This year has been a very interesting (and productive!) year in terms of my Japanese learning, and certainly not one with a moment to spare. I progressed from being halfway through TOBIRA in January and finally reading my first Japanese novel, to in December having taken the JLPT N1 and reaching my goal of reading 52 novels this calendar year.

Here I’ll take the opportunity to look back over all of the content I consumed this year, and hopefully talk about some of both the standouts and letdowns. I’ll also present a portion of the interesting reading and immersion data I collected on myself this year, which should give you an idea of roughly how my time was split up, and in what (unfortunately embarassing) areas I invested far too much time into. Before this though, a quick, mostly complete overview of everything that I consumed this year.

In 2022, I –

• Read 52 Japanese books, a mix of fiction and non-fiction.
• Listened to 172 podcast episodes.
• Completed 55 series of anime.
• Watched 1084 hours of YouTube in Japanese. (good lord…)
• Played through 11 video games in Japanese, on PC and Switch.
• Spoke for ~86 hours in Japanese.

While barely making my previous 新年抱負 of completing a book every week (it certainly didn’t help that I only started properly reading in March), I feel like on the listening front I definitely made progress I can be proud of. I can also definitively say that my speaking ability is in a much better place than it was at the beginning of this year, that being almost non-existant.

With our prelude out of the way, onto the main event, the books!

Books of 2022

#3 海の底 有川浩による

♛ ボトルネック 米澤穂信による

#2 また、同じ夢を見ていた 住野よるによる

Here’s my lineup for my favourite books I read this year – and it’s fairly predictable if you’ve seen any of my reading reports over on 日本語と英語. I’ve been on quite a 米澤穂信 binge this year, and ボトルネック is, in my opinion, the peak of his works that I’ve read thus far. A satisfying mystery setup, and a writing style which is very much to my tastes (although I admit, perhaps a Marmite situation) catapulted this to “top read of the year” status for me. If you read this, read it blind!

In addition, my entry at #2 is from an author I also have quite enjoyed this year, 住野よる. Starting from 君の膵臓をたべたい, his other work has been mostly excellent, and I enjoyed a fair few over the course of this year. This one follows the journey of a little girl who walks around the city after school meeting her many friends with a stray cat, and contains a very well thought out twist which ended the story satisfyingly. Definitely recommend.

Finally, we have 海の底, an entry from 有川浩, and one from their “giant weird natural phenomena” series, which has been excellent thus far. This work follows some giant crayfish which crawl from the ocean and trap our protagonists inside a cramped submarine, following the story of several characters in their rescue efforts. It was frankly brilliant, much as 塩の街 was, however this one had the edge for me.

Additional summary reviews of all of these books are detailed below in their individual entry, but those are the ones that stood out from the pack for me, and which deserved a little bit of extra detail.

With the cream of the crop complete, here is the top disappointment of the year for me, a head above all others as a spectacular letdown.

#52 金閣寺 三島由紀夫による

Yes, a book that was introduced to me as (and indeed is credited as) a literary classic, 金閣寺. I have a feeling I will probably catch a lot of flak for this, so don’t misunderstand – I don’t think the writing is bad. In fact, it’s (mostly) pretty great in my opinion. I just could not get myself invested in the story whatsoever. No matter how hard I tried to lean myself into the story, it would inevitably enter another 5 page aside of yet another side-story, and completely lose my focus.

You shouldn’t have to physically force yourself to sit down and read a book, and in accordance to my wandering attention it took me almost 1½ weeks to finish this one alone, which had been unheard of for me the entire year.

I half wonder whether it’s just me that’s the problem. Am I just not intellectual enough to understand 金閣寺? Maybe. Does that make it any less of a dissapointment to me than it was? Not really.

Now that we have the best and worst out of the way, let’s fill in the middle. Here are a collection of couple sentence reviews of every book I’ve read this year, along with a rating, in chronological order. Starting with the very first Japanese book I read…

The first book of the year I read, and honestly, I can’t remember much of the contents, so it didn’t make a huge impression. From what I do remember, the protagonist takes photos of their friend until their unfortunate early death, and it was fairly elegantly handled, although I had not read other books of this same trope yet. Decent read.

Another book in a slightly happier vein than the above - the two protagonists share a hobby of painting, however one initially appears cold and standoffish but is in fact carrying life baggage, et cetera. The perfect generic 角川文庫 book formula, from what I remember it was perfectly okay.

The first 誠深海 book that I read this year, and probably the second most enjoyable of the year. Follows the course of two students who drift away from each other growing up, with life seeming to keep them apart at every turn, left with an open ending. Definitely recommend a read.

The classic by 住野よる, and one I enjoyed quite a lot on first reading. Would definitely go into this blind though; if you’ve seen the movie, there’s probably no reason to re-read the novel unless you’re a big fan. This was the book that got me into reading the 住野よる backlog, so I am definitely glad that I did.

Entrypoint to the 古典部 series, and thus the start of the favourite series that I’ve read this year, and if you are interested in mystery novels or have seen the anime, I definitely recommend a read. Compared to the other entries in the series, not the strongest entry, however definitely not bad either.

I can only remember bits and pieces from this book, and it definitely falls into the “generic ロマンス系” category, although it definitely wasn’t bad. What is it with these novels and being obsessed with drawings of night skies?

The 代表作 of 森絵都, and certainly one that was a treat to read. It follows a grumpy (and fairly lazy) protagonist who finds that he has won the “rebirth lottery”, in which he is reborn into another body on death for a limited amount of time, and there is an incredibly well executed twist at the end which alone makes it worth reading.

A retelling of school-age mishaps and misbehavings of 村上龍, and one steeped in humour and charm. Combined with its writing style, this was one of the funniest books I read out of the lot this year, and I appreciated the latter half of this one immensely. Very memorable.

The second entry in the 古典部 series in which the club is tasked with solving a straight-to-DVD murder mystery that another class made for the school festival, and then lost the script for. As mysteries go, enjoyable standard volume in the series. Nothing particularly standout, just a solid entry, would recommend to series readers.

A more fantastical story compared to prior works by 新海 here, especially if comparing to something like 秒速５センチメートル. However, this doesn’t take away from the enjoyment of the book for me, despite not (in my opinion) reaching the highs of 言の葉の庭. If you’re a 新海 fan, you won’t be disappointed by this.

A strange story about a part-time convenience store worker who is obsessed with the processes and environment of the convenience store. Having worked there since coming out of education, she feels attached to the role however still tries to fit into society. Very interesting book and quite short, so recommend for a quick read.

Frankly, I cannot recall a single plot point from this book. From the vague feeling in my head, and the fact I remember absolutely nothing, positive or negative, indicates this is probably a completely fine read. The lukewarm tea of this year’s reads.

The third entry in the 古典部 series, and one that relies more heavily on you suspending your disbelief. The low point of the series for me, however that is coming from someone who loves this series to bits, so of course I still think this is a perfectly good mystery book on its own merits. Read the other two first, though!

Another 冬野夜空 book after reading as my first ever Japanese book 一瞬を生きる君を僕は永遠に忘れない. This one, in my opinion, is much higher in quality of writing, and I can actually remember a lot more of this one than his prior work (although, I did read it more recently). One of the only ロマンス系 from this list that I’d actually recommend.

Probably the 新海 work that I enjoyed most this year. I’m not sure what it was in particular, in terms of plot it isn’t a standout from some of his other works - however the more grounded setting and lovely descriptions and atmosphere of greenery seal it for me here, I think. If you’re going to read any 深海 work, read this one.

A war novel, which is certainly something that I don’t usually read, as you’ll see if you’ve been following this list. However, make no mistake - this novel is brilliant. I won’t make an attempt to explain the plot, this is quite a tome, I will simply give it a rating appropriate to my experience, and let that speak for itself.

The fourth entry in the 古典部 series, and a collection of short stories this time compared to the prior 長編 volumes. This does make a change of pace, however all of the stories are excellent mini-mysteries, and the final title story alone is worth reading this for if you’ve preceded this by reading the prior volumes. If you’ve already got this far in the series, keep going! The best volume is yet to come.

A classic, and a classic for a reason. This follows our protagonist and the man he calls “先生”, and unlike my intense disappointment with reading other classics (namely 三島由紀夫), this one definitely lived up to the name. Something everyone should read at least once, even if just to tick it off the “obvious classics” list.

A collection of short stories about young love, one of which, bearing the title of the collection, stars a wheelchair bound ジョゼ and her interaction with a diving enthusiast, our protagonist. This one particularly was a standout in the collection, and was (obviously in my opinion) very well handled and thought out from a disability perspective, in a way I hadn’t really considered before. The rest of the collection is also fine, but it’s definitely a tad skewed.

Another book in the 古典部 series, and one that for the first time since the start of the series mainly focuses on interactions with an entirely new character, who has entered the club from first year. One of the better volumes in the series in my opinion, even if the mystery element itself is not actually that strong this time round.

Yet another generic ロマンス系, another read resulting from me ordering far too many of these at the beginning of the year. I can similarly remember very little of this book, but it was perfectly inoffensive from what I do.

A man is reborn to serve as a bodyguard to a young god’s temple, surrounded by rabbits. This one was a fun read, as the bodyguard and said god go around helping people with their problems and progressing a fairly laid back plot.

From an author with a pretty hilarious alias, this one describes the not so hilarious protagonist’s life after losing a loved one, living together with their mother. To be honest, my memory on this one is very faint, however it’s a very short book so perhaps worth a read if you’re stuck for something to add to your list.

One of my top three, and for good reason. This describes the story of navy officers stuck protecting children in a docked submarine from an army of human-size crayfish which have appeared suddenly from the sea. The concept sounds absolutely insane, which it is, however it delivers perfectly on handling the disaster and character elements, and somehow doesn’t come off as corny. Absolutely a recommend if you have eyes for disaster novels.

It’s an amazing coincidence that I read this so close to 海の底, now that I write this! Another one of my top three, and simply a really well executed “twist novel”, with a very strong protagonist. Another one of 住野よる’s works that does not disappoint whatsoever. There are patches which have sort of weird pacing, but that’s entirely forgivable for the book’s payoff.

The (currently) latest book in the 古典部 series, and one that is valuable less for the quality of its mysteries, and more for the character development that comes for the main gang through the short stories presented here. The final and titling short story in this collection is probably my favourite piece of the 古典部 series so far, and I’m looking forward to a new volume some time in the future now that it has been announced to be the next KADOKAWA 長編 that 米澤穂信 is working on.

Back-to-back 米澤穂信 books here, as I was on a run of really enjoying his novels in this portion, and 王とサーカス is no different. Probably the strongest individual mystery novel of his that I’ve read thus far, and one that is also attached to a larger series of books surrounding the protagonist (although unlike 古典部 you need absolutely zero prior knowledge for this one). Would definitely recommend if you’re looking for a good, solid mystery novel experience.

The first non-fiction book on the list, and one that I’d had backed up for a while for fear of having to encounter complicated mathematics terminology while reading. To my surprise, however, it wasn’t that bad, apart from a hilarious direct translation of “antidisenstablishmentarianism” from English, which made an absolute zonker of a 熟語. If you’re interested in mathematics history, definitely one to check out, despite how I’ve made it out the translation is not too abhorrent.

The one 新海 production that everyone and their grandma knows, and definitely the one that I’m the most lukewarm on. I feel like the movie version of this is probably great (I haven’t seen it mind you), however it comes across in novel form as just ‘perfectly fine’, rather than anything particularly special. That isn’t to say it’s bad - I did read through the entire thing in one day! However a little letdown after seeing the amount of hype around the film. I should probably just watch the movie…

A magic tunnel in which the passage of time stretches in comparison to the outside world. However: there’s something waiting for our protagonist at the end. A great premise, and one executed on very well. Thumbs up from me.

A pseudo non-fiction, half fiction novel about various half-true historical events, drawing from both real life and absolute bullsh*t to create funny alternative theories to things such as the location of 邪馬台国. A bit dry, but a read I enjoyed nonetheless.

When a mysterious event leads to the disappearance of a young boy, their family is torn apart by the grief. Many years later, a nameless private detective agency is hired to find him, and hijinks ensue. A well-written mystery novel, and a fairly long one at that, one I recommend going into with as little pre-knowledge as possible (hence this rambling review).

Struggling with both his sexuality and coming to terms with his relationship with society, our protagonist stumbles through life in imperial Japan. Many graphic descriptions of the protagonist becoming, as 三島 puts it, “erectio”, so perhaps not something for the weak hearted, however a book that I did come to see the charm of towards its closing portions. Worth a read for the “classic” status.

Yet another one of the “I really don’t remember much about this one” club, and another generic ロマンス系 from the initial backlog. I do remember more of this than some of the others, and it’s a perfectly inoffensive and competently written entry, so not entirely void of reading value.

Following up on 王とサーカス, this is a collection of short stories starring the same protagonist at a slightly more developed time in her journalistic career. A solid collection of stories, recommended if you are a fan of the other 太刀洗 books.

The debut novel of 有川浩 and the first entry in the “disturbing natural phenomena” series, this was a tough call for inclusion in my top three of this year. The characters are really what sell this one for me, and the worldbuilding regarding the salt disease is also very well handled. Hard recommend along with 海の底.

We take a slight halfway step toward the generic ロマンス系 with this one, however this one was actually quite memorable and had some unique elements which did leave an impression. The way the 死神 system works is interesting, and this might be worth a read if you’re into this genre.

The first book I’d read from 村上春樹, and a short story collection, including the reason why I’d initially picked this one up, “Drive my Car”. This aside, I found it a perfectly good collection of short stories regarding, well, 女のいない男たち, and this left me with enough confidence to go and order the first volume of 1Q84, so let that say what it will.

Another first in sequence from 女のいない男たち, as this was the first 東野圭吾 book I’d read, who is a massive name in the “mystery novel” space, making it even more odd that I’d managed to miss them until now. This one was a perfectly serviceable mystery, however not at the peaks of good 米澤穂信 in my opinion. I did continue to read other books of his afterwards, to its credit.

A set of short stories following characters featured in the “disturbing natural phenomena” series of books from 有川浩, fleshing out their relationships with other characters from the novels, and essentially giving us bonus chapters for their stories, set either before or after their book’s time span. Only really worth it if you’ve read the rest of the series, but it’s definitely a must-read if you have.

Interesting premise for this one - it is focused around the concept of “虚構推理” (wow, I know), the idea of using falsehoods dressed up in the coat of logical reasoning to deceive the masses into believing your point of view. However here, it is used as a tool in the arsenal of the “good guys”, including our protagonists, one of which has one eye and one leg. Definitely one to leave an impression, and I’d recommend, since there are a fair few volumes if it piques your interest.

The second proper non-fiction book on this list, and a very popular one at that. This discusses essentially decision making psychology 101, covering what our unconscious biases are when we make decisions, how we can be influenced by priming factors, et cetera. Definitely worth a read if you’ve never heard about this stuff before.

Yet another entry from 住野よる here, and probably the weakest of the bunch that I read from them this year. Not really all that impression making, however it was well written and engaging throughout the entire length. Still a great book, just not the best that can be achieved of this author.

The (currently) latest 新海 production, following his recent trend of picking more outlandish stories. Here we follow our protagonist, すずめ, and a sentient chair, through their journey to, well, close doors. A perfectly enjoyable adventure, squarely in the “it’s pretty fine” category.

While mourning the loss of his friend at the cliff where they fell one year prior, our protagonist proceeds to… fall off the same cliff. This transports them to an alternate reality in which they were not born, and the family’s stillborn first child is born instead. A similarly insane premise to 海の底, and similarly pulled off incredibly well, without it becoming too absurd. Definitely my favourite book of the year.

Purportedly a sci-fi classic, this follows the journey of a group of kids who leave their closeted home village for a class expedition, only to discover that the history they’ve been taught in school is a total lie. This part of the story has been a great mix of fantasy and sci-fi (mostly fantasy) elements, and I’m really looking forward to see where the middle third of the story goes in the next volume.

The second 東野圭吾 book that I read this year, and this time a 短編集. This format works slightly worse for me than the longer, more laid out structure of 希望の糸, however this is also from the (separate) Galileo series, so having completely different structures is to be expected I suppose. This guy seems to pump out so many books a year, it’s hard to keep up. Perfectly acceptable mystery collection.

The first and only autobiography that I read this year, and it’s from 湯川秀樹, the very first Japanese recipient of the Nobel Prize. You can tell this is quite a dated book, with talk of commuting with horse and carriage making me chuckle a bit, however it was a very interesting read to see how he started his career, and what lead to his discovery. Do be warned that if you’re expecting detailed explanations of his research, this isn’t that. This is more of a light recollection of his career up to that point, and worth a read in my opinion.

We yet again return to 米澤穂信 here, and not only that, his 代表作. This is also the story that introduces 太刀洗 from that series of books, albeit as a side character. We follow the protagonist’s search for マーヤ, a friend that came from Yugoslavia to Japan for a short few months, however had to disappear back to her home country on the beginning of the dissolution of Yugoslavia. A great book, probably #2 or #3 in my favourite of 米澤穂信’s novels.

The start of 村上春樹’s great sci-fi tale, this describes the viewpoints of two characters, one an assassin and one a writer (because yes, this is a 村上 novel) in their journey. Currently, their stories have entirely not met up, however I’m actually quite enjoying the writing style, bar the multiple-page aside to talk about musical choices now and then. Looking forward to reading the continuing volumes of this.

A literary classic, and something that I absolutely could not get myself into. I quite literally had to force myself to read the last third of this, which should give you some indication of how enthusiastic I was in the latter stages.

Following on from カラフル, another novel by 森絵都 which contains a huge, quite well executed twist at the very end. Probably not as high up as カラフル for me purely because of that book’s amazing asshole protagonist, however absolutely a solid read and something I’d recommend if you like other twist mystery novels.

Anime of 2022

Anime for me this year has been a bit of a rollercoaster. Coming into the year I was just getting into and quite enjoying seasonal shows and watching through the backlog of classic anime I still had missing, however it burned out interest-wise for me around the end of October. From that point onward, I mostly switched to watching Japanese broadcast television (eg. 千鳥の鬼連チャン, IPPONグランプリ) and YouTube instead. However, out of the anime I did watch this year (which was still a fair amount, 55 shows), here are my top picks:

#3 斉木楠雄のΨ難 J.C.Staff, Egg Firm

♛ カウボーイビバップ Sunrise

#2 プラネテス Sunrise

A double entry for Sunrise here, claiming both the top spots with their productions of Cowboy Bebop and Planetes. Frankly, there’s just something special about the shows they make (or rather, made around this time). The atmosphere, music choice, sound design, it’s all amazing, and I can’t give enough praise to these two shows. What clinches it with Bebop in the top spot for me is, of course, the awesome soundtrack provided by 菅野よう子 and the Seatbelts. Oh, and obviously because Ein exists.

Woof!

© 株式会社サンライズ

That isn’t to put Planetes at shame, though. The worldbuilding and characters of that show on its own elevate it to #2 for me, and that’s without the epic soundtrack.

My pick for #3, Saiki, is definitely in stark contrast to the two above it. Wholly un-serious and not going for the artistic world building front whatsoever, instead aiming purely for fast-paced laughs. And it works, really well. The writing of this show can be stupid and over the top at times, but it’s justice to the creators of this show that I’ve watched most episodes three or four times by this point, and there never fails to be a joke which makes me spit take.

The pace of the show is so unrelentingly fast that even if a joke doesn’t land particularly well, it’s gone and dusted with the next joke being built up in a matter of seconds. The dialogue is also sometimes fast to the level of stupidity, and this definitely worked to developing my listening ability!

With the top out the way, here comes the bottom! The most unrelentingly garbage show I watched this year, and something I probably shouldn’t have picked up in the first place.

#55 ようこそ実力至上主義の教室へ 2期 Lerche

Lerche seemed to drop the entire budget for this show on the second to last episode’s fist fight animation, and then forgot to bother animating any of the rest of the episodes. I mean seriously, the amount of animation mistakes and sloppy/robotic movement in this show was actually mind boggling. That, and also the plot adaptation was handled very poorly, at least according to the manga scholars that I am familiar with. The pacing felt jarring at times, and needless to say I won’t be back for the confirmed season 3 (no, seriously, they did that already).

Here is the entire list of shows I watched this year, although sadly not in chronological order since MyAnimeList is a bit weird, and refuses to save exact dates of when you started and ended shows past a certain time frame.

• ニセコイ
• ニセコイ:
• Fruits Basket 1st Season
• Fruits Basket 2nd Season
• Fruits Basket The Final
• 境界の彼方
• 劇場版 境界の彼方 I’LL BE HERE 未来篇
• ホリミヤ
• かぐや様は告らせたい: 天才たちの恋愛頭脳戦
• 聖女の魔力は万能です
• ヲタクに恋は難しい
• 斉木楠雄のΨ難
• 斉木楠雄のΨ難 2
• 斉木楠雄のΨ難 完結編
• Cowboy Bebop
• 映像研には手を出すな!
• Planetes
• Death Note
• Psycho-Pass
• 逆境無頼カイジ Ultimate Survivor
• ゴールデンタイム
• 氷菓
• 化物語
• 懺・さよなら絶望先生
• ココロコネクト
• はたらく魔王さま!
• さよなら絶望先生
• アオハライド
• デス・パレード
• 徒然チルドレン
• ダンガンロンパ 希望の学園と絶望の高校生 THE ANIMATION
• かぐや様は告らせたい-ウルトラロマンティック-
• オッドタクシー
• リコリス・リコイル
• ようこそ実力至上主義の教室へ 2期
• Engage Kiss
• かぐや様は告らせたい？～天才たちの恋愛頭脳戦～
• ぼくたちのリメイク
• トニカクカワイイ
• 聖女の魔力は万能です
• 可愛いだけじゃない式守さん
• 阿波連さんははかれない
• SPY×FAMILY
• トモダチゲーム
• 賭ケグルイ
• ようこそ実力至上主義の教室へ
• 賭ケグルイ××
• PSYCHO-PASS サイコパス 2
• 京騒戯画
• ココロコネクト ミチランダム
• 秒速５センチメートル
• ヲタクに恋は難しい OAD
• カウボーイビバップ 天国の扉
• 言の葉の庭
• 天気の子
• ジョゼと虎と魚たち

Games of 2022

Much like last year, I didn’t really get into that many Japanese (or English, for that matter) games this year. However, I’ll note down here the ones that I did play, although most of these are yet to be completed. I won’t form a top three for these, as I feel it would be a bit useless considering the list isn’t that long either way.

• JUDGE EYES:死神の遺言
• LOST JUDGMENT：裁かれざる記憶
• ドラゴンクエストXI　過ぎ去りし時を求めて S
• ダンガンロンパ 希望の学園と絶望の高校生
• スーパーダンガンロンパ2 さよなら絶望学園
• ニューダンガンロンパV3 みんなのコロシアイ新学期
• 龍が如く７　光と闇の行方
• ペルソナ５ ザ・ロイヤル
• ペルソナ4 ザ・ゴールデン
• ポケットモンスター ブリリアントダイヤモンド
• 大逆転裁判1＆2　-成歩堂龍ノ介の冒險と覺悟-
• EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1 The Shadow of New Despair
• EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 5
• Pokémon LEGENDS アルセウス
• 世界のアソビ大全51

Conclusion & Goals

And that about wraps up my look back at all the immersion I did this year! If there is one thing absolutely positive about what I’ve done in the past 365 days, it would be that I have successfully completed my previous 新年抱負, which is something I definitely usually don’t get the pleasure of doing. I’m sure that’s a shared experience, right. Right?

Either way, now that this year is over, I want to look forward to the next 365 days of my Japanese learning journey, and decide myself some goals for what I should get done before the time for this post rolls around again next year. So, in the spirit of things, I’ll raise the stakes just a little bit on what I want to get accomplished. Next year, I will –

• Read at least 53 books. Can’t be standing still on this year, but I also don’t want to raise this one through the roof! I already read a lot.
• Write something substantial in Japanese. Be it a series of blog posts, or a small creative work, or a video, I want to create something text-wise, because I haven’t really put any time into practicing that aspect of output.
• Watch at least 52 shows. Be it anime, drama, or otherwise, I should get it back to consistency.
• Pass the JLPT N1. This is admittedly kind of a cop-out, since I did take the exam in December, but in the event of a failure, I will re-take at the Summer JLPT.

Honestly, I’m pretty happy with where my pace is at right now, and I don’t want to raise the bar so high that I trip and stumble, or even worse lose motivation entirely. At the end of the day, I’m doing immersion because it’s fun, and when that stops, the goals have to come back down. That being said, though, I’m confident I can at least hit most of these goals for next year, and I’m going to try and smash my book record by actually starting reading in January (what a thought, I know).

A very happy new year to everyone, and I wish everyone else luck with their new round of 新年抱負. 🎉