First Trip In Japan

I remember it as if it were yesterday, impossible to forget those sensations.
We arrived on February 10th, accompanied by my lifelong partner in crime. The birth date of Japan also happened to be his birthday. We came out of a subway exit, and there we were, right in the middle of Ueno.
I couldn’t believe my eyes.
I had been waiting for this for so long. It was exactly how I imagined it, but much more INTENSE. Incomparable to all the videos I had watched. Japan, the real one, was finally right in front of me. I was there. I remember thinking, in videos it’s not like this, reality is ungraspable, it’s like trying to capture the ocean in a bottle — you can put your camera away…

Tokyo: adapting to organized chaos

And of course, at first, especially Tokyo, it’s surprising.
I needed a short time to adapt… Is this Tokyo? Tentacular, these neon lights, this crowd, this energy that runs through you?

I grew up in the countryside, I’m a child of the countryside.
So finding myself immersed in the largest city in the world really threw me off balance.
But don’t worry: I quickly grew to love it.
We drop the suitcases and run around like children.

I remember being surprised by all the kanji and all the Japanese I was seeing everywhere.
At that time, I only had two years of Japanese. I thought I was ready to face Japan…
Haha, I was very wrong.

I could barely read anything. Even if I managed a little, I terribly lacked kanji and vocabulary, and above all I wasn’t used to seeing so much of it in real life.
Back home, the words I knew were those from my flashcards, my old textbooks, my classes — never those on street signs, convenience store ads, subway stations, or signage.

Now, after several years of living in Japan, it’s okay, we manage.
But honestly… I would have loved to have YUMEGO back then.

Working with dramas, films, anime… it allows you to train on real Japanese, the kind used in everyday life, the kind young people use, the kind you hear in the streets, not the one from textbooks.
That’s exactly why I wanted to create YUMEGO: learning while having fun, with real everyday Japanese.

Let’s get back to my journey.

A dream was coming true.
I was walking through the streets of Tokyo, in this magnificent country that is Nippon.
When you have a deep connection with a place or a country, it’s almost inexplicable, it’s something close to the supernatural.

I will never forget those sensations:
that incredible excitement, that feeling of happy wandering, the love for unique Japanese aesthetics, details, sounds, the atmosphere…
That’s what drove me.

After two weeks in this magical country and countless adventures, the return was harsh.
But paradoxically, I was more motivated than ever to work like crazy on my Japanese, to overcome the frustration of my intermediate level.
I dove headfirst into kanji, grammar, everything I could.

Today, I’m counting on you too to improve, calmly but surely, thanks to YUMEGO.
And don’t forget: use a Japanese proxy if you want access to more series. (It installs like a Chrome extension, just type “proxy japan extension”.)
We move forward together, one episode at a time.