Learn Japanese with These Podcasts for Beginner and Intermediate Learners
Last updated: June 18, 2025
Whether you're sipping coffee on your commute or tidying up at home, podcasts are a brilliant way to sneak language learning into your daily routine—no textbook required. If you're learning Japanese in 2025, there's never been a better time to press play and let your ears do some of the heavy lifting.
But which podcasts should you choose? And do they really help?
Japanese learners, listen up (...hehehe):
Do podcasts help you learn Japanese?
Short answer? Yes.
Longer answer? Absolutely.
As we've made a habit of harping upon, the only thing you need to learn Japanese is to consume Japanese media that you enjoy and (at least kind of) understand. That's it. If you do that, you'll make progress.
And if podcasts are your Japanese media of choice, that's great news for several reasons. By listening to podcasts, you'll:
- Learn real Japanese: Textbooks are great for grammar and structure, but real-world Japanese? That’s where podcasts shine. You'll hear how native speakers actually talk—slang, filler words, and all.
- Develop your listening comprehension: Reading is important, but subtitles can also be a crutch. Podcasts address this weakness by exposing you to a variety of voices, accents, and speech speeds and then saying "use your ears to figure this out."
- Expand your vocabulary: It's easier to remember words if you learn them in the context. There's a lot less context in a sterile list of vocabulary words than there is in a real conversation.
- Improve your pronunciation: If you can't reliably hear a sound, you can't reliably produce it. Podcasts expose you to Japanese phonemes, rhythm, and intonation.
- Have fun, duh: Motivation helps get you going, but motivation alone can't sustain you for the hundreds (thousands) of hours it'll take to learn Japanese. One of your most important jobs as a beginner is finding a way to interact with Japanese that you enjoy.. If you enjoy podcasts, that's reason enough to make them part of your regular routine.
Best Japanese podcasts for beginners
1. Learn Japanese Pod
Hosted by Ami, Alex, and Asuka, Learn Japanese Pod is a bilingual podcast. The bulk of the discussion is in English, but each episode also introduces and explains several key Japanese phrases, making it a great choice for people just dipping their toes in the water.
- Why it’s good for beginners: Slow, clear explanations in English and Japanese make it perfect for beginners.
- Topics: Daily life, cultural tips, slang, useful phrases—a good mix of language-learning focuses, daily life in Japanese, and getting to know the Japanese mindset.
- Length: 40+ minutes
2. Slow Japanese with Mochifika
In this podcast, the host (Akari) talks about a variety of everyday topics—entirely in (slow) Japanese. What makes Slow Japanese unique is that it gets harder as the series goes on: the first 49 episodes are for beginners, while podcasts 50+ are more at the high-beginner/low-intermediate level.
- Why it’s good for beginners: It’s pure Japanese, but without the speed. Excellent for ear training. They also cover topics that will come up naturally as you begin speaking with people in Japanese, building your confidence and vocabulary as you go.
- Topics: Everyday topics like hobbies, food, daily routines, and family.
- Length: ~5 minutes, give or take a minute or two
3. Nihongo con Teppei (for Beginners)
Teppei-sensei is a Japanese guy married to a Spanish woman, a father, and a Japanese teacher. This gives him a seemingly unique insight into how language and communication works: his podcast is entirely in Japanese, but he is good at predicting where the listener won't understand and using very simple Japanese to explain away the confusion.
- Why it’s good for beginners: He repeats key vocabulary and phrases often, making it easier to follow along. He also covers everyday topics in short bursts, making them a low-commitment way to improve your listening even when you’re short on time. He also has an intermediate and pre-advanced podcast, so if you like Teppei, you can stick with him for your entire learning journey!
- Topics: Daily thoughts, language learning tips, Japanese culture—with 1,356 episodes and counting, there’s probably no topic that Teppei hasn’t covered in his bite-sized episodes.
- Length: 10 minutes or less
4. Japanese with Noriko
Noriko is a Japanese teacher (and Neurolanguage Coach) who—like Teppei—married a Spanish speaker and creates learner-friendly content for learners of different levels. Her podcast is definitely on the harder side of beginner podcasts, but she is aware of learners' needs and is still quite accessible.
Breaking the fourth wall for a moment—you're reading my recommendations on Japanese podcasts, after all, so for what it's worth: as this post's author, Noriko is the best first "real" podcast you should reach for. If you can follow her podcast, it's a good sign that you're well on your way toward breaking into the intermediate stage.
- Why it’s good for beginners: Episodes are well-structured, with clear topics and slow speech. She also offers transcripts, for those who prefer to listen and read at the same time (although we’d recommend trying it without the script first!)..
- Topics: Travel, food, language learning, personal experiences. Anything you can think of, Noriko has likely covered.
- Length: 5–10 minutes
5. Thinking in Japanese Podcast
This is another podcast that's on the more difficult side, and will likely appear in the "intermediate" section on other lists. According to Isaku, the host, he talks about a variety of interesting topics in Japanese, such that listeners can begin to think in Japanese themselves.
- Why it’s good for beginners: Isaku speaks slowly, but rather than just entirely slow down his voice, he pauses briefly after every few words. In this way, you hear a string of more natural Japanese, then have a moment to pause and reflect on if you've understood what was said.
- Topics: Here's where Isaku stands out. Whereas other podcasts talk about your trip to Japan or hobbies, Isaku talks about the psychology of learning, concrete things about Japanese (grammar, pitch accent, etc.), social issues, and that sort of thing. It feels more like a normal podcast that's been made accessible for learners, rather than a learner's podcast.
- Length: 10 minutes or less
Best Japanese Podcasts for Intermediate Learners
Ready to step it up? These podcasts are faster, more complex, and use less English.
6. The Miku Real Japanese Podcast
The Miku Real Japanese Podcast, with its smiley host, Miku, is a must-check-out for intermediate learners. I could say a lot of things in her praise, but perhaps the highest: she plugged her YouTube channel on Reddit and got over 600 upvotes. When does that happen?
- Why it’s good for intermediate learners: Miku uses natural, more advanced Japanese, but still takes the time to explain difficult words (in Japanese). Also, the increased length of the episodes is great for getting used to extended periods of Japanese listening.
- Topics: Daily life, cultural differences, travel, and Japanese expressions—all split into different podcast categories, including conversations, grammar, vocabulary, and chatting away in Japanese while on a stroll.
- Length: Her early episodes are all over the place, but after hitting her stride, sticks in the 15–30 minute range
7. Everyday Japanese Podcast
Sayuri is a bit unique from the others on this list. She runs a podcast (which is pure audio), but she also publishes vlogs. Many of her videos are specifically aimed at people in the N3–N2 range.
- Why it’s good for intermediate learners: While Sayuri is quite good at controlling her speech, she often does episodes with friends, who aren't always as good at talking to learners. This makes the podcast a nice stepping stone to "real" multi-person podcasts (which are much more difficult than single-host podcasts).
- Topics: Work, travel, relationships, and a mix of formal and casual speech patterns, depending on the guest. My favorite episode is on the use of fax machines in Japan, a cultural quirk that persists to this day.
- Length: Generally 10–15 minutes
Listen to Everyday Japanese on: Website | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube podcast | YouTube Vlogs
8. Easy Japanese Podcast
This is another podcast aimed at intermediate learners at around the JLPT N3 level, featuring hosts Masa and Asami. This podcast's unique selling point is that it's unscripted—the hosts pick a topic and then do their best to discuss it using simple language.
- Why it’s good for intermediate learners: There's a lot of good things to say here. For one, with nearly 800 episodes, they're prolific. For another, they're good at speaking relatively natural Japanese but recognizing when they've said a difficult word, then breaking it down in Japanese. You also get the two-host dynamic, which is a step up from a one-host monologue.
- Topics: A massive range of things! There's a mix of small talk on topics related to life in Japan (national holidays, hay fever, spring cleaning, coffee and more), more learner-focused videos on specific words or grammar points like ~ちゃう or とにかく vs とりあえず, and really just all sorts of stuff.
- Length: Vlogs tend to be in the 20–30 minute range, podcasts in the 10–15 minute range
9. Let’s Learn Japanese From Small Talk!
This is another quite unique podcast (I've said that several times now, I know). What makes it special is that the hosts aren't teachers, and don't really know anything about teaching languages beyond their own experience learning English. The result is a surprisingly nice balance between accessible and natural: They're just two university friends who discovered that foreigners like to listen to Japanese podcasts, and decided to give it a shot!
- Why it’s good for intermediate learners: You're very much just listening in on two friends chatting casually about various topics. They focus on everyday topics so the language isn't super difficult or technical, but they also don't quite hold your hand as much as some of other hosts do.It's a nice first stepping stone toward native content.
- Topics: Daily life, Japanese culture, language—generally, the sort of things that would occur to two young people thinking about what foreigners might find interesting about Japan.
- Length: The first few episodes are shorter, but after finding their stride in episode ~10 or so, the podcasts are consistently over 30 minutes in length
10. N3 ～ N1 日本語！Haru no Nihongo
Haru studied abroad, started a career in marketing, and then changed her mind. She became a certified Japanese teacher and started a podcast. She technically covers multiple levels (N4–N3, N3–N2, N3–N1), but the majority of her content is at this N3–N1 level. As such, this is perhaps the perfect podcast for someone trying to figure out whether they’re ready to take the jump in intermediate or advanced Japanese.
- Why it’s good for intermediate learners: A certified Japanese teacher, Haru has a good idea of what "intermediate" Japanese means, and she finds a nice balance between staying within those bounds and pushing them. In particular, she talks at a relatively natural pace, and doesn't often stop to explain what a word she's just said means.
- Topics: Japanese life, personal stories, user-submitted questions.
- Length: Varies a fair bit, but generally in the range of 15–30 minutes
Bonus: Nihongo con Teppei (for Intermediate Learners)
Remember Nihongo con Teppei from the recommended beginner Japanese podcasts? Well, he's here, too. We won't introduce him again beyond to repeat that he is, by far, the most prolific creator for Japanese learners.
While his beginner's podcast seems to be an indefinite project (currently approaching 1,400 episodes), he approaches his intermediate series differently: every 700 episodes or so, he launches a new series, in which he uses more natural and nuanced language.
So, anyway—if you like Teppei, you can listen to him well into the intermediate levels.
Best Japanese podcasts for advanced learners
This section was kind of a psyche. Sorry.
You see, at this level, it's time to dive into content for native Japanese speakers. A big part of continuing to learn is continuing to challenge yourself, and this will be a challenge at first—but it's also liberating. Once you get over the hurdle, your options open up massively: you can literally proceed to just listen to whatever you want.
So:
Try Googling a podcast about your interests as follows:
[YourTopicHere] についてのポッドキャスト
Whether it’s politics, anime, science, or comedy, there’s likely a Japanese-language podcast covering it.
For example, as an avid gamer, that was an obvious avenue for me to explore. I wanted to learn how to describe genres and game mechanics and generally explore the hype of upcoming releases.
So, I simply Googled:
ゲームについてのポッドキャスト
Podcasts about games
That led me to all kinds of Japanese podcasts about games, including the IGN Japan podcast! As a long-time reader of IGN, giving their podcast a try just made sense. Now, I can learn about games in Japanese as I’m walking around, commuting, or washing up. Win!
Whatever your thing is, there will be something for you, too.
Give it a shot.
Why do I get tired when I listen in Japanese?
If you jumped right to this question—just know that this is normal. Listening to a foreign language is very different than listening to your native language: you can't really just pay half-attention and go about your day.
Whereas your brain can effortlessly connect dots to figure out what someone might have said in your native language, you have to work much harder in Japanese to recognize sounds, translate sounds into words, derive meaning from words... plus the occasional stressful moments when you miss a word or stumble into something you don't know.
So:
Early on, this is going to be difficult.
You will likely get fatigued and tired. If you're totally new to listening comprehension, you genuinely may be worn out after five or ten minutes.
That's OK.
Just do what you can and be consistent.
As you listen more, your brain will adapt:
- Your vocabulary will improve, so you'll run into less unknowns
- You'll build an intuitive feel for how sentences fit together—even if you miss one part of a sentence, your understanding of the rest of it will help you to cover the gap
- The process of converting sounds into words and words into meaning will become more automatic
Generally speaking, so long as you stick with this—so long as you're sort of enjoying the process and sort of understanding your podcast—things will get easier as you go.
So, hang in there 💪
Need help with Japanese listening comprehension?
If you’ve tried a few podcasts and felt like it was all just too fast—don’t worry, you’re not alone.
We actually have a video talking specifically about how to approach intensive listening, so start with that:
But from there, we've got another goodie for you: so long as your podcast is available on YouTube, we can generate subtitles for you. Just open Migaku, boot up YouTube through our app, select your series, and go!
If you happen to stumble into a word you don't know, we can snip audio directly from your podcast to create a spaced-repetition flashcard for you:
So... what do you think? Are these the best podcasts for learning Japanese?
Immersing yourself in Japanese every day is key to making real progress—and podcasts make that easy and enjoyable. Whether you're just starting or you're already reaching for the N1, there's a podcast out there that matches your pace and interests.
Just remember:
If you consume Japanese media, and you understand some of the messages and sentences within that media, you'll make progress. Period.
So don’t stress if you don’t catch every word—just keep listening. Keep going. You’ve got this.
(And if you'd like to look through even more podcasts, here's a big Reddit thread you should check out!)