My 2026 Beginner Japanese Language Learning Log
My beginner journey to conversational Japanese through the Fuji School and @nikkilearnsjapanese on TikTok!
Disclaimer: I do use affiliate links in this blog meaning that if you purchase anything through my affiliate links I receive commission at no additional cost to you! I only recommend products that I have heavily researched, tested and loved, and/or used for several years.
I started learning Japanese this year for two reasons that matter deeply to me—an upcoming trip to Japan, and to finally be able to connect with my mom's side of the family in their language. Each week I'll be documenting my lessons through the Fuji School right here on my blog—the learnings, the struggles, and everything in between. And because I learn best by creating, I'm turning those lessons into a growing catalog of study products along the way. First up is my Hiragana Practice Workbook (also available in an ink-saving version), already out and ready for you if you're starting from scratch like me!
If you're just starting your Japanese learning journey, Hiragana is where everything begins — and this is the workbook that makes it beautiful.
The Kawaii Hiragana Writing Practice Workbook is a printable digital download designed for absolute beginners who want to learn every Hiragana character correctly from stroke one. Pink, kawaii-illustrated, and structured around numbered stroke order guides so you're never guessing which direction a stroke goes or where to start.
As someone who is half-Japanese and working toward fluency myself, I designed this as the resource I wished existed — something that was actually beautiful enough to want to practice with every day, not another boring black and white worksheet you'd abandon after one use.
What's inside: Complete Hiragana alphabet from あ to ん — including the full vowel row (a, i, u, e, o), all consonant rows, and the final characters wa (わ), wo (を), and n (ん) that beginner worksheets so often leave out. Every character comes with numbered stroke order guides and practice boxes, a bonus extra practice page to print and repeat as many times as you need, and a kawaii lined writing practice page for free-form character and word practice.
Print it once. Practice it forever.
Whether you're a complete beginner, a returning learner brushing up on forgotten characters, or someone who simply believes learning should look as good as it feels — this one is for you!
Same complete Hiragana workbook. Zero ink waste.
This is the ink-friendly edition of the Kawaii Hiragana Writing Practice Workbook — designed for anyone who wants the same thorough stroke order practice without printing a pink background on every single page. Clean white pages, clear blue stroke order guides, and all 46 Hiragana characters from あ to ん — including wa (わ), wo (を), and n (ん) that most beginner worksheets conveniently forget to include.
Everything you need to build real Hiragana muscle memory, at a fraction of the ink cost.
What's inside: Complete Hiragana alphabet with numbered stroke order guides, practice boxes for every character, and a bonus extra practice page, and a writing practice page for free-form character and word practice — all on clean white backgrounds optimized for home printing. 12 pages total, print as many times as you need, forever.
The kawaii illustrated version is also available if you prefer a more aesthetic practice experience — linked here.
Learning Japanese just got a glow-up. This kawaii Hiragana and Katakana Writing Practice Workbook is the printable you didn't know you needed — pink, illustrated, and actually beautiful enough to make you want to sit down and practice every single day.
As someone who is half-Japanese and currently working toward fluency, I designed this workbook to be the resource I wish I had when I started. Every character comes with numbered stroke order guides so you're learning correctly from the very beginning — no bad habits, no guesswork. Practice boxes give you enough repetition to build real muscle memory, and when you're ready to write freely, a kawaii lined writing practice page gives you the space to put it all together.
What's inside: complete Hiragana alphabet with stroke order guides, complete Katakana alphabet with stroke order guides, practice boxes for every character, bonus extra practice pages for both scripts, and a kawaii lined writing practice page for free-form character and word practice.
It's printable, reusable, and yours the moment you download it. Whether you're a complete beginner, brushing up on forgotten characters, or shopping for a gift for someone learning Japanese — this is the one.
Also available on Etsy here.
Limited time introductory price — increases April 30th, 2026.
The prettiest way to practice writing Japanese characters. 🌸
This kawaii printable writing practice page gives you everything you need to drill any Hiragana or Katakana character until it sticks — a reference box at the top for the character you're practicing, lined rows for repetitive writing practice, and a design cute enough to actually want to sit down and use.
Print it once and use it forever — or print a fresh page for every character you want to master. Completely reusable and endlessly practical.
Perfect as a standalone practice tool or as a companion to the Kawaii Hiragana and Katakana Writing Practice Workbooks — linked here.
Also available on Etsy here.
I have also made an edit below of the textbooks and study materials used in my lessons, as well as any additional resources I find most useful in my learning journey!
Japanese Learning Log | Week 11 — [May, 2026]
Lesson 4 vocab.
Telling time
Numbers
Days of the week
Verbs ending in “masu”
“mai” for everyday
“ni” for the time something starts at
“kara” and “mate” to indicate “from” what time “to” what time
Personal Lessons (what clicked or what I am struggling with):
Need to do more memorization practice
“The weekend” is “shumatsu”
When saying from xx day to yy day or xx time to yy time, the verb goes at the very end of the sentence still
When doing audio listening with homework, fast spoken times are hard for me to understand—need to do more listening practice
On TikTok This Week — @nikkilearnsjapanese
Took a break
Japanese Immersion (shows, movies, music):
My Spotify playlist: Nikki’s Japanese Jams
Sensei recommended Unnatural or Straight to Hell on Netflix
Japanese Learning Log | Week 10 — [April, 2026]
Lesson 4 vocab.
Telling time
Numbers
Days of the week
Verbs ending in “masu”
“mai” for everyday
Personal Lessons (what clicked or what I am struggling with):
Katakana will require more practice than Hiragana did
Need to memorize “fun” vs “pun”
Need more numbers practice
When telling time, “gozen” indicates morning, and “gogo” indicates afternoon/evening
On TikTok This Week — @nikkilearnsjapanese
Katakana workbook
Japanese Immersion (shows, movies, music):
5 to 9
My Spotify playlist: Nikki’s Japanese Jams
Japanese Learning Log | Week 9 — [April, 2026]
Lesson 3 vocab.
Started Lesson 4 vocab.
Telling time
Verbs ending in “masu”
Time to start learning katakana!
Personal Lessons (what clicked or what I am struggling with):
Small ya, yu, yo should be close to the bottom line of writing rather than in the middle or up above
Small tsu indicates a pause, honbashi bou (long katakana dash) indicates an elongated vowel
Kore and Kono both mean “this”, but kono is always attached to a noun like “kono kaban”
Need to revist writing practice for “ho” - it is not like “ma”; the vertical line does not break through the top horizontal line
On TikTok This Week — @nikkilearnsjapanese
Sick this week so taking a pause
Japanese show selection on Viki Rakuten
One Kanji a Day: woman (onna) - might be displayed on bathroom
Japanese Immersion (shows, movies, music):
5 to 9
My Spotify playlist: Nikki’s Japanese Jams
Japanese Learning Log | Week 8 — [April, 2026]
Lesson 3 vocab.
Koko, soko, asoko, doko
Kochira, sochira, achira, dochira
Personal Lessons (what clicked or what I am struggling with):
Still have some slip ups of order of operations
When saying an English company, I can just say it in English and do not have to do katakana style sounding out
On TikTok This Week — @nikkilearnsjapanese
TIME Waymo jams
Coachella throwback
Lesson 3 vocab. review
Most useful phrase for travel
2026 goals
Fun facts about me
One Kanji a Day: eki (station)
Japanese Immersion (shows, movies, music):
5 to 9
My Spotify playlist: Nikki’s Japanese Jams
Japanese Learning Log | Week 7 — [April, 2026]
Lesson 3 vocab.
Koko, soko, asoko, doko
Kochira, sochira, achira, dochira
Personal Lessons (what clicked or what am I struggling with):
Lesson 3 vocab is a bit more difficult to memorize
On TikTok This Week — @nikkilearnsjapanese
ReFa Caxa Ray recommendations
Mabo Tofu how-to
Primadonna girl
Kanji learning recommendations
At home meals of the week
Sister wedding dress shopping and Beverly Hills Hotel staycation
Pink Hiragana writing practice blog product
Japanese Immersion (shows, movies, music):
Pretty Proofreader (my favorite so far!)
My Spotify playlist: Nikki’s Japanese Jams
Japanese Learning Log | Week 6 — [April, 2026]
Finished Lesson 2 vocab.
Chigaimasu as “it is different/that is wrong”
Kore, sore, dare, are
Personal Lessons (what clicked or what am I struggling with):
Need to work on order of grammar operations
On TikTok This Week — @nikkilearnsjapanese
Saturday vlog
Study aesthetic
Another Hiragana flashcard review
Lesson 1 and 2 vocab
Easy book recommendations
Japanese Immersion (shows, movies, music):
Pretty Proofreader (my favorite so far!)
My Spotify playlist: Nikki’s Japanese Jams
Japanese Learning Log | Week 5 — [April, 2026]
Lesson 2 vocab.
Kore, sore, are
Japanese comma (、) for listing multiple things “or”
“nan no” as “whose?”
Eigo and Nihongo
Personal Lessons (what clicked or what am I struggling with):
Need to work on recall of lesson 2 vocab.
On TikTok This Week — @nikkilearnsjapanese
About me carousel
Pink macbook wallpaper reveal
Freddo cappuccino how-to
Sparkly mochis
Home meals of the week
Japanese lesson homework
Japanese Immersion (shows, movies, music):
Good Morning Call (had to stop it, lol too much boy crazy desperation)
My Spotify playlist: Nikki’s Japanese Jams
Japanese Learning Log | Week 4 — [March, 2026]
Hiragana practice
Lesson 1 Vocab.
“no” as “‘s”
“mo” as “also”
Age as “-sai”
Personal Lessons (what clicked or what am I struggling with):
Need to work on order of words when using “no” or “‘s”
Need to work on vowels and validating romaji with pronunciation
On TikTok This Week — @nikkilearnsjapanese
Katsu curry and watching Japanese drama
Asking what makeup products to use for a GRWM
Sakura nail art reveal
Skincare eye patches
Japanese GRWM
Spotify playlist: Nikki’s Japanese Jams
Japanese Immersion (shows, movies, music):
Why Didn’t I Tell You a Million Times? (Netflix)
My Spotify playlist: Nikki’s Japanese Jams
Japanese Learning Log | Week 3 — [March, 2026]
Continuing Hiragana stroke orders
Lesson 1 vocab.
Building sentences with nationalities, jobs, “ja arimasen”, and “desu ka”
Personal Lessons (what clicked or what am I struggling with):
Instead of Sensei XX, you say XX Sensei (their name first)
When doing a self-introduction, do not attach -san to your name
I get stuck on a few hiragana when out of order - “ho”, “gi”, “re”, “nu”
On TikTok This Week — @nikkilearnsjapanese
Self-Introduction
Show and tell of my Freddo Cappuccino
Asking about favorite Netflix Japanese shows
Intent/Purpose of Japanese learning journey
Favorite Japanese places/routines in LA
Minna No Nihongo Lesson 1 vocab.
Travel itinerary recommendations
Moodboards
Vlog - Pizza dinner at friend’s
Hiragana flashcard review
Nail design recommendations
Japanese Immersion (shows, movies, music):
Cinderella Closet (Netflix)
An Incurable Case of Love (Netflix)
Japanese Learning Log | Week 2 — [March, 2026]
First official lesson
Learning Hiragana, including stroke orders
Lesson 1 vocab.
Personal Lessons (what clicked, corrections, and/or what am I struggling with):
Completely forgot that Hiragana has specific stroke orders for writing!
Hiragana is the only thing I slightly retained from Japanese school growing up, but I struggle with a handful when I am recalling out of order.
On TikTok This Week — @nikkilearnsjapanese
Created my account!
Japanese Learning Log | Week 1 — [Feb, 2026]
Did a trial lesson through the Fuji School and really enjoyed it!
Thanks for following along! If you're also learning Japanese, drop a comment — I'd love to know where you are in your journey. And follow me on TikTok @nikkilearnsjapanese for weekly clips from my lessons and practice sessions.
