Japanese Language Study

I have been studying Japanese since 2001, when I was in eighth grade, even though I had never set foot in a brick-and-mortar Japanese classroom until after passing JLPT N3 and the Kanji Kentei Level 5 (then I started going to lessons because they were cheap, only ¥91 a lesson, and I felt they would help my listening comprehension). Prior to that, instead of doing classroom Japanese study, I had accomplished virtually everything in Japanese through self-study (using textbooks, the Anki program, etc.) and interactions with Japanese people and Zainichi Koreans. This page contains images of the various things I have accomplished in regard to the Japanese language, or Nihongo.

Right now, my Japanese level is as follows

I hope to upgrade my level in the future to facilitate an easier and more prosperous life in Japan. The following photos are in reverse-chronological order; the ones at the top are the newest; the ones at the bottom are the oldest.


My Official JLPT N2 Certificate (the test date was December 6, 2015)


My Official JLPT N3 Certificate (the test date was July 1, 2012)


My Kanji Kentei Level 4 Certificate (I passed the test on July 8, 2014)


My Kanji Kentei Level 5 Certificate (I passed the test on January 29, 2012, still within my first year here)


Here is my official Kanji Kentei Level 7 certificate. I passed the KanKen Level 7 on October 23. It is a test of the first 640 Kyōiku Kanji. The Level 7 is intended for Japanese elementary school-aged native speakers, not foreigners, but foreigners are allowed to register if they so choose. I was both the only adult taking the test and the only visibly foreign person taking the test. When I first entered the room, the kids were shocked and craned their necks to look at me!


Before receiving the certificate above, I knew I had passed the KanKen Level 7 by checking online.
On July 3 (less than four months after beginning to live in Japan, but after extensive study before entering Japan), I took (and passed) the JLPT N4. This certified me for ~1,500 words and ~300 kanji.


In December of 2008, I passed the JLPT Level 4 (old version of the exam, equivalent to the N5 on the new exam), and got certified for ~800 words and ~100 kanji.


This is the TI-83-compatible "NihonGO! Japanese Kana Learning Program," started by me in 2001 and finished in 2009; it contained tons of TI-83 code that rendered all 96 of the kana (hiragana and katakana scripts including the four archaic kana). With this program, I taught myself the phonetic hiragana and katakana writing systems (I had basically learned them all by the end of 2001, and Final Fantasy X, which I imported and beat in Japanese before its English release, helped cement these syllables).


NihonGO! Japanese Kana Learning Program Running on an Emulator


Archaic Kana in the NihonGO! Japanese Kana Learning Program