four days

The main reason for my return to Japan is coming up in four days. On December 4th I will be spending a long, brain-wrenching day sitting in an uncomfortable chair taking the Japanese Language Proficiency Exam. If I pass (75%) I will have the right to say that I am technically proficient in the Japanese language. They’ll even give me a little certificate to prove it to future employers.

I have been studying pretty diligently for the last month and I feel 65% prepared. That is, I feel like I could get a 65% on the exam, which is passing for Level 2, but not for Level 1.

Requirements for this exam, top level:
2,000 kanji (chinese characters)
10,000 words
900 hours of studying Japanese

I plan on memorizing the last 300 words I need to know in the next three days. That will include about 100 new kanji. Good luck me. Hang in there, my tired little brain.