Japanese Listening Practice for Beginners: All Episodes | Japanese with Ren

How to Use This Blog · All Episodes · By Level · By Theme

Welcome to Japanese with Ren — a free Japanese listening practice resource built around real daily life vlogs from Japan.

Every episode comes with a synced bilingual transcript, key expressions, vocabulary notes, a comprehension quiz, and an AI conversation practice prompt — everything you need to go from listening to actually using Japanese.

How to Use This Blog

Japanese listening practice works best when you understand what you're hearing. Here's the recommended approach for each episode:

Watch the video first — don't worry about understanding everything. Just listen.
Read the key expressions and vocabulary — get familiar with the new language before re-listening.
Use the synced transcript — follow along word-for-word as you listen again.
Take the comprehension quiz — test what you absorbed from natural listening.
Try the reverse challenge — translate English sentences back into Japanese to build output skills.
Practice with AI — use the AI conversation prompt to have a real conversation about the episode's topic.

This approach is based on comprehensible input — the idea that you acquire Japanese naturally when you understand what you hear, not by memorising grammar tables.

Recommended starting point for complete beginners: Start with the Morning Routine episode — it uses simple, repetitive daily life vocabulary that's perfect for your first real Japanese listening practice.

All Episodes

Latest Episodes

Japanese Listening Practice: Osoji, Koromogae & Housework in Japan — October 2026 · N4–N2 · Beginner+
Real housework in a Japanese home: summer laundry and indoor drying, the tatami room and "Ryukyu tatami", osoji (year-end deep cleaning), koromogae (seasonal swap of clothes and bedding), the monohoshizao word-building, 干す vs 乾く, and "nameless housework".
Japanese Listening Practice: A Day in the Life in Japan — August 2026 · N5–N3 · Beginner+
A full day off — laundry and 室内干し, a run in thick-soled shoes, a bike ride to two supermarkets, an unusual August pollen allergy, a microwave-only lunch, the old custom of throwing baby teeth onto the roof, robot-vacuum room cleaning, and a Vaseline skincare routine before bed.
Japanese Grocery Shopping: What I Buy at Gyomu Super (Japanese for Beginners) — September 2026 · N5 · Beginner+
A real grocery run at Gyomu Super (業務スーパー) — everyday shopping vocabulary, how to read Japanese price tags and discount labels, and the food items Japanese people actually buy for daily cooking.
Japanese Listening Practice: Nagashi Somen (Flowing Noodles) in Yamanashi, Japan — August 2026 · N3–N2 · Beginner+
A real nagashi somen (flowing noodles) experience in Yamanashi — dipping noodles in mentsuyu with 薬味 like ginger and shiso, the word すする for slurping noodles, 時計回り／反時計回り for describing rotation, and a Yamanashi fruit parfait topped with a whole peach.
Japanese Listening Practice: Driving in Japan & Reading Japanese Road Signs (Yamanashi Road Trip) — August 2026 · N3–N2 · Beginner+
A drive from Kanagawa to Yamanashi reading and explaining real Japanese road signs — slope warnings, speed limits, no-parking signs — plus the onomatopoeia うねうね for a winding road and a stop at a roadside market (道の駅) for peaches and grapes.
Cleaning a Fan in Japan: A Japanese Listening Practice for Beginners — August 2026 · N5–N4 · Beginner+
Taking apart and cleaning an electric fan — two essential onomatopoeia (シャカシャカ for scrubbing, ジャージャー for rinsing), plus a nostalgic Japanese kids' habit of talking into a fan and the family "あるある" of fighting over its direction.
Doing Laundry in Japan: A Japanese Listening Practice for Beginners — August 2026 · N5 · Beginner+
A real summer laundry routine — removing sweat smell with hot water and oxygen bleach, 部屋干し (drying indoors), and how 洗濯機 casually becomes せんたっき in spoken Japanese.
How to Use and Hold Chopsticks: Japanese Table Manners & Etiquette Guide — July 2026 · N5 · Beginner+
A step-by-step guide to holding chopsticks correctly, two common mistakes, simple practice methods with tissue and azuki beans, and the key table manners — 刺し箸, 指し箸, 渡し箸, and 立て箸.
Japanese Listening Practice: Walk in Yamashita Park, Yokohama — July 2026 · N4–N3 · Beginner+
A rose-garden walk through Yamashita Park in Yokohama — 〜見ごろ for flowers at their peak, 絶好の〜日和 for perfect weather, and the story behind the Hikawa Maru and the "Kamome no Suihei-san" song monument.
Japanese Listening Practice: Walking Minato Mirai, Yokohama — July 2026 · N5–N2 · Beginner+
Everyday walking and weather vocabulary, N4 patterns like 〜ような気分です and 〜かなと思います, and a scenic early-summer walk through Yokohama's Minato Mirai waterfront.
Japanese Listening Practice: Healthy Japanese Breakfast & Morning Routine in Japan — July 2026 · N5–N4 · Beginner+
Meal-prep vocabulary, two cooking onomatopoeia (ゴシゴシ, ホクホク), 〜ようにしています for habits, and how Japanese people eat in a blood-sugar-friendly order.
Japanese Listening Practice: Real Morning Routine in Japan — Skincare, Walk & Breakfast — May 2026 · N5 · Beginner+
Skincare vocabulary, hay fever expressions, six onomatopoeia, and how to describe your morning in Japanese. Morning walk through Japanese rice fields.
Japanese Listening Practice: Nature Park Walk, Picnic & Evening Routine in Japan — May 2026 · N5–N3 · Beginner+
N4 grammar point 思わず〜してしまう, the difference between のような and みたいな, and the kanji 宅 in everyday words.
Japanese Listening Practice: Bakery Tour in Japan | Vending Machine Bread & Taste Vocabulary — May 2026 · N5 · Beginner+
How to express indecision in Japanese, five core taste words, and the uniquely Japanese concept of a bread vending machine.
Japanese Listening Practice: Cherry Blossom Festival in Japan | TKG & Sushi — April 2026 · N5 · Beginner+
Festival vocabulary, how to talk about plans with 〜する予定です, and dining at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant.
Japanese Listening Practice: Real Home Cooking in Japan | 3 Homemade Dishes — April 2026 · N5 · Beginner+
Real kitchen vocabulary from cooking three dishes at home — tandoori chicken, nimono, and tofu salad.

By Level

N5 — Pure Beginner

All episodes are accessible at N5 level. These focus primarily on N5 vocabulary and grammar patterns:

| Episode | Key Grammar | Theme |
|---------|-------------|-------|
| Grocery Shopping at Gyomu Super | 〜てください, 〜円です | Food, shopping |
| Morning Routine | 〜のために, 行ってきます | Daily life, skincare |
| Bakery Tour | 〜なので、〜ことができます | Food, shopping |
| Cherry Blossom Festival | 〜する予定です | Food, festivals |
| Home Cooking | 〜を使います | Cooking, kitchen |
| How to Use Chopsticks | 〜のが一般的です, 〜とされています | Food, manners |
| Doing Laundry in Japan | 〜ようと思います, しょうがなく〜 | Daily life, housework |

N5–N4 — Advancing Beginner

These episodes introduce N4 grammar points alongside N5 vocabulary:

| Episode | Key Grammar | Theme |
|---------|-------------|-------|
| Park Walk & Picnic | 思わず〜してしまう, 〜のような vs みたいな | Nature, evening routine |
| Healthy Breakfast & Morning Routine | 〜ようにしています, あらかじめ〜, 〜てしまいました | Food, health & meal prep |
| Walking Minato Mirai, Yokohama | 〜ような気分です, 〜かなと思います | Travel, walking |
| Walk in Yamashita Park, Yokohama | 〜見ごろで, 絶好の〜日和, 〜に指定されている | Travel, nature, culture |
| Cleaning a Fan in Japan | なぜか〜, 〜は欠かせません | Daily life, housework |

N3–N2 — Intermediate

These episodes introduce more advanced vocabulary alongside N5–N4 grammar:

| Episode | Key Grammar | Theme |
|---------|-------------|-------|
| Driving in Japan & Reading Road Signs | 〜というのは〜のことを言います, 〜てしまいました | Travel, driving, road signs |
| Nagashi Somen in Yamanashi | 〜の風物詩です, 時計回り／反時計回り | Food, summer tradition |
| A Day in the Life in Japan | 〜ようにしています, 〜強 | Daily life, culture |
| Osoji, Koromogae & Housework in Japan | 〜てもらう, 〜に合わせて, 〜にちなんで, 〜そうです | Housework, culture |

By Theme

Daily Life & Routines

Food & Eating Out

Travel & Outdoors

Why Japanese Listening Practice Works

Research in second language acquisition shows that comprehensible input — listening and reading to content you mostly understand — is one of the most effective ways to acquire a language naturally.

Every episode on this blog is designed with that principle in mind:

Real, unscripted Japanese — you hear authentic speech patterns, not textbook sentences
Synced bilingual transcripts — you always know exactly what's being said
Targeted vocabulary — key words are explained before you need them
Graded content — all episodes are aimed at Beginner to Upper Beginner learners (JLPT N5–N4)

The more you listen to Japanese you understand, the faster you build intuition for the language. You don't need to study grammar endlessly — you need more hours of comprehensible Japanese input.

Start with any episode that interests you, and work your way through the list. Each episode is self-contained, so there's no fixed order.