Know a good Japanese-related forum?

[Pingfa]

Anyone know of any Japanese-related forums similar to this one, with various references for series, books and such?

[Buramu]

Here you go:

 

http://forum.koohii.com/

http://www.guidetojapanese.org/forum/

http://thejapanesepage.com/forum

[Pingfa]

Ah, thank you very much.

I'll browse through them a bit and see what I can find. It would be nice if they had more stickies for easy reference, though. I'm hoping there's a Japanese equivalent of this forum, with lists of popular media by rank and extensive discussion about them.

In particular I'm looking for things to read and browse at my leisure. I'm new to the Japanese net.

[Buramu]

You can also always check out r/learnjapanese (on reddit), which is fairly active. If there is anything specific you are looking for or want to know I can be of assistance

The site to the guidetojapanese forums has a really nice grammar overview of Japanese, which I think explains things from the very basics.

http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar

 

Also:

http://jisho.org/ is my go-to online dictionary

http://nihongonomori.com/ this website has an incredibly extensive list covering grammar and language topics from beginner level to high-upper level. (edit: I see the it starts from intermediate)

 

I think you'll find most what you need on those forums I linked concerning discussions and topics, add to that the reddit page

 

Good luck!

[Pingfa]

Thanks, I appreciate it, though I'm not actually looking for materials specifically for learning Japanese, what I'm after is a media reference. I've got movies and shows more or less covered (using dual Chinese-Japanese subtitles), I'm mainly looking for interesting sites and reading material. 

Are there any interesting, lighthearted sites in Japanese unrelated to learning Japanese you would recommend?

 

Oh yes, and if you know of any good Japanese video sites with documentaries that would be great. 

[heifeng]

This may not be exactly what you are looking for (not a forum, more of a news portal), but I enjoy using it for reading & brief online videos:

 

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/index.html

 

Specifically I recommend the EASY news (depending on someone's level) so a learner can watch the video and listen to the reading of the easy article. Also the original article is offered as well:

 

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/index.html

[imron]

Welcome back Heifeng! So when are you planning on taking the JLPT?

[Pingfa]

Thanks, Heifeng. As it happens the first place I started learning Japanese was from the NHK site, from the Mandarin lessons here: https://www.nhk.or.jp/lesson/chinese/learn/list/index.html

I overlooked the news section, however. The easy news should be good for familiarizing myself with the pronunciation of certain kanji (just from a quick browse through I learned 錦織圭/にしこりけい）). I'll probably use it for lighter reading as a supplement to this (which also includes video and transcripts): http://www.fnn-news.com/

 

For light reading I've since discovered cinematoday.jp and eiga.jp for movie news; 4gamer.net and gamespark.jp for gaming news; kotaku.jp for both; and of course nico and fc2 as youtube replacements.

I think all I'm lacking in now is documentaries and a good book source. In the meantime I'm getting by on manga and 吉川英治's Musashi (which I've already read in English).

[heifeng]

Welcome back Heifeng! So when are you planning on taking the JLPT?   

 

 

@Imron~~Thanks!!  AND, holy moly, how did you know? I am frightened by how well you know me after all these years! I just registered today for the N2 JLPT on 12/7/14 (but admittedly but might downgrade to N3 b/c that is do-able, the N2 would just be more of a trial run and exercise in torture, not unlike when I took the OLD advanced hsk a decade ago and wasn't quite ready for it yet...that didn't end well hahah)! 

 

Clearly I've ran out of Chinese exams in both the US & China...sad isn't it--Like an end of a dynasty of sorts...I've taken EVERY Chinese exam I know about and have been authorize to take! (and I can't even really post about the funner ones because they might cause imprisonment and fines...like with the FBI foreign language test battery & DLPT and all that good stuff..don't want to risk getting thrown into the comfort of a federal prison ...)

 

@Pingfa, no problem. Thanks for the links too! If I find some other useful resources then I will post as well~~