The journey to the dōjō was wrought with perils. You overcame them. You are stronger than you were when you left home. Wiser. But you know it's not enough.

Along your journey, you caught glimpses of monsters far too powerful for you to face. You need to get stronger. You need training. The master of the dōjō agrees to teach you. But he also gives you a warning. Many come to me seeking training, he says. Select few complete that training.

You will be one of the special few. You are sure of it. You will do whatever it takes.

And so, your training begins. The days are long and hard. And they are many.

You persist.

In Phase 2, we will:

• Learn the meanings of all 2,136 Jōyō Kanji (←optional).
• Learn around 2,000 highly common vocabulary words (←includes virtually all JLPT N5 and N4 vocab... and a sold chunk of N3 and non-JLPT vocab, too).
• Master essential grammar for getting around in Japan (←namely, N5 and N4 grammar).
• Get 20+ hours of Japanese speaking practice.
• Forge "The Almighty Study Chain."
• Overcome unexpected hurdles.

Once you've finished Phase 2, you should be good enough at Japanese to get around using only Japanese. Communication will still be a struggle at this level, but you will have laid the foundation to jump from beginner to intermediate and advanced levels much more quickly.

Accomplishing Phase 2 should also be a game-changer in that you will have completed the most difficult aspects of learning Japanese: Kanji meanings & N5-N4 grammar.

Mastering the kanji meanings, if you choose to (I recommend it), will make Japanese feel accessible and speed up vocabulary acquisition. And once you've learned all N5 and N4 grammar, you'll have mastered the vast majority of verb conjugations, plus the bulk of grammatical constructions needed for speaking everyday Japanese.

In other words, you will have mastered the basic art of Japanese, and you will be ready to take on more formidable foes.