My #1 Youtuber besides Comprehensible Japanese is https://www.youtube.com/@hanae0626 - 花江夏樹 - He is a famous voice actor and so are his friends, he often plays games with them and I find the content to be really good for some comprehensible input when you are wanting something different. level - intermediate - advanced
I also like - https://www.youtube.com/@kimagurecook - He finds/buys/catches different types of seafood and breaks it down with commentary - not for the faint of heart if you can’t handle anima blood and guts - the level is above hana chan but still int-adv level
https://www.youtube.com/@nihongo-learning7582/videos - one of the best Comprehensible Japanese Channels that isn’t Yuki-san and her teachers but he hasn’t been posting regularly recently - level is beginner-intermediate
https://www.youtube.com/@kensanokaeri/videos - Ken-san did a recent-ish video with Yuki, and his videos are primarily conversations but they are relatively comprehensible and I think he tries to follow CI principles - level is Intermediate
These are four choices for now, what are some of your favorite Japanese youtubers, do you like lets-plays or more niche content?
I like Nihongo-Learning too! I made an effort to look for CI videos after stumbling upon his channel.
I tend to gravitate towards あかね的日本語教室 and Daily Japanese with Naoko. They’re both already listed in the Resources page but I feel like they’re both popular for good reason.
I really like vlogs so I watch a lot of Kimono Mom. Even as a beginner, it’s usually easy enough to understand her when she’s speaking with her friends or family in Japanese.
If anyone has any recommendations for vloggers, please let me know!
Sorry to post here again, but I also really like Speak Japanese Naturally. CI Japanese added the channel to their resources page after I recommended the channel to them and their description of her channel is perfect:
“A YouTube channel by Japanese teacher named Fumi. It’s a channel specializing in pronunciation, but I highly recommend her vlog-style videos. She talks about Japanese culture while showing the scenery of various places in Japan. Her voice is very gentle, and the videos are relaxing to watch.”
Another Youtube channel I watch is Kaname Naito. I saw a comment that said that he’s basically like a Japanese friend who’s tired of you speaking his language incorrectly and sits you down in order to kindly explain the language to you. It’s a pretty accurate description of some of his videos.
It’s no longer active, but very insightful. I vehemently disagree with a lot of the logic and comparisons, but it doesn’t change the content of the takeaway.
To be honest, she’s a great help by what she has the insight to explain that many teachers do not. However I find it difficult to watch her on occasion because of her objective inccuracies comparing English with Japanese. Her comparisons of parts of speech are often objectively completely wrong. She often tries to compare apples to oranges, and sometimes completely misunderstands the function of some English clauses. To her credit she points where Western Learners are likely to misunderstand Japanese language Concepts. Her “don’t you get it?” Inferences are helpful most times, but insulting at others.
Overall, she provides an understanding you can’t get most other places, and is definitely worth watching despite her subtle pokes at Western communication.
What can I say? I can’t understand not being objective. I doesn’t make sense to me to not look at the whole picture that’s visible. Heck, it’s the only way you can tell if something’s hiding, for better or worse.