
How Much Japanese Do You Really Need? My thoughts...
From Ohazassu Podcast by John
January 29, 2026 · 18 min
About this episode
John discusses the practical language needs for living in Japan based on his 13 years of experience.
How much Japanese do you actually need to live in Japan? After 13 years here, I’ve realized the answer is very different from what textbooks and online debates claim. If you’re learning Japanese, or thinking about moving to Japan, I hope this episode takes some pressure off and gives you a clearer path forward. ============== Ohazassu Links ============== Website: https://www.ohazassu.com X: https://x.com/ohazassu Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ohazassu/ ============= External Links ============= • Zipf’s Law (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zipf%27s_law Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ohazassu-podcast--5905520/support .
People in this episode
Host: John
Topics covered
- Japanese language
- living in Japan
- language learning
- cultural insights
- expat life
Keywords
- Japanese
- living in Japan
- language learning
- expat
- Zipf's Law
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Wikipedia
Books & works: Zipf’s Law
Places: Japan
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