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What Would You Do If You Woke Up Fluent In Japanese? — 33 Comments

  1. I would learn the Japanese lifestyle, spread good will and keep my friends close and my family, experience the automotive side through their side of the world, hopefully start a business or racing team. I really love their culture and I would like to be apart of it, having a good heart and actually being able to use it in a place it can be appreciate

  2. I would maybe just go to a bar and talk with the Japanese people there. There’s also a few anime I would have to rewatch.

  3. Probably Spend time chatting with native Speakers and try to find a way back to Japan and travel and explore as much as I could. When I was there last summer the best part about it was I was able to use my Japanese only a regular basis and communicate with others.

  4. I would take over all Japanese news tv stations and inform all Japanese everywhere in their own tongue that Japan is now under my control and they will now submit to my will! GUUahaHAHAHAAH! And tell them to make me ramen. Right meow.

  5. Take a cute japanese girl out on a date, have ramen for lunch, go to the cinemas, then sing some karaoke

  6. I would finish
    Visual Novels
    1. Higurashi
    2. Umineko
    3. Steins Gate
    4. Muv Luv Series

    Anime/Manga
    1. Death Note
    2. Kaiji
    3. Liar Game
    4. One outs
    5. Detective Conan

    And many light Novels like Haruhi Suzumiya…. Zero no Tsukima.

    And would immerse myself in Nico Nico that they will start calling me a Nico Junkie.

  7. Just one day? My normal life wouldn’t change all that much, but I’d probably try to do some 声優 work, and hang out with the girl I like…

  8. probably go back to studying English for a year. I really want to apply the learning tools I have to other fields in my life. But after some time I would definitely come back to reach native level and beyond.

    My plan as of now is to become fluent in Japanese, 10000 words. Perhaps learn the remaining kanji from rtk1+3

    Then i’d like to return to English and apply my learning tactics there.

    One day I’d like to come back and become native in Japanese.

    Then after that I’d like to pursue another Language. Perhaps french.

  9. I would go to all the Japanese sites I know about, like Ameba and Amazon.jp, and spend all day shopping. I would buy all the games that got early or only Japanese release. I would buy a bookshelf worth of light novels. I would buy some of the awesome gadgets they have (especially some of the kitchen ones!). I would find some of the Japanese web games and play them ALL day. And… I would probably spend all day on the phone or in a Skype call with my friend, who also loves Japan (but presumably, did not wake up fluent) live translating everything for him so that he could enjoy it to. ^_^

  10. Wake up in the morning and turn on some Japanese TV while I enjoy a cup of hot coffee and heat up some leftover curry rice for breakfast. Afterward I’ll be sure to use this period of high motivation in the morning to go ahead and get at least 50 pages of reading done and if I get really into it I’ll keep reading past that until I’m satisfied. Then I’ll spend a couple of hours practicing drawing/painting in my home, or if I’m feeling adventurous that day I’ll go out somewhere in the beautiful Japanese countryside and do some landscapes. If I do go out, on my way back I’ll probably stop at the bookstore and browse around for a couple of new books to take back with me, and maybe I’ll go to the bakery and get something to snack on before dinner as well. I’ll call up a couple friends and see if anyone wants to go do some karaoke with me, and even if no one is available to hang I’ll just go sing by myself anyway because there’s hardly anything more fun than spending two or three hours singing my favorite Japanese songs. When I eventually get home I’ll cook myself up some お好み焼き for dinner and watch a couple episodes of anime while I eat. Depending on how I feel I’ll spend the rest of the night reading, drawing, or watching anime until it’s time to go to bed and do it all again tomorrow.

    Also I can’t say I’d mind having a cute and wonderful Japanese girl at my side while I do all those things either.

  11. If you meant just for one day, then I’d spend the entire day creating as many realistic, conversational Anki cards with audio as I could, to help my future ignorant self progress faster. If you meant a permanent change, then I’d pass the JLPT1, apply for a physiotherapy license and start looking for a job there.

  12. Read all the books I bought, then watch a bunch of dramas and movies.

    Basically, just laze around and do what I normally do, just with an extra language at my disposal.

  13. I would have lunch with Inoue Takehiko, Miyazaki Hayao, Kojima Hideo, Kamiya Hideki and Imaishiand discuss their philosophies on creating original IPs and how they function with teams. I would be working with or running my own animation studio and working in Japanese with amazing animators to produce my own films.

    On a simpler note, I would be able to sit back and relax and read Japanese books fluently while also translating or just writing my film scripts in JP.

    Aaaand I would be studying Korean in Japanese.

  14. Step 1: Read Wind-Up Bird Chronicle in Japanese.
    Step 2: Read the rest of my favorite Murakami novels in Japanese. (That is to say, all of them.)
    Step 3: Have lunch with Murakami to discuss his work, pick his brain about things in general. (In Japanese, of course!)
    Step 4: Spend some months/years exploring as much of Japan as is humanly possible!

    Now that I think of it, it’s weird that my first priority is “read some novel”. One that I’ve read several times already, no less! But whatever… there you have it.

  15. I live in Japan and get by reasonably well, but there are plenty of things I’ve either been putting off or haven’t enjoyed fully due to my sad spoken Japanese.

    Morning: Pesky Chores & Errands

    – Call NHK and explain to them that they’ve been overcharging me for months! I could do this now, probably, but it would take a lot less time if I were fluent.
    – Go into Softbank and slice down my mobile plan to save some $$$.

    Afternoon: Entertainment

    – Go to the Takarazuka Revue (a guilty pleasure of mine here) and finally fully understand the dialogue.

    Evening: Socializing

    – Invite out a bunch of my younger coworkers and finally get to know them (beyond the drunken small talk we usually exchange at big enkai).

  16. I would watch Anime and finally be able to focus on the animation and art instead of spending all my time looking the subtitles, browse websites in Japanese, plan a trip to visit Japan for a week or so.

  17. Do what I wanted to do with the language. I am learning Japanese not just from anime or games or whatnot (even though each reason is valid) I am learning it just for an extreme love of that weird island nation and its amazing culture. I would be doing what I usually do everyday, just in Japanese. I would be watching the equivalent of buzzfeed in Japanese, continue learning programming in Japanese, try to be healthy using Japanese language supported apps, sign up for N1. Go on NHK high school website and watch the videos (basically doing high school twice in different languages) obviously ignoring the English lesson, unless I forgot engrish. Play mmorpgs in Japanese and make Japanese friends. Read books, so many books, I used to be a bookworm, but now I don’t have that affinity for books anymore. I might have a similar experience to adshap and fall in love with books but this time in Japanese. I’d start doing my homework assignments in Japanese and English for fun (currently replacing every english word I know the kanji for, paper unreadable for anyone to copy haha) Actually thinking about it, I had a hard time thinking about this at first and I realized, I like the learning journey, why does it have to stop?

  18. I would probably rewatch some Anime I really like such as Flip Flappers or Space Dandy. Go to the local Asian restaurant and look at the kanji at the menus. Maybe towards the end of the day start working on another language.

  19. There’s a sushi bar near my house. The sushi chefs there always speak to each other in Japanese. I’d want to have a conversation with them xD

    And of course, binge watch anime.

  20. I would probably go to some of these manga cafes, read lots of mangas i had always been curious about and probably would like to know some places with a friend that also loves Japanese culture :D

  21. I d wake up in japan, maybe Osaka. Go to a book store and get some nice literature. Go on a small hike in a more rural place (read the book during the train ride). Drive back with the train, visit an Onsen. Go out, meet some people in a bar, go clubbing. After some serious dancing I’ll drive (Since it is only a day we’ll imagine that I’m for some reason not drunk after this) to the nearest beach and watch the sunrise. Now my day is over and I’m stuck in Japan because I don’t understand a word.

  22. I’d probably start recording myself saying random things in Japanese and playing it all back just for fun.

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