Bite Size Japanese Podcast (Intermediate) - Ep8: Looking back on 2021 with Ken sensei
This episode is a two-person conversation between Layla and Ken sensei, a Japanese teacher she met on Instagram, and it is the first guest episode of the Bite size Japanese podcast. The format shift is pedagogically valuable: you hear two Japanese speakers interacting at natural speed, interrupting each other, laughing, and finishing each other's sentences — the exact register that textbook dialogues never capture. Ken started his Instagram account in August (after a previous account from January), lives in San Francisco, and spends his 2021 camping in the California wilderness for 2-3 days at a time, once or twice a month, with his phone completely off. Layla moved to Okayama in November to live with her British boyfriend Jack after three years of long-distance. Both of them describe 2021 as the year of Instagram connections, new encounters, and the year they learned to step back from the digital world.
Five grammar structures carry the episode. First, 〜始める / 〜始めた (to start doing) — インスタグラムを始めて (after starting Instagram), キャンプを始めたり (started camping and such). Second, 〜ために (for the purpose of / in order to) — 一緒に住むために (to live together), キャンプしようと思って始めました (I started because I wanted to camp). Third, 〜とか (casual listing) — コラボしましょうとか (things like "let's collaborate"), ディナーを食べたりとか (eating dinner and such). Fourth, 〜ぐらい / 〜くらい (approximate quantity) — 1ヶ月に１回ぐらい (about once a month), 2日、3日とか (2 days, 3 days or so). Fifth, 〜てくる / 〜ていく (directional verbs) — 引っ越してきたので (because he moved here), チェックしてくださいね (please check it out). Every sentence is a self-contained conversation chunk you can steal for your own small talk.
The episode also models the exact Japanese of two people who are friendly but not intimate — the です/ます register mixed with casual particles (ね、よ、かな、さ), the backchanneling (うん、そうそうそう、そっかそっか), and the way Japanese speakers use なんか to soften statements. For self-learners who have only ever shadowed solo monologues, this episode is the bridge to understanding actual Japanese conversation rhythm.
📚 Grammar Breakdown
Meaning: "To begin doing / started to do." Verb stem (remove る/ます) + 始める — marks the start of an action or process.
In Text: インスタグラムを始めて (after starting Instagram); キャンプを始めたりとか (started camping and such); 8月から始めた (started from August); 1月から始めた (started from January).
Note: N4. 始める is a secondary verb (補助動詞) attached to other verb stems: 食べ始める = "start eating", 書き始める = "start writing". The pattern is V-stem + 始める. Self-learners often confuse 始める (start) with 続ける (continue) — 始める is the beginning, 続ける is the ongoing. Shadow the て-form: インスタグラムを始めて (after starting Instagram) — this is the standard "after doing X, Y happened" narrative connector.
Meaning: "For the purpose of / in order to / because of." Noun + のために or Verb dictionary form + ために — marks a goal or cause.
In Text: 一緒に住むためにこっちに来ました (I came here to live together); 同棲するために (to cohabit); キャンプしようと思って始めました (I started because I wanted to camp).
Note: N4. ために is the single most important purpose/cause frame in Japanese. The difference between ために (purpose) and から (because) is that ために looks forward to the goal while から looks backward at the reason. Self-learners often overuse から and underuse ために — the result sounds like giving excuses rather than stating intentions. Shadow the 「Verb dict. form + ために + action」 pattern; it's the standard "I did X in order to Y" frame.
Meaning: "Things like ~ / ~ and such." Noun or verb short form + とか + noun/verb + とか — lists items casually as representative examples, not an exhaustive list.
In Text: コラボしましょうとか (things like "let's collaborate"); ディナーを食べたりとか (eating dinner and such); キャンプを始めたりとか (started camping and such); 4月とか？ (April or so?); 10年前とか (about 10 years ago).
Note: N4. とか is softer than や (which is also "and/but") and more casual than など ("et cetera"). It appears in one of two patterns: 「AとかBとか」 (noun listing) or 「〜とか〜とかする」 (verb listing). Both are casual spoken register. The difference from たり is subtle: たり implies "among other things I did A and B," while とか implies "A, B, that's the sort of thing." Self-learners who know たり from textbooks often overuse it and neglect とか.
Meaning: "About / approximately." Number + ぐらい — softens an exact figure into an estimate. Softer than 约 / ほど and more common in spoken Japanese.
In Text: 1ヶ月ぐらいかけて (spending about 1 month); 1ヶ月に１回ぐらい (about once a month); 1ヶ月に2回ぐらい (about twice a month); 2日、3日とか (2 days, 3 days or so); どれぐらいキャンプする？ (how often do you camp?).
Note: N4. The trap with ぐらい is placement — it follows the number/word it modifies, never precedes it. 「1ヶ月ぐらい」 correct; 「ぐらい1ヶ月」 wrong. Self-learners also tend to use ぐらい only with numbers; but in this episode, ぐらい also modifies temporal phrases: どれぐらい (how much / how long). Compare: どのぐらい (how much — same word, different kanji), どれぐらい (which-gurai / how much when all options are present). Shadow 「Number + ぐらい + かけて」 as a "spending roughly X time" template.
Meaning: Verb て-form + くる (come doing / have been doing up to now) or いく (go on doing / continue into the future) — marks an action continuing through time, either forward from now or backward from the past.
In Text: 引っ越してきたので (because he moved here — toward the speaker); チェックしてくださいね (please check it out — the checking comes back to the speaker); 来てた (they were coming — toward the speaker in the past); 始めたり (started doing — the action goes outward).
Note: N4. Both 〜てくる and 〜ていく are textbook grammar but their casual-speech use is different — they function as aspect markers rather than physical direction. Self-learners who only learn ていく as "physically going while doing" (歩いていく = go on foot) miss the timeline function entirely. In this episode, Layla uses てくる to describe Jack's move (引っ越してきた) — the movement is toward her location. Shadow the 「〜てくる + result」 chain; it's the standard "X happened (toward here), so Y" narrative frame.