YouTube

A list of things to practice your listening skills with, and to practice hearing the flow of Japanese, so as to better incorporate that in your own speaking (*•̀ᴗ•́*)و ̑̑

YouTube

LayerQ - gaming channel, speaks clearly.

Mitoku - gaming channel, speaks at a nice pace. I’m currently watching her Breath of the Wild LP!

Roa - gaming channel, speaks really fast, but she’s just so 元気 that it doesn’t matter that she’s hard to follow. I enjoy having her in the background.

Fonimu - plays a lot of JRPGs, but he is very relaxing to listen to, and polite.

日本語の森 - I’m sure you all know this one! Get Japanese explained to you in Japanese. They have dedicated channels for N3, N2, and N1.

Just Duncan - Japanese youtuber, with Japanese subtitles. It’s been a year since he uploaded anything, but I enjoy his sense of humor.

Shows

If you want to use shows for practicing listening, either a) listen with closed eyes, b) turn off subtitles, or c) put on Japanese subtitles.

野武士のグルメ - Samurai Gourmet. I swear, this is the cutest show in the world. Go find it and just feel the warmth of watching a sweet elderly man having lunch.

Japanese Style Originator - a show where the origins of Japanese concepts are explained, and some people have to make some guesses. The game part of it isn’t terrible interesting, and the music they use is obnoxiously loud, but I’ve learned some very interesting things!

Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories - as far as I understand this is a live-action adaptation of a manga. I haven’t watched it yet.

Terrace House - Japanese reality show about 6 young people living in a house together.

Little Witch Academia - anime about a witch school. It’s kinda cute.

AJIN: Demi-human - significantly darker anime than the one listed above. This is the only one on the list without any kind of Japanese subs available.

Good Morning Call - drama about two classmates accidentally renting the same apartment. I haven’t seen this, but it looks like it caters to every romance trope in the best way possible.

Keep in mind that availability varies greatly depending on countries! The ones I’ve listed are available on Netflix Denmark, so I’m thinking they are also available in most of Europe and America as well.

Podcasts

ひいきびいき - a super relaxing podcast with hour long episodes feat. two Japanese people just talking about their days and anything and everything. I really like this one.

バイリングアルニュース - Bilingual News. A Japanese-speaking woman and an English-speaking man discuss recent events. This is easier to follow along with, because you have the context very clearly in English.

そのアニ - Discussions about anime entirely in Japanese.

自由なラジオ Light Up! - Politics, society, news, and stuff like that. Difficult Japanese, but there are transcripts, so you can practice reading with them as well!

天使のモーニングコール - A slower paced podcast meant to be relaxing, discussing lifestyle-related topics.