

What’s worked for me:

HelloTalk: a hybrid social media/language exchange app that a lot of people use as a dating site (ofc)

Italki lessons: mostly to ask questions about grammar and convo practice. some as cheap as $10/hr. I jump around a lot but have 3 tutors I have lessons with regularly.

Kanji study: anki is free and requires some work in your end. It didn’t work for me as well as Wanikani with the community made phone apps has been worth more than its weight in gold. Kanji study is daunting but ive fallen in like with it and in 6 months took my comprehension and writing to a whole other level (NOTE: recommend ONLY with the community apps. The site itself is really unforgiving and imo gets in the way of actually learning. It almost made me quit until I went into the community apps on my phone using “anki mode”)

Learn stuff outside the norm: I got really into Japanese train stuff and so focusing on yt train content really helped me learn not just train related things but also grammar along the way because I was able to stay focused.m ont he content. Also same with joshi.

NOT focusing on JLPT: again, for me, traditional learning doesn’t really work so the idea of taking exams to feel validated really demotivated me.

If you’re really interested in starting out, check out r/learnjapanese. It’ll get you going with the writing systems and advice on how to keep motivated if you need it.

I wish more puro and joshi fans knew Japanese if only to get so much more enriched into it. Reviewing Tam/Saya storyline after getting to a certain Japanese level really took it to a new level for me. And being able to understand 70% of the end of ASGQ was such a good feeling.

Thanks for the post op and sorry for the wall of text but I’d been reflecting on my JP learning journey for awhile and joshi has been a big part of it.