This is the section where a lot of readers tend to be even more well-informed than I am. What can I say? I know a lot about the Japanese language, but not too much about Japanese pop culture. *Shame*

That's what I get for not watching TV the last five years.

We're all human. As such, there will be times when we just don't feel like studying. There will be times when the only thing we can bear doing is sitting on the couch or lying in bed and staring at a screen that helps us enjoy a bit of relaxation.

Some call this laziness. In moderation, though, it can be quite a good thing. And study ninjas can turn it into a fun and relaxing study method. If you're going to watch TV, watch TV in Japanese. If you're going to listen to music, listen to music in Japanese. If you're going to read a book, read a book in or about Japanese. This stuff will be tiring at first, but eventually you will find material that interests you, and you will reach a level where you can enjoy it without any effort.

The initial stages of immersing your life in Japanese can be grueling. Just keep swimming, though. It will get easier every single day. Even if you don't feel like it's getting easier, trust me, it is. And once it gets a tiny bit easier about 1000 days in a row, you'll be pretty proud of just how far you've come.

In this section, I'm only talking about how to immerse your life in Japanese media. I'm not talking about how to study through Japanese media, which is something that I talk about later in this guide.

Nevertheless, I have searched high and low to find awesome sources of Japanese entertainment media for the world's many insatiable consumers. The following list is forever a work in progress, so please contact me if you know of any kind of awesomeness that needs to be added なるべく早く (ASAP).

I've never been a big fan of the Japanese music scene. Yet, that's no excuse to deprive you of the tunes that you just might love, yeah? Here are some options…

• NicoNicoVideo.jp: I mentioned this site earlier. There are a lot of music videos on here.
• Billboard.com's Japan Hot 100: While western music is certainly becoming more and more popular in Japan, most of their billboard charts are still populated by Japanese artists. You can see a list of the current top charts on this page, and you can even go back to look at previous weeks.
• Animex Music: This site is dedicated to music from anime.
• 8Tracks Anime Playlists: 8Tracks is pretty much my favorite music site of all time. People make and share awesome playlists. Some of those people love anime and Japanese music… so they make anime and Japanese playlists. And we reap all of the benefits.

Surely there are a lot more resources than that, but it's just not my area of expertise. I still haven't been able to find any Japanese artists that really resonated with me, unfortunately.

I really need to get someone to write a guest column about this, because I'm not a very good person to ask. I'd start with these websites though:

• Crunchyroll: This is probably one of the easiest ways to get access to some anime, but I don't know how useful it would be for studying, which I talk about towards the end of this guide.
• The Unsavory Approach: There's no denying that the most effective way to download good anime in Japanese with various options for subtitles is to use a VPN that protects your privacy like BitGuard, PIA, or CyberGhost along with a torrent downloader like uTorrent and a torrent search engine like Kickass Torrents, The Pirate Bay, or Torrentz. The Japanese government keeps trying to hit people with penalties and regulations for the massive amount of illegal downloading that takes place. However, at the same time, for a lot of people studying Japanese the main problem is access to the materials that they need. I need digital downloads of videos with separate subtitle files so that I can make flashcards with them. Aside from the fact that one can't buy most anime outside of Japan, this option is not available on licensed, paid sites. So this leaves people little option but to resort to tactics such as the ones described above.
• Hummingbird.me: This site is dedicated entirely to tracking, sharing, and discovering new anime. While this technically isn't a source of anime, it is a source of ideas for anime to watch.
• Sidereel's Japanese anime show category: This site is kind of like Hummingbird.me, only it's for TV shows in general. They have a pretty extensive anime list, too, though.
• Anime-Japan.jp: This is basically an anime news site. What I really like about this site is that it's in both Japanese and English. Why not try challenging the Japanese side of things?

Am I missing some awesome stuff? Probably. Please tell me about it.

A lot of the information that I wrote for the anime section also applies to manga. As for buying manga, I think that the easiest option is to get a kindle from Amazon, then download manga from Amazon.co.jp. If you don't want to buy a kindle, then I think you can get international shipping, also.

It is possible to use a kindle for two different Amazon sites. The trick is to use a different email address for each Amazon site. Then you can log out of one account and log into the other whenever you feel like it. This does not delete your books. Alternatively, if you make your default shipping address an address in Japan, then the store should automatically switch you to a Japanese Amazon account. It doesn't have to be a real address, either. I prefer to use two different email addresses, though, as switching countries with one account causes you to exit (or break up) your Household settings in Amazon. So if you're sharing your library with someone else, then you won't be able to anymore. I just keep one email associated with Amazon.com and a second email associated with Amazon.co.jp.

The cool thing about all of this is that you can buy off of Amazon with a credit card from anywhere, unlike how the Japanese iTunes store requires a Japanese credit card or an iTunes card bought in Japan (they sell these on PlayAsia.com, by the way).

Here is the manga section of Amazon.co.jp. Enjoy!

Well, uh… the same exact thing I just said for manga.

If you're still a beginner, then a novel is probably going to make you cry, and a children's book is probably going to put you to sleep. Even with the materials that I'm about to mention, we're getting into some pretty advanced-level stuff here. So it might make your head spin. But then, if your head is spinning, then maybe that means you're learning something?

The マンガで優しく分かる / manga de yasashiku wakaru / “Easy Understanding Through Manga" series of books are really helpful. They're 説明書 / setsumeisho / “explanatory texts," so they're not too hard to read. There are usually very clear (and sometimes monotonous) explanations, plus manga dialogues that emphasize key points. So far I've read a Japanese manga explanation of Neuro-Linguistic Programming and the Japanese manga version of The E-Myth: Revisited. Both were pretty enjoyable and straightforward. Via manga, you can also study The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Leadership, NLP (1), NLP (2), Coaching, Logical Thinking, and Problem-Solving. I think reading Manga Self-Help Books in Japanese might be the height of nerd-dom as we know it. It's amazing. I have officially reached max nerd-dom, everyone. Please don't tell my crush. I mean, as it is, if she catches me “studying up on" topics like “Outer Space," “Physics," or “Semiconductors," I might be hard-pressed explaining myself:

Understanding Through Manga: Outer Space

Understanding Through Manga: Physics

Understanding Through Manga: Semiconductors

iBooks Samples are another cool option. If you have an iPad and access to the Japanese iTunes Store, then you might want to think about looking at the iBooks Store (in Japanese, of course) and downloading free samples of books. Usually you get the first 30-50 pages for free. So, for example, my iPad has a ton of free samples of Japanese books on everything from Zen Buddhism to Tips on Sounding Intelligent. My rule is that I can't purchase a book unless I read the whole sample first. As expected, usually I get tired of books before I finish the sample.

That's all for this section! Have fun getting immersed in Japanese! Also, be careful to stay productive, not just active, like we talked about in Phase #1.

Phase #4 Progress: Complete: Completely Immerse Yourself in Japanese Pending: Shift Your Study Focus