Staying motivated to learn a language is tough. I’ve been doing that with Japanese off and on since high school. I spent a good chunk of my adolescence growing up in Japan and another couple years working there. It was all on a US military base but the experiences I had while living there were amazing. My wife is Japanese, so is her daughter (now my step daughter) but I want to learn Japanese because I want to connect with their family.

Other things that keep me motivated are listening to Japanese bands/music and watching films/anime in Japanese. Some of the bands I like are Asian Kung Fu Generation, Yui, Mr. Children, Dragon Ash, M-Flo, Crystal K, Bump of Chicken…just to name a few. I’m a huge fan of Akira Kurosawa films so I would definitely check out his library of films. Takashi Miike is pretty awesome too.

/r/learnjapanese is an awesome subreddit too, so be sure to check that out!