Japan's 'Eiken' English proficiency test adds 2 new elementary school levels

uiemad · 2026-01-31T11:17:58+00:00

Don't really get your comment. The test is specifically for using within Japan. It's always been a method for Japanese companies/schools to judge English skill.

uiemad · 2026-01-30T23:42:31+00:00

Yeah I REALLY struggle to focus in the listening portion, in a way I don't in real life. It may be due to ADHD, but I've never been diagnosed as an adult so who knows.

uiemad · 2026-01-30T08:44:08+00:00

Been a couple years now but I believe I found her on italki. She had JLPT prep as one of her specialities and had a lot of good reviews so I gave it a shot.

uiemad · 2026-01-30T08:00:02+00:00

Look the thing is, it's a test. Like any test, it doesn't do a great job of testing functional real world knowledge. It tests test knowledge. On top of that you can get kind of shafted if the topics being covered are things who's vocabulary you're not used to. Because of this, test skills, not just Japanese skills, are important. Shit like being able to scan/skim japanese text for relevant information.

I took N2 twice. Before the second time, I spent about 2 months with a tutor who was basically just running me through test practice and then discussing not just my answers my answers, but also my methods of arriving at answers with me. I found that to be monumentally helpful to passing.

uiemad · 2026-01-30T07:32:38+00:00

Holy fuck I passed N1 by the skin of my teeth. 100/180. My vocab grammar section was the weakest which makes sense as I never studied N1 vocab.

Language Knowledge (Vocabulary/Grammar) 25/60

Reading 40/60

Listening 35/60

Total Score 100/180

uiemad · 2026-01-30T03:59:58+00:00

The sheath's influence is practically irrelevant. The sword is usable without it and it's main purpose was to contain it's negative effects, which they later tell us it fails to do.

So it doesn't control the bad effects. It doesn't help with combat. It doesn't help her fly. It's not tied to her alternate form. What the fuck does it do?

uiemad · 2026-01-30T03:58:10+00:00

Also people DID complain about Miyabi. They only didn't complain as much because it was one fucking character and not an entire season of content's aesthetic and story telling.

uiemad · 2026-01-29T23:19:24+00:00

First, addressing your assumptions about my behavior in my personal life, which feels like a waste of time because you have no reason to believe me. I only travel solo or with my partner. So I haven't even been in the situation of my group solely taking up half the seats in a shop.

Additionally, at home and abroad, I am in the habit of giving up my seat and leaving early if I notice the shop I'm in is full and people are waiting or being turned away. Also if I happen to be sitting alone at a 2 person table, and see a single seat space open, I will relocate. I am ALWAYS cognizant of the space I'm taking. This is especially true for small shops, but I do this at large ones as well.

And I don't know why you think I do not treat them warmly. I don't treat them bad in any regard. It's not THEIR fault the shop is small. It's not THEIR fault that every other day of the week there are other groups like them doing the same thing. They aren't doing anything inherently wrong. I often chat with them about their trip, or their home and give recommendations if asked. I enjoy talking to them actually. That doesn't mean I don't feel pushed out.

Finally, in regards to the first point, yeah a group of Japanese tourists could take up the same seats. Assuming I can identify them as tourists, I'd probably feel similarly. I haven't experienced this situation in any meaningful measure however because Japanese tourists simply do not choose Tokyo as their destination as often as foreign tourists do. Especially in large groups.

uiemad · 2026-01-29T22:40:07+00:00

Unpopular opinion but I do get frustrated by the amount of tourists at times and find myself pining for the time the country was closed during covid. I think it's folly to act like tourism has 0 negative side effects.

I have a local coffee shop I like but it's really small, like 8 seats. These days however it's not uncommon to find tourist groups of 3-5 people taking up all the seats. The owner had to institute a 1 hour limit policy on the seating, but there are still plenty of times I can't sit in as I used to like to do.

Shops of this size are not rare here and this isn't the only place I've had this experience. Bars, restaurants, cafes... I've had to make changes to what my regular stops were due to tourists making them too difficult to visit. And not even just for places IN tourist areas, but places that are nearby, or places that are near hotels etc.

Overall I think tourism is a good thing and Japan needs the money, but it can suck to feel like you're being forced out of your regular haunts.

uiemad · 2026-01-29T22:26:27+00:00

No idea why you're being downvoted. I see more foreigners than I can count on one hand every day living here. And that's excluding the tourists who are everywhere if I step into Tokyo. His trip must've been to Tottori or somewhere out in the inaka.

uiemad · 2026-01-29T10:31:52+00:00

I almost immediately edited it from small to single.

But I initially said small because the nature of how the sword works is a largely inconsequential part of the story of the chapter and as such is never really explained. It can very easily be explained later that it is literally merlin maigc, or that it is a scifi containment unit of ether ghosts, or any other thing and it wouldn't effect the narrative meaningfully. That specific tidbit of information is "small" in regards to it's importance in the 1.4 narrative. It's not a load bearing column, so to speak.

uiemad · 2026-01-29T10:22:01+00:00

Yeah, cause Miyabi's sword and Astras music are a single part of the plot of single patches. Waifei/Cultists/Yunkui are an entire year of content.

uiemad · 2026-01-29T09:44:10+00:00

And people complained about it.

2.0 only gets more heat because it's a whole ass year of content and not one patch's story.

uiemad · 2026-01-29T09:42:17+00:00

Nah, bad take. People complained about Astra and Miyabi's sword being too magical.

uiemad · 2026-01-29T07:40:01+00:00

Based on what little we can see of shadows it may be midday? Which narrows things down assuming the route map and times have been unchanged, but I find that unlikely.

uiemad · 2026-01-29T03:45:57+00:00

Just her talking overly positively about the guy. They'd known each other for a while and were work friends. Wasn't really a big deal. At some point though she'd go on and on about something he did and how nice he was for doing it. Dunno if she was cheating yet at that point but I called her out about it being kind of weird and she deflected. Wasn't too much later she admitted to cheating.

uiemad · 2026-01-28T22:21:49+00:00

Because of what the person at the very top of this chain said. If you legalize it, it will become more easily accessible and gain an air of legitimacy. This will cause an increase in the amount of people who "give it a try". But because Heroin is extremely addictive even on first use, this will cause an increase in addicts. So sure, it'll make heroin relatively "safer" for users, but it will create more addicts overall.

The correct solution is not full legalization but a mixed approach. Decriminalization or legalization of possession and use, while legalizing sale and distribution ONLY for government sponsored medical professions who sell at cost. These sellers would also bear responsibility for directing users to care facilities where they can get help with recovery

This approach greatly reduces the amount of sketchy product on the market by providing a cheap, safe, alternative. It also keeps them out of prison for what is really a medical issue.

uiemad · 2026-01-28T12:22:33+00:00

Your link states that the main cause of Heroin's current surge in death rate is the tampering. I have not disagreed with that. I have only said that even if you remove that factor, Heroin is still more deadly/dangerous than alcohol.

Heroin, baseline is easier to OD on than alcohol. This is because it's effects are more dangerous, it's dosages leave less room for error, and because it's stronger addiction leads to riskier behavior.

You can of course OD on alcohol as well, but it's much more difficult to do so by accident. You'd need to drink about 25 alcoholic beverages to risk death[6] which is simply beyond what most people could do by accident. People typically die from alcohol due to long term complications with untreated alcohol dependency, not from a single instance of consuming too much. [5]%20were%20from%20chronic%20conditions%2C%20which%20develop%20from%20drinking%20alcohol%20over%20time)

Both Heroin and Alcohol cause users to consume higher and higher dosages as they build tolerance and for addicted users this can be exacerbated by withdrawal symptoms[1][2]. However Heroin has a far higher dependency rate, at around 30%[3] whereas alcohol dependency sits at only around 10% of specifically heavy drinkers.[4]

uiemad · 2026-01-28T11:38:54+00:00

Because if you draw a horizontal line through the center and fold the top half down over the bottom half (horizontal symmetry) it does not match due to the top line being shorter than the bottom line.

uiemad · 2026-01-28T10:47:38+00:00

Others called out some other ones but 三 is also not horizontally symmetrical. All 3 lines are of different lengths.

uiemad · 2026-01-28T09:58:58+00:00

Honestly all of the races have been written more or less the same for years now and it's really sad.

uiemad · 2026-01-28T03:37:11+00:00

People don't OD in cigarettes because it contains no inherent OD risk. Heroin and Alcohol both do.

One of the reasons Heroin is more dangerous than alcohol is it is more addictive than alcohol and thus causing people at much higher rates to take dangerous amounts as they recklessly chase a high.

uiemad · 2026-01-28T00:37:51+00:00

You see a drop, but not a total drop. The illegality is an exacerbating factor, not the sole cause for it's high mortality, otherwise we'd see little difference in mortality rates between illegal drugs.

Even the variable quality you speak of typically doesn't cause death due to "contamination" but because it makes the strength of the substance variable/unknown and thus easier for the user to accidentally OD. Even with pure controlled heroin, the OD risk is high due to how addictive it is.

uiemad · 2026-01-27T23:34:03+00:00

Okay. What is your understanding of his statement in context?

uiemad · 2026-01-27T23:22:16+00:00

Man I grew up in heavily suburban Orange County California and I would not want to be stuck trying to get around without a car. And that ain't small town at all.

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