These are the notebooks that I am currently using: My Regular Traveler’s Notebook for journaling and memory keeping, my Passport Traveler’s Notebook for planning, and the new addition discussed below. Not pictured is the black notebook that I scribble in (brain dump journal entries, grocery/to-do lists, etc). I had recently treated myself to a few goodies from one of my favorite stores, Baum-Kuchen, one such item being an A5 notebook cover to house the stuff that I am using to study Japanese.

Finally, after so much procrastinating, I am bucking down and redoubling my efforts to study Japanese. I took around 2 years of Japanese in college, but didn’t really keep up with studying it afterwards. Consequently, even though I still know enough to travel and hold basic conversations, I had forgotten more than I would like. My study goal is to relearn all of the kanji, vocabulary, and grammar that I have forgotten as well as continue my language education with a focus on stuff that would be useful for our next Japan trip (whenever that will be).

I am using the GENKI textbooks as they were recommended on Reddit and seem well regarded online. Instead of skipping ahead in the book, I figured I would start from the very beginning. Although I already know almost all of what I have covered so far, it is good to reinforce existing knowledge and to notate grammar, etc in my notebook for the sake of reference.

I have two notebooks in the cover; One tucked into the left side and one tucked into the right side.

The left notebook is comprised of A5 sized gridpaper. I was previously using this notebook as scratch paper and lettering practice but it has been repurposed for kanji study and practice. The postcard holds no significance other than it being pleasing to look at and to cover personal information that was written down underneath it. I do plan on printing out or writing out A5 sized (or smaller) reference sheets and either tucking them into the pocket on the left or clipping them to the front inside of the first notebook.

The right notebook is an A5 slim sized Washi SOSHI notebook from April 2020’s Stationery Selection box. The paper is an absolute delight to write with my fountain pens as I find that it’s the perfect texture (not too smooth, not too rough, no feathering). Sadly, I have been sitting on this notebook for over a year because that’s how long I procrastinated on starting this project.

Special mention to these highlighters. I bought them years ago off of Amazon and I use them all the time. I think they are Muji twin tip highlighters? One side is broad tipped for highlighting and the other side is fine tipped.