How To Watch Japanese TV From Overseas

by The Solo Student | Oct 14, 2019 | Educational Websites, Reviews

Watching tv shows in Japanese is a fantastic way to immerse yourself in the language, understand context and pick up new words… but most other countries don’t have dedicated Japanese programming so how can you watch Japanese TV when you’re living overseas?

There are lots of ways to watch Japanese tv online these days but the easiest is to stream either using your regular local subscription services like Netflix or Youtube. You can also download shows or use a streaming box like the Ubox to get tv live.

We will look into each method in more depth as they all have pros and cons. Before you decide what method to use, you should also figure out what you are hoping to gain from watching the tv in the first place!

What makes watching tv good for learning Japanese?

Kaitlin thought her new plan to watch Japanese tv might be a bit too immersive this time.

Watching tv in Japanese can improve your listening skills, help you pick up new words and understand context. It’s often much more fun and engaging that just reading text books too!

Actually learning anything can be a little tricky as to be successful you need to make sure that you don’t just tune out what’s being said. TV is my relaxing time so I tend to zone out a bit while watching and I don’t actually take anything in. Japanese tv is fantastic for showing pictures and text alongside what’s being said so it can be easy to just look at the images and get the gist without using any actual Japanese.

If you’re at the beginning of your Japanese journey then that’s fine because it’s still great to get your ears used to the speech sounds and patterns. If you’re further in, then you will need to get in the habit of actively listening and reading rather than watching lazily.

For good results you should:

• Look up words you hear often so you can memorise them.
• Try to read words you see on screen.
• Actively listen to conversations.
• Choose tv shows which are around your level.
• Try to immerse yourself in what’s going on.

Do you need subtitles to watch Japanese TV?

Some of the services I mention today have subtitles and some do not. Some of them include subtitles in Japanese while other have a selection. What you need will depend on what you’re trying to learn. Watching with no subs is a totally valid choice. It can help force your ears to listen rather than relying on what’s on screen. No subs is my preferred method, even if I lose a bit of what’s going on, I find it more helpful!

Watching with subtitles in your native language.
Watching with English or your native language subtitles switched on seems like a great idea because it can help you understand plot and context really quickly. It can definitely help you make connections from spoken Japanese but subs can be unreliable and translations vary a lot in both quality and how literal the translations are. Some translators might translate common words several different ways. Some translations are done by volunteers who are hoping to improve their own language skills.

Watching with Japanese subtitles.

Mina laughed angrily at the pathetic library internet speeds as she struggled to watch the latest episode of One Punch Man on her phone.

By turning on Japanese subtitles you can help speed up your reading skills. If you are studying kanji, it can help you practice. Even if you aren’t quick enough to read full sentences, you can greatly improve kanji recognition times. The down side is that this is quite an advance technique so it can be very discouraging for beginners.

Overall just keep in mind that subs should be used as more of a guideline rather than a full language teaching resource because you never know the language level of the person writing them.

Do I need a VPN?

Yes and no. Many of the services included on this list do not require a VPN. Some do which are marked accordingly.

Streaming TV through official Japanese channels

Streaming tv on demand through the various official websites of Japanese tv channels is probably the safest way to watch Japanese tv online. It can be a bit tedious though as they are generally smaller clips that you have to navigate to get to.

To get the most out of these you may need a VPN set to Japan as some are region locked.

What can you watch: Mostly news, sometimes special interest shows etc, depends on the channel. You won’t get full tv shows usually.
Ease of use: Websites can be harder to navigate.
What do you need: Browser, VPN (some sites only)
Subtitles: No.

Good: Safe and easy.
Bad: Often not full tv shows. Legality of using a VPN to access other countries content may be vary in your location.

Price: Free, often ad supported.

Great if you want to just watch small things here and there and focus on your translation. Ideal for news stories.

Popular streaming sites to watch Japanese tv on:

• FNN Prime (mostly news, no VPN required)
• Asahi TV (news, no VPN required)
• QVCHome Shopping channel (yes this is the live home shopping channel, actually great for picking up descriptive words! No VPN required.)
• Nippon TV (on demand site for full tv shows, requires VPN)
• NHK (Japanese website, advanced content, some news and special interest clips)

Netflix and similar local streaming services

Using streaming services that you already pay for to learn Japanese is ideal for the budget too! With Netflix you have a couple of options. If you don’t want to use a VPN you can watch regular shows with Japanese audio or subs. You will get the best results with this by changing your profile language to Japanese. If you want to view Japan only content, you can use a VPN to get to Japanese Netflix directly. Keep in mind that shows on Japanese Netflix probably won’t have any English subs.

Of course this will have varied results depending on what kind of content and how international the streaming service you’re using has. There are also sites like Crunchyroll and AnimeLab which specialise in anime content (both subbed and dubbed) if that’s your style.

What can you watch: Variety of shows depending on streaming service.
Ease of use: Easy to use, just switch languages or audio. VPN if required can be slightly trickier but still very easy..
What do you need: App or browser. VPN for Japan only content.
Subtitles: Yes, sometimes also dubs.

Good: Lots of varied content. Easy to use. You probably already have a Netflix subscription. Switching language and sub tracks is totally legal.
Bad: Legality of using a VPN to access other countries content may be vary in your location.

Price: Varies based on streaming service, usually under $10 a month.

An easy way to use tolls you probably already have to supplement your learning experience.

Popular streaming services to watch Japanese tv on:

• Netflix (Varied content)
• Crunchyroll (Anime content only. Free with ad support, $7.99 per month, has subs. Old and new content.)
• AnimeLab (Aus and NZ only currently. Anime, $8.99 per month. Subs and dubs. Old and new content.)
• Any other local streaming services (Use with a VPN or switch your language to Japanese to view relevant subbed content.)

Youtube

Youtube is full of Japanese content but it can be a pain to find any! My biggest tip is to search for what you want to watch in Japanese and subscribe to lots of channels to get a constant stream of a variety of content. Search for your interests and hobbies outside of Japanese eg. cooking, sewing, building, whatever and go from there!

Youtube is useful because a lot of the creators are every day people so you can see unpolished, normal speech as well as professionally done clips etc.

There are also a lot of Japanese drama and tv show rips on Youtube, and while the legality is questionable, they are certainly available.

Additionally you can watch a lot of non-Japanese content with subtitles turned on. Of course, the quality of these subs can be very questionable because it’s often user submitted so try at your own risk.

What can you watch: A huge variety of content. Some live, some full shows, some short clips.
Ease of use: Simple to use, can be hard to find content.
What do you need: Browser or app.
Subtitles: Yes, quality varies.

Good: Lots of information included.
Bad: Annoying to search through junk for good stuff, legality of tv rips is questionable.

Price: Free, ad supported.

If you can be bothered to put in the effort to search then there’s lots of great content worth watching.

Popular Youtube channels to watch Japanese tv on:

• TBS news (news and special interest clips)
• TBS YouTuboo (other short variety clips and ads from TBS)
• QVCJapan (the home shopping channel streams live here too)
• ANN News (streams news live plus other clips)

Note the above are just professionally produced content, I will write a separate post on specific Youtubers I think are worth subscribing to.

Ubox and Streaming Boxes

If you want to go a step further than just watching shows then you can watch live tv straight from Japan. The benefit for this is that it makes immersion much easier. You also get some hilarious ads mixed in too!

Streaming boxes are available all over Asia and you can buy them directly on places like Aliexpress or eBay. The most popular seems to be UBox via Unblock Tech, though there are others that you can install on any android device. They work by connecting to your TV and streaming the channels directly. As they generally just run on android you can install your own apps and do whatever else you like with them.

Most of these also seem to allow you to view tv that has passed for a week or so in case you miss anything.

What can you watch: Anything available on live tv in Japan.
Ease of use: Seems to be straight forward to set up.
What do you need: Streaming box and tv.
Subtitles: No.

Good: Lots of channels are available including non-Japanese ones. Watch TV live as it happens. Live tv is great for immersion.
Bad: Expensive one off fee. Legality will vary based on your location.

Price: Around $150-250 for a box on eBay currently with no ongoing fees.

If you plan to watch a lot of live tv and don’t want to pay ongoing subscription services then this might be a good option for you.

Online Live TV Services

Similar to Ubox, there a lot of online versions which will allow you to tune into Japanese tv live from your browser or phone via an app.

What can you watch: Channels offered differ between services but anything on live tv is available.
Ease of use: Varies between services but most of them you seem to just sign up and select the channel
What do you need: Browser and sometimes to download an app.
Subtitles: No.

Good: Live tv very useful for immersion.
Bad: Expensive, VPN may be required and legality of the service will vary from place to place.

Price: Varies between services, some are completely free, others go from $20-30 per month.

Try the free ones and see if you like them, there’s no subscription or account required.

Popular sites to stream Japanese tv on:

• TVJapanLive (no app required, free, ~15 channels of live TV)
• ForJoytv ($27.99 p/m subscription)

Any others?

Hopefully this has given you a decent idea of  how to watch Japanese tv outside of Japan. Of course these are just a start and there are plenty of other ways to get your language fix. Some language learning apps even include it in their course work which I will get further into later.

My suggestion is the start with some of the offical sites and then move on to youtube and full tv shows on Netflix. This will allow you to grow as you learn more language.

If you can get live tv to work and have it on in the background you can really immerse yourself and make learning more fun! If you’re tired of listening and want to get stuck into some kanji, read my review of Wanikani here next.

Is Wanikani Worth It For Learning Kanji? Full App Review

by The Solo Student | Oct 8, 2019 | Educational Websites, Reviews

Tofugu’s Wanikani SRS system has recently become extremely popular for leaning kanji, but is the subscription pricing actually worth it?

Overall, Wanikani is a fun and engaging way to learn kanji. The mnemonics are funny and the review system is useful. It really shines in the ability to have userscripts to customise your learning experience. The pricing is via subscription and the SRS review times are strictly enforced so it’s not ideal for those who want to blast through kanji in a couple of months. 

While it looks ideal on face value, it’s quite a commitment when trying to allocate your Japanese budget and time so let’s find out if it’s really worth it.

Wanikani for kanji – the basics

The Wanikani crabgator mascot is an example of the kind of mnemonics they feature.

Covers: Kanji, radicals, vocabulary.
Design: Nice clean design. Radicals/Kanji/Vocab are colour coded . Mobile version could be easier to use.
Learning style: Broken into 60 levels with radicals/kanji/vocab in each. Learn via reading mnemonics then review at SRS intervals via text input.
Mnemonics included: Yes.

Good: Great mnemonics, customisable via userscript, very active community, huge amount of content.
Bad: Subscription pricing, no official app, mixing in vocab means longer to learn the radicals and kanji.

Price: First 3 levels are free, after that it’s US$9p/m, $89p/y, $299 lifetime.
For reference, I’m currently on a yearly subscription up to Level 12.

What will Wanikani teach you?

Wanikani is a web based SRS system with a focus on mnemonic learning. The system aims to teach 2000+ kanji, 6000+ vocabulary words using those kanji and radicals on top of that. This provides a good foundation of kanji for reading and use with other systems for learning grammar etc.

Radicals

Radicals are kind of like the building blocks that make up kanji. They are smaller, simpler characters that are put together to make full kanji. By learning radicals you set yourself up to be able to “read” kanji easier as you can use context of the radicals to know the meaning or sound of the kanji. The radicals also help with mnemonics because they are often used in the stories.

Kanji

Kanji known at the various levels from WKStats

The kanji covered by Wanikani is not necessarily the the core 2000, Jouyou or JLPT list. While there is a lot of cross over, according to WKstats if you complete Wanikani you will only know 91.90% of Jouyou, 88.20% of JLPT N1, or 80.04% of the most frequently used kanji in newspapers. The included kanji is still a hell of a lot of the way there but just keep the content in mind if you are aiming for a specific standard.

Vocabulary

There are around 6000 vocabulary items included in Wanikani and while that seems like it would be all you need, the items included are only those that are relevant to the kanji you’re learning. The vocabulary is there to supplement and re-enforce the kanji rather than as a comprehensive list. The inclusion of vocab here is fantastic as a learning tool but you will also need to supplement with other resources for a full learning experience.

What Wanikani won’t teach you

Wanikani is certainly not a complete Japanese learning solution. It will not teach you grammar, how to speak, listen or a lot of non-kanji vocabulary you need. It cannot be used alone to learn Japanese, you will need to use it in conjunction with other learning systems to understand what to do with the vocabulary and kanji you have learned here.

That said, it’s a fantastic base to start with especially if you’re doing self study as it’s structured and the content is good.

How is Wanikani to use?

The Wanikani dashboard is clean and simple to see at a glance how far you’ve come.

The first 3 levels of Wanikani are free and there is no time limit so you can trial at your own pace. Learning is done online via the website. Currently there is no official app which is a pretty big downside to me as I like to revise on the go. The unofficial apps are clunky and don’t have great designs. The website has mobile versions but they are a bit awkward to use so desktop has been the easiest for me. Desktop also has the added benefit of being able to install userscripts which can customise your learning experience. Desktop and mobile versions all require an internet connection.

The basic concept is that via spaced repetition, each item you learn progresses through various levels (Apprentice, Guru, Master, Enlightened) until you know it well enough that it becomes “Burned”. After an item is Burned, it’s no longer shown because you are deemed to have successfully learned it. Burning an item takes several months and until you start burning things, the revision work load can get quite high.

Dashboard

The basic dashboard is set out so you can see how many lessons and reviews you have and how many items per level.

Lessons

Each level is broken into 2 sets of lessons that you must revise before moving forward. There are around 140 items per level. New lessons become available when you have successfully moved enough radicals and kanji to the “Guru” stage. During the lessons you are shown the character, mnemonic, meaning, readings, pronunciation, and context sentences. You can complete 5 lessons before

A lesson example for a vocabulary word.

you must review the items and get both the meaning and reading correct before moving on to the next set of 5. Completed items are moved to your revision queue.

Revisions

Once an item reaches it’s SRS period, it’s moved into your Revision queue. During revisions you type in the meaning or reading (in hiragana) of the item shown. Correct answers move the item to a higher tier, incorrect answers move it lower. If you get an item incorrect then you can view the meaning and it’s moved randomly into the revision queue again. Wanikani is a fairly basic SRS in this sense and it forces you to stick to the timeline by not allowing early revisions. Once you finish your day’s revisions, that’s it.

How long does it take to complete Wanikani?

Each level can be completed in just over a week IF you revise at exactly the correct time. This is fairly difficult so I average around 11 days per level. If you were to take 11 days per level it would take 660 days to complete 60 levels plus then the time on top to burn every item. Working quickly, people estimate around a year and a half to complete the levels with additional time to burn items after.

Wtf are Userscripts?

An example of a userscript that shows a heatmap of my reviews over time.

Userscripts are custom browser add-ons that can completely change your experience with Wanikani. To use them, you install a Chrome or Firefox add-on and then each userscript individually.

One of the most popular scripts adds the ability to change the order of revisions (radicals and kanji first, meanings then readings). This can be great if you want to level up quickly as you only need to get radicals and kanji to Guru before the next lessons are available. The downside is that it can cause a huge build up of vocabulary reviews.

Another script gives you the ability to undo wrong answers and have another try without effecting your score. This is great for typos but can certainly give you a little too much power to cheat and not actually learn anything… use with caution!

Other scripts give additional stats and features such as showing which reviews are coming up in the next hour etc. It’s hard to judge basic Wanikani fairly because I use a lot of these scripts now and without them it’s a lot less fun to use.

What level of Japanese do I need to use Wanikani?

Before starting Wanikani, you should have a basic understanding of Hiragana and Katakana. Hiragana is used for typed in answers as well as pronunciation and in some mnemonics. Completing reviews or lessons will be very slow and difficult if you don’t have the ability to read hiragana quickly.

If you would like to brush up on hiragana or katakana, check out my previous articles.

Are Wanikani’s mnemonics any good for learning Japanese?

The mnemonics in the course range from great to average, leaning on the side of great. A lot of them are silly, some are weird, some violent and some involve references you might want to look up to fully understand. Those factors make them quite memorable and so it’s easy to get a good learning rhythm down. Many of the mnemonics also include recurring characters. For example the founder’s name is Koichi so all of the kanji with a pronunciation of “kou” have mnemonics that involve Koichi doing things. I found this really useful to link readings together in my mind.

That said, some people prefer mnemonics that are REALLY crazy because they stick well, if that’s you then this is probably not the right program.

Is Wanikani fun to use?

Yes… and then no… and then yes again and repeat. At the beginning, there are only a few reviews per day and building up it moves at a fast pace. When you get further into the course, it can get extremely tedious. By level 10 I was averaging around 130 reviews per day plus lessons on top. At this point I still hadn’t burned any items so the reviews were just going up and up. That isn’t Wanikani’s fault, it’s the flaw of all SRS systems: the more items you have, the more revisions you have.

I didn’t feel like I was making progress so when I finished level 10 I took an extended break. While it felt good at the time, I was burned out and the time off set me back further from my goals. Wanikani does warn you about this because their levels are named 1-10 (Pleasant), 11-20 (Painful), 21-30 (Death), 31-40 (Hell), 41-50 (Paradise) and 51-60 (Reality).

Now that I’m back into it, it’s started to be a bit more fun. Really, I don’t think kanji is ever going to be FUN. It’s something you kind of just have to get through? Wanikani is the only kanji system that I’ve wanted to come back to which is a big compliment to them.

You can read about how I came back and my tips for dealing with burn out here.

Is Wanikani useful for self study?

Another example of information included for each item and mnemonics

Self studying kanji can be quite difficult as it’s hard to know where to start and what order to tackle things in. Wanikani guides you and provides a great system for re-enforcing kanji with vocabulary.

The system is really structured which is ideal for people learning on their own. So long as you’re committed and able to push through the more repetitive revisions you will do very well. With the revision timing being enforced, this system is ideal for people who tend to try to learn EVERYTHING at once and then retain nothing.

If you find yourself struggling then definitely check out the forums too, they are very active and a great place to find people to practice (or commiserate) with.

The best parts of Wanikani

• Engaging, funny mnemonics.
• Slower pace forces you to learn and retain information rather than overwork.
• Userscripts give you a lot of options to customise your learning experience.
• Pause feature for extended breaks.
• Extremely active forum community.
• Updated and supported regularly.

Where does Wanikani need improvement?

• The mobile versions of the site are a bit meh. Keyboard input on iPhone is annoying as the keyboard pops up and down making revisions slow.
• Can’t add your own items to learn.
• Pricey when there are similar free systems available.
• Slower pace means longer monthly/yearly fees unless you opt for the lifetime membership.

Is Wanikani worth the money?

Wanikani is definitely a great app for learning and retaining kanji. While it is a basic SRS system, what sets it apart is the cleanly designed package that provides an exact road map for completing a large number of kanji.

That said, this is not a stand alone all-in-one Japanese course. You can have great success using Wanikani as the kanji section of a larger Japanese study plan but you still need to include other methods for grammar, speaking and vocabulary.

Overall, I think Wanikani is worth the subscription fee because it’s an easy to use system with good mnemonics. Kanji is a massive part of Japanese so it’s important to find a system that motivates you to keep going. I recommend trying the first 3 levels free to see if it clicks for you!

If you want to start learning your grammar before you attempt kanji check out my review on Mirai Japanese.