Have you ever written a Bucket list? How about a list of things you wished you had done? Now that 3/4 of my two year stay in Japan has passed, I am nearing the end of my Journey. I am generally not a person who likes to regret, however there are a few things I wished I had kept up with from Day 1 of Japan.
- Study with Anki/ Memrise from Day 1
- Committed to 15 mins daily exercise
- 500 yen savings
- Kept a diary of Big events in Japan
- Bought a Summer and Winter set of clothes
Study with Anki/ Memrise from Day 1
Vocabulary is the bane of existence of just about everyone studying a foreign language. One word can literally mean understanding a sentence or not, and when you look at a foreign book made of words your spirit sags. That’s why we invented Spaced Repetition study programs to force us to practice and learn new words. When I first arrived in Japan I was in a good routine of studying words every day. But my good habits soon faded and I am ashamed to say it, but there was a period I didn't study Japanese for 6 months.
When I first came to Japan I bought a tonne of Japanese text books, which burdened my suitcase through 4 moves and numerous outings. I bought these in the pretence that I would have time and motivation if I spent the money on books. At first I made good use of these books going through each page and highlighting the words I didn’t know. This was hard work but it felt exciting to see all the words I would “soon know”. Then for some reason, even though I always had the motivation to put one of these books in my bag, there was “something else to do”... For one and a half years. The words that I highlighted one and a half years ago were preserved in a time capsule showing my pre Japanese level. Recently I opened one these books and surprise surprise! 75% of the words I highlighted are still not learned! I will give my self some credit for the other 25% which I must have picked up through osmosis, but if I had committed to more study I would be clearing the bookshelves right now!
I would recommend thus going the extra step and putting these word lists into a program that forces you to study like Anki or Memrise. The second best thing would be to select a deck at your appropriate level (JLPT) and study. I personally recommend Memrise for two reasons I have had problems with Anki in the past, mainly from the large and very quick build up of cards that need to be reviewed. Secondly, Memrise forces you to write the word which re-enforce it better in your brain and has mnemonics for those impossible to remember words. Either way the message here is STUDY!
When I first came to Japan I bought a tonne of Japanese text books, which burdened my suitcase through 4 moves and numerous outings. I bought these in the pretence that I would have time and motivation if I spent the money on books. At first I made good use of these books going through each page and highlighting the words I didn’t know. This was hard work but it felt exciting to see all the words I would “soon know”. Then for some reason, even though I always had the motivation to put one of these books in my bag, there was “something else to do”... For one and a half years. The words that I highlighted one and a half years ago were preserved in a time capsule showing my pre Japanese level. Recently I opened one these books and surprise surprise! 75% of the words I highlighted are still not learned! I will give my self some credit for the other 25% which I must have picked up through osmosis, but if I had committed to more study I would be clearing the bookshelves right now!
I would recommend thus going the extra step and putting these word lists into a program that forces you to study like Anki or Memrise. The second best thing would be to select a deck at your appropriate level (JLPT) and study. I personally recommend Memrise for two reasons I have had problems with Anki in the past, mainly from the large and very quick build up of cards that need to be reviewed. Secondly, Memrise forces you to write the word which re-enforce it better in your brain and has mnemonics for those impossible to remember words. Either way the message here is STUDY!
Committed to 15 mins daily exercise
When I came to Japan one and a half years ago I weighed 70kgs of lean muscle. Now weigh 63kgs of definition-less Konnyaku! Where did my definition go? No exercise, unhealthy working habits and a diet of super high carbohydrates. Why is it so hard to commit to such little exercise you may then ask. These are some of the excuses I have used throughout time to avoid exercise.
- “There are no parks to go jogging in”
- “The weather is too Hot/Humid/Cold/Wet to go out side”
- “It’s 12am, I need to wake up in 4.5 hours! Its too late to exercise”
- “I’m tired from coming home late from work”
- “There is no space in my apartment”
- “The neighbors will complain if i’m noisy”
500 yen savings
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Money is always a must! especially when shopping in Japan is so good! However it is hard to shop when literally everything costs money. All those wonderful vending machine drinks 100Y! Pastries from the conscience store 200Y! Parking your bike 200Y! Train ticket 300Y! Etc... My answer is stop spending on small stuff by saving the Big 500Y coins! You can buy (think of it as an investment instead of a drink) money banks at 100Y store with lines on the side to show you how much you have saved. The best money bank i have ever seen however is like a reverse event calendar (put coins in the complete the story). I discovered this at Village Vanguard (a variety store for 1100Y) which lays out all the coins in a book format with each coin you add, completing a section of a game. Thinking of all the places I could have gone, or all the things I could have bought makes me sad when I see that if I had put away 1 coin every for one and a half years I would have:
1 per Week = 78 coins = 39,000Y
1 per Day = 548 coins = 274,000Y
1 per Week = 78 coins = 39,000Y
1 per Day = 548 coins = 274,000Y
Kept a diary of Big events in Japan
This is another thing that I have put off because of laziness but I really wish I hadn't. Since coming to Japan I have been to so many festivals, met so many people and done so many things that it is often hard to remember details. I often think, If only I had written a diary of this event or taken more photos things would have been more clear. You never know the next time you will be back living in Japan so you should treat it as a once in a life time gift that if not recorded is going to waste. All you need is a pen, a notebook (from 100y store) and a little time, I strongly urge you to put pen to paper and write even 3 lines for your future self.
Bought a Summer and Winter set of clothes
One of the things you will hear most often about Japan is that they have “4 seasons” generally accompanied with other classics like:
- Japan has a long history
- Japan has an aging population
- Japan is 70% mountains and has 4 main islands
- Japanese people have long life spans
- Japan has a low crime rate