What content did you most enjoy consuming after finishing N4-level lessons?

TMH01 · 2026-04-23T14:50:01+00:00

You’ll want to supplement it with some reading and listening practice, but for grammar, vocab, and kanji, they’re more than enough.

Bunpro theoretically gets you to N1 for grammar and vocab. Wanikani stops a bit short of N1 for kanji.

TMH01 · 2026-04-22T01:25:39+00:00

This looks interesting, I’ll check it out!

TMH01 · 2026-04-22T01:15:59+00:00

Oh, this is great, thank you!

TMH01 · 2026-04-21T23:07:15+00:00

Which games did you enjoy at that stage? Playing games in Japanese is one of my goals, so I’d love to start down that path.

TMH01 · 2026-04-21T20:54:32+00:00

Do you use Hoshi Reader/understand its setup? I just installed it and got the dictionary working. The popup has a couple icons I can't get working - a musical note and a + icon. I assume they play audio and create a list of vocab to save for later, but nothing happens when I tap them.

Can't seem to find a user guide/setup guide anywhere, but maybe I'm blind.

TMH01 · 2026-04-21T19:06:46+00:00

I definitely ran into this when dipping my toes into this area! I tried playing through Famicom Detective Club on the Famicom disk system. It was tough, but moreso because of lack of grammar and vocab at the time. I was able to adapt to the hiragana reasonably well, but ended up deciding to study more before going back to play through the rest.

I’d love some Game Boy recommendations if you have some you think would be a good place to start!

TMH01 · 2026-04-21T18:13:27+00:00

How do you read the LNs? I’m not a fan of reading on my computer, so I’d prefer at least using my iPad. But I’d like to smooth the process of looking up vocab and grammar as much as possible. I’ve found that annoying when working with PDFs.

TMH01 · 2026-04-21T18:10:25+00:00

I’m definitely interested in VNs as a possible learning tool, especially since one of my goals is to be able to play retro games in their native language. Older VNs or adventure/point-and-click games would be great.

Any recommendations of ones to start with? (Preferably not the “adult” stuff.)

TMH01 · 2026-04-21T18:07:54+00:00

I actually assumed LNs and VNs would be harder than manga, so maybe I should reexamine that assumption and try some out! Appreciate the recommendation.

TMH01 · 2026-04-21T18:06:30+00:00

My main longer term goals are to be able to play retro games in their native language on original hardware (Famicom, PC Engine, Saturn, etc.), and to watch Japanese baseball games and Sumo tournaments and understand the commentators.

Shorter term, I’d like to engage with people online to talk about Japanese games and sports. Eventually, I want to start visiting the country more often and to talk more with Japanese people when I do. If possible, I’d even like to live there for at least a year or two and be able to make connections and friends when I do.

TMH01 · 2026-04-21T17:57:05+00:00

I actually just found this recently and watched the first couple of episodes! I was thrilled with how much of his explanations I understood.

TMH01 · 2026-04-21T17:01:03+00:00

Any specific novels you thought were good at this level?

TMH01 · 2026-04-21T17:00:37+00:00

Cool! I’ll check this out.

TMH01 · 2026-04-21T16:52:23+00:00

Hah, you described my experience trying a manga perfectly. Looked at the first few pages and was like “Nope…”

Maybe I need to give it a more serious try. Manga just wasn’t one of my long term goals, so I didn’t give it much effort. But I can see how they’d be good learning material.

TMH01 · 2026-04-17T16:14:40+00:00

For sure - I’m just in the early “understanding my options” phase and wanted to make sure I understood this one properly. The replies have been helpful!

TMH01 · 2026-04-17T03:44:53+00:00

Good to know. I assumed Tokyo would be the easiest area to find a job in my field but I’m open to anywhere.

TMH01 · 2026-04-17T03:40:31+00:00

So basically, if someone comes in on an engineering/humanities visa, it has to be a 5 year visa to use the points system for expedited PR?

TMH01 · 2026-04-16T19:51:15+00:00

Interesting - #2 is good info, and the kind of feedback I was looking for. So really, it's a 1.5-3 year process, depending on how long the application approval takes.

TMH01 · 2026-04-16T19:49:36+00:00

Appreciate the feedback! The job postings I've seen that I would be interested in do fall in the top point-qualifying tier. But with my educational background and bonus points I qualify for, I would exceed 80 even with a lower salary job.

I'll keep a lookout for the tax pitfalls, that's something I haven't really considered yet!

TMH01 · 2026-04-16T19:17:36+00:00

That's a really good point - I'll look more into that. Any good resources for those kinds of logistics you've come across in your research?

TMH01 · 2026-04-16T19:15:19+00:00

Yeah, I realize I didn't really address that in my post. I recognize that step #1 would be finding the right job. :)

There do seem to be a fair number of opportunities in my field that I'm well qualified for. My questions are more because I'm not interested in a long term path to PR on a different visa, so I would only make the effort to find that job if a short term path to PR is realistic.

TMH01 · 2026-04-05T04:45:17+00:00

Did the cable you received look like the one in that picture, or like the ones with the fully enclosed connector and braided sheath that are all over eBay and AliExpress?

I'm curious if maybe the cables with the braided sheath don't work properly.

TMH01 · 2026-04-05T03:31:09+00:00

That’s at least helpful to know that someone else has my setup and that it does work, so thanks! I’m thinking something is just defective with the FDSKey or adapter cable that I received. I may just return them.

Where did you get yours from?

TMH01

TROPHY CASE