My New (top secret) Tool to Learning Japanese
Ok, I’ll finally confess. This is perhaps the most popular tool for learning Japanese, but I’ve been very reluctant to actually use it.
I didn’t ever think I would, and why not? Perhaps I thought I had outgrown it, but I was wrong.
Yes, yes I am talking about those…
They are very popular in Japan, and likewise in the US - but mostly only with teenagers.
And I never really thought I’d get into them, but here I am actually finishing the second one.
Yes, this is Charles Abbott’s new not-so-secret tool for learning Japanese.
Comic books.
Or “manga” as they are called in Japan. They are a great way to learn Japanese while also learning a lot about the culture behind the language.
For my first foray I picked up this famous manga called “Slam Dunk”. I bought two copies (out of 31) in this series simply for 2 reasons:
1) since it is written in Japanese I can at least understand concepts about basketball (my favorite sport) even if I can’t always understand what they are saying.
2) it was recommended to me by a co-worker and a friend
Since it is written only in Japanese it is both challenging and ultimately helpful to my studies. I’ve already improved my reading speed, and it definitely helps out with Kanji recognition.
Oh, and to top it off, these manga are actually entertaining, imagine that 
December 11th, 2009 at 10:22 am
Hentai was large when i was there, I’m sure it wasn’t the only thing in comics there. Just curious what the culture on comics over there are like.
December 11th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Yeah, hentai i suppose is still pretty popular - it is readily available in stores.
Manga / comic books in general are very popular here regardless of age. There are manga shops everywhere, and you often see middle aged men standing next to each other and young boys / girls in manga shops or convenience stores reading the comics on the shelves.
There is no shame here for a 40+ year old man to openly read comic books while wearing a business suit and tie on the train ride to work. In the USA I would have been a bit reluctant to do so.