Panda-san

Well your English is perfect from what I see. What is your first language? And I totally understand what you mean, I only keep up with news on the internet. Apparently the government shut down and I barely new about it lol. I can barely have a proper conversation with people too sometimes. So many people watch anime but no one watches dramas...:< At least we understand each other's pain.

Noooo not Rosetta Stone! I guess it's good for learning basics and pronunciation but other than that it barely teaches you squat. I sincerely hope you didn't pay for it. You should look up Tae Kim's Guide to Grammar. Study that entire thing. Then if you haven't already learn the kanji. I recommend either Heisig's Remembering the Kanji, The Basic Kanji Book or Wani Kani. Then find any basic core Japanese 2000 vocabulary list and learn those. And of course keep watching dramas bu I don't need to tell you that anyway. Also, I don't know if you watch any Japanese variety shows but if not, now would be a good time to start. They are greatly helpful. That's basically all I did. But I did take a few years of classes too, but classes also only teach bare basics. Sorry for this long essay, lol.

Are you using a specific method or textbook? I don't really "study" either. At the point I'm at now I just try to read a lot in Japanese and try watch things in Japanese everyday so I can retain and learn new vocabulary. I haven't even touched a textbook in a while now lol.

Well for me it took quite a while, but with the amount of dramas you watch you should get there in no time. Do you take classes or do you self study?

Yeah it's hard sometimes because I barely watch American stuff anymore so when everyone's talking about television shows and movies I'm always the odd one out. I'm not a student anymore, I just like learning languages in my own time. Your English is fine, and thank you! Surprised you noticed lol. I think that if you can learn English then you should have no problem learning Japanese. I couldn't imagine learning English as a second language. Lots of people who speak it as a first language still aren't good at it

Awesome! I downloaded the first 24 episodes of Amachan so I think I will be watching that soon. You kind of encouraged me to watch it lol.

This was interesting. I think I have watched almost all of the Jackie Chan movies on Netflix. It's a shame he didn't like Rush Hour, but you can kind of tell in his performance in the movies. I think those movies were great for the combining of two cultures, and when else in the US will you see a mainstream movie with two people of color in the starring role? *crickets* Also, I have noticed that a lot of his movies are available in those horrible English dubs or will poorly translated subtitles...Where can you watch them in good quality with good quality subs?

Also, no mention of the Jackie Chan Adventures cartoon?! For shame.

The cast list needs to be updated. There were actually a lot of well known people in the movie.

I'm watching some airing dramas and a couple of older ones. You can just look at my list to see. Ive been looking to watch a Korean drama lately, just not sure which one though...

There is actually a song by the Japanese boy group Sexy Zone called Bye Bye Du-Bye...the video is actually kind of silly and I'm not sure if it is an accurate representation of your culture. :/ http://www.jpopasia.com/group/sexyzone/videos/bye-bye-du-byesee-you-again::38235.html

Oh, also I don't mean to spam the comments but one good drama that touches upon racial tension in Japan is Smile starring Matsumoto Jun. He stars as a Half-Filipino man who faces adversity because of his skin color and ethnicity. It also features a character who is a Zainichi Korean who also faced some discrimination.

I would also like to add that despite the Hallyu Wave, there is still Anti-Korean sentiment in Japan. Just recently there was a video that made the rounds on the internet of people protesting the existence of Koreans in Japan.

I'm so glad you mentioned that episode of Hana Yori Dango. I was so mad when I first saw that I wanted to shake the screen. I'm black and I'm from New York so it made me especially mad! Please, anyone who plans on going to New York don't think some random black guys will steal your stuff. On a lighter note I found it hilarious that the cursing got through the censors...and Rui, the least threatening looking guy ever, scaring them off? Pffft LOL.

Another one you could've mentioned is "Hard to Say I Love You" or "Sunao ni Naranakute." It started Jaejoong from TVXQ/JYJ. Also, the guy who plays Akira in the original Hana Yori Dango is actually Chinese.

It reminds me of Maison Ikkoku a bit.

Hello, nice to meet you! ^-^

I'm sure you can reach an advanced level of Japanese too. Anyone can; it's not really an impossible thing to do. All you really have to do is keep at it and get used to the language. I agree with what you said about kdramas and jdramas. I need to watch more kdramas myself since it will help with my korean "studies" (I put it in quotation marks because I barely study it OTL). Anyway, thanks for the friend request. *^-^*

I did not say he was unattractive, just necessarily not the most attractive man in my opinion. Having an opinion on someone's appearance (which everyone is entitled to have) does not make shallow, just a person with a discerning eye.

http://bluedisksubs.tumblr.com/ English subs found here~

I fixed some of the main cast and the roles they play. Not sure where you can stream online but here is a link to the torrent download with subs http://www.d-addicts.com/forum/viewtopic_114073.htm So anyone who's been wanting to watch this, knock yourself out! Saito Takumi looks pretty hot in this drama~

I would also add language learning. The only reason I started watching dramas in the first place was to improve my Japanese. I must say that within a year of watching them I went from barely understanding a sentence to not even needing subtitles. I'd say that dramas help immensely with building vocabulary and listening comprehension, plus they're fun to watch so it's almost a crime to make learning this easy! Whenever someone asks me advice for learning Japanese I always tell them to watch dramas. Unfortunately most don't listen, lol. Something about dramas being too cheesy. Their loss!

I think Akihabara@DEEP is one of his more underrated dramas. He portrayed the character so wonderfully crazy. But yet again it's one of those you either love it or hate it types of dramas. I'm quite glad he didn't become the typical Johnny's pretty boy because I can barely image him in those ridiculous colorful outfits singing and dancing...In fact, despite being in JE, I can barely consider him to be an idol. I think he can be included among some of the best actors in Japan today. It might be a stretch but he's one of the types I can imagine being in a US movie. He definitely has the face for it and the acting skills. Now the wait beings for Oguri Shun and Ikuta Toma to star in a drama together again.