I came to Japan two years and eight months ago, and my Japanese is still broken. What the…OK, it’s not a big deal. I just live in Japan is all. Ever since I stopped doing the self-study Japanese courses (provided through the JET Programme), I haven’t been diligent in studying Japanese. I’ve tried to make up for the slack by entering a Japanese speech contest. My problem: I don’t practice every day. I do speak Japanese every day, but I don’t practice Japanese enough.

I’ve decided to learn a new Japanese word every day. I’ve decided this since Friday. The words I’ve learned since then are kangei (歓迎, “welcome”), ooku no (多くの, “many”), koma (駒, “piece”), and kaikai  (開会, “opening of a meeting”). I suppose these choice of words alone show what’s going on in my life now.

At this time, Japanese schools are welcoming new teachers and students–and there are many this year at my school–while opening ceremonies and introduction games are taking place. Can you guess what word goes with what statement? Bet you can.

On top of that, I’ve discovered Japaneseclass.jp, a website designed for self-study (and competition, whatever way you look at it). Every time I pass a vocabulary question, I get points which up my ranking score out of everyone on the website. It’s a bit addicting, so I guess Japaneseclass.jp is doing its job.