December 9, 2007 Update:
I'm back from New York, and what an adventure!
Unfortunately there was a testing audio failure in the room I was assigned for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). The audio portion of the test which evaluates listening comprehension and accounts for 25% of the level 4 (basic level) test's total grade, was basically... screwed up.

Everyone (including the 2 test administrators in the room) knew the audio was unacceptable before that section of the test was officially started because there is a test audio portion that is played first. Test participants started objecting and making sure the administrators were aware that the audio was not working. However, there apparently was no backup plan and the administrators eventually decided to proceed according to schedule, even though a disturbing percentage of words in every sentence was completely indiscernible. Why we were not allowed to wait and take that section of the test in one of the other rooms after the participants in those rooms were finished, I do not know.

After the test, when approached by several people, including a schoolteacher that had brought many students (half were in the bad audio room with me) and a Japanese parent whose daughter speaks Japanese in the home (her daughter also complained of not being able to understand the recording), the local senior administrator behaved as if there was no authority or options on their end, suggesting that we just write letters to the US office in California so they are aware of the problem.

A boom box with a backup recording would have saved the day, if there is some reason why a standardized test cannot allow some people to take things out of order by going in one of the other rooms. There could have been a time issue I guess, concerning how long the rooms at Columbia University had been reserved, but the audio portion is only 25 minutes long, so I don't think that would have been too big of an issue or disrupted anyone's life too much if the testing process took an extra half hour.

I am not really upset with anyone. The testing audio failure at Columbia University was just an unfortunate event. But for someone like me who only spent 4 months seriously preparing, not being able to hear the audio on a section that counts for a dramatic percentage of the grade, is likely a disadvantage I could not afford to endure (grades take a few months to be issued).

I aced the 1st part of the test which features kanji and vocabulary, probably my strongest area, and I also started very strong on the 3rd and final grammar section after the faulty listening comprehension portion, but I did not manage my time well on that third section and had to rush far too much at the end.

With my perfect or nearly perfect first section performance and if I get a little lucky with my bad time management effort in the third part, then it is barely mathematically possible that I could still pull a passing average out of the experience, despite all the guesswork that had to be employed during the audio portion due to the completely unacceptable audio quality issue.

I know last year's test results were released at the very end of February, so I expect to be waiting about 3 months to receive my largely irrelevant test scores. With the audio screw up, I really don't care about the score too much at this point, but I would still like to get my certificate. I worked hard for it these last few months. I will hope I somehow managed to achieve the minimum score required to get the cute pink piece of paper for my office wall.

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Drama~~~Comedy~~~Samurai~~~Adult
Action~~~Animation~~~B&W~~~Kurosawa

In the end my real objective was to learn a lot of Japanese in a short amount of time, and that I did do. And I am already continuing my studies to get as far along as I can before my upcoming move to Japan to participate in a language immersion study program at the Yamasa Institute. JLPT certification is not directly relevant to my admission and placement in the language school. Yamasa will give me their own placement tests including an interview to be conducted in Japanese by one of the faculty before a level is determined for me in their program.

I recorded a lot of audio during my week in New York. I was staying with a Japanese friend, and we explored many Japanese NY sites and turned this into a Japanese themed adventure trip. The JLPT/Japan New York adventure audio episodes will be available through this website when they have been edited for the upcoming Savage Japan podcast.

I need to say a special thanks to my friend Hiro in Japan who has been helping me online rapidly progress through the text of Minna No Nihongo 1, a book that closely mirrors the knowledge required for the JLPT level 4 test. Without Hiro's assistance I may have cancelled this amazing trip to New York. There is no way I would have been ready in such a short amount of time without Hiro's help.

Anyway, it was a blast! No regrets! Now it is time to finish a quick review of Minna No Nihongo book 1 before jumping into Minna No Nihongo book 2. I also plan to resume studying Japanese the fun way again by watching a lot of Japanese movies. More Japanese movie reviews coming soon!

Very significantly, I cannot claim to be self-taught these days. I have been getting some amazing and incredibly beneficial help from a new Japanese friend in Kyoto via daily conversations and lessons using Skype. More on that later.

I have been putting off taking sample tests because I know I am still far from being ready. Maybe by next weekend after one more intense week of studying, I will time myself and simulate the test with a copy of a previous year's version. Then I will find out just how desperate my situation is.

Oct. 6, 2007 Update: The registration period and test site change deadline has just now passed for this year's upcoming JLPT in December. If you are interested in taking on the challenge of learning Japanese, you now have over a year to prepare for the 2008 beginner level test.

Learning the beginner level test content is a very achievable one year goal, even if you are starting with zero advance knowledge. I did not really get serious about the test until I launched this Japanese movie review site at the end of July, and I have definitely put a little extra pressure on myself by waiting so long to begin preparations.

I did already know the simple and basic Japanese hiragana and katakana phonetic syllabaries pretty well and I do watch a lot of Japanese movies, so I was not starting at absolute zero. But establishing a steady routine of short daily study sessions now in preparation for December of 2008 would be much better than waiting until the summer like I did this year.

Check back on this site soon to listen to a Japan adventure podcast where I will also touch on my language study preparations for the JLPT, before I temporarily relocate to Japan to participate in an immersion language study program.