Mixi

Man, mixi is addictive. I think I check the footprints and journal comments as many times during the day as I check my email.

It's really fun, so much more fun than facebook, because it feels more interactive. People leave a lot of comments, and it's interesting to read what they have to say.

My Japanese writing really sucks, but I haven't been practicing much recently so I haven't improved much at all. Since I have started using mixi again I got to write a journal in Japanese almost every day, and while my grammar is not improving too much, it forces me to go look stuff up, both in my textbooks or in the dictionary, so at least there's more improvement than there was before. My friends on mixi sometimes correct my grammar too, which is really sweet of them :D.

I think using online communities is a great way to learn a new language—you get to interact with other people, and it's a very high motivator (can you even say that?).