YouTube: an educational treasure trove

For learning culture

Many people express concern that young Japanese people spend so much time on their smartphones and computers that traditional cultural practices such as the tea ceremony, ikebana, bonsai, calligraphy, Japanese music, martial arts, and archery are dying a slow death. But technology is a two-edged sword, and it can be a powerful resource for sustaining these practices. In particular, the online video platform YouTube has an amazing repository of videos on all these practices and many more besides.

Have you ever contemplated learning how to put on a kimono, play the koto, take up kendo, or cook karaage but didn’t know where to start? While it’s no substitute for learning in person, a great first step is to do a search on YouTube. Content is available in both English and Japanese (most videos allow the option of auto-generated subtitles) and ranges from basic introductory videos to highly advanced ones; you will probably feel overwhelmed by the number of videos. When searching for broad categories, I find it helps to search for channels (as opposed to individual videos) and then look for ones that have a lot of subscribers.

So give it a shot and explore a new hobby today! And when you feel it’s time to graduate to an in-person class, you will feel much more informed and confident than if you had joined as a complete beginner. Obviously, it’s possible to go further with some hobbies just using videos than with others.

For learning language

YouTube is also an incredible resource for language learning. There are many YouTube channels that provide free Japanese lessons (e.g., Japanese Pod 101, Easy Japanese, and Daily Japanese with Naoko). Whatever your level and learning preferences, you will find something that will help you improve your Japanese. Some channels offer additional benefits such as extra content, transcripts, and PDFs for a fee, but there is so much free high-quality content out there that I’ve never been tempted to pay for anything.

Some paid platforms such as Lingopie offer YouTube-like videos with features for language learning such as clicking on words in the subtitles to see their meaning, vocabulary lists, and games for remembering vocabulary. They generally offer a free trial, so you can try them and see if what they offer is worth it. Again, it’s hard to beat the free content available on YouTube.

In addition to dedicated language-learning channels, there is also a veritable smorgasbord of engaging content in Japanese, including vlogs, interviews, anime, travel programs, and special-interest programs. It is a great way to improve your listening comprehension while watching entertaining content. Listening to Japanese songs (including worship songs by groups such as Ruah Worship and 4.5 Music) is an enjoyable way to study Japanese. You can usually choose to have subtitles in English or Japanese, and you can slow the playback speed of videos to 0.75 or half speed. If you subscribe to YouTube (¥1,280 per month after a free one-month trial), you can watch videos without ads and download videos so you can view them when you’re not connected to the internet.

Again, explore what’s available and incorporate the best of what you find in your language-learning program.