in order to take the "japanese language proficiency test" (JLPT), N2 level, i went from uppsala to stockholm. via bus-then-train it's about an hour, by car 30 min.

uppsala station

spår＝(train)track。ut＝out。gång＝go, time(s)。"out-go-(way)" —> = exit 。






energi＝energy。mellan＝between。mål(en)＝meal, goal。


sommar＝summer。böcker＝books。för＝for。alla＝all, everyone。smak(er)＝taste(s)。vagn＝wagon, carriage。tåg＝train。


tid＝time (as in "yuletide, ocean tide")。all time —> = always。rabatt＝discount。


stockholm station

what's this? i've no idea




「life-threatening over the train-tracks! don't go near fallen trees!」


kaffe＝coffee。pressbyrån＝convenience store name。




recept＝recipe, prescription。fri(a)＝free。läk(e)＝heal (old english: leech)。medel＝means, tool。heal-tool —> ＝medicine。










サラダバー（自分で作るサラダーの事）


bar inside the station


in the nordics, this kind of huge rotating door is really common


phone-charging station


blom(mor)＝bloom(s), flower(s)。


there were a lot of tourists compared to in uppsala. walking in the city, stockholm's foreigners weren't assimilated (everyone seemed to have only friends and clothes from their own countries, and not be able to speak swedish in uppsala almost everyone speaks bad swedish and has swedish friends) .


dryck＝drink。skräp＝trash/rubbish。




stockholm's underground trains

apparently the design of stockholm's underground is world-famous. not having time, i didn't really take any photos.


「welcome! pay by app, text message or card」




although stockholm's english was worse than uppsala's, there was english text absolutely everywhere. over half the ads, and texts on buildings, were in english.




swedish colours




underground map。karta＝map。


underground trains

「there's no crowding with the summer's most popular ride-attraction (= not many people take the subway even in summer)」


stockholm city



maskin＝machine。affär＝store。oden＝Odin。gata(n)＝street。damm＝dust。sug(a)＝suck(s)。are＝-er (thing/person that does an action)。dust-sucker = vacuum cleaner


「be nice! do NOT park your baby-wagon / bicycle here outside (the shop) thanks!」barn＝baby。vagn＝wagon, carriage。baby-wagon ＝pram, stroller。tack＝thanks。








itamae izakaya. 板前　居酒屋？


everywhere we looked there was slightly-wrong english. if stockholm loves english so much, why aren't they better at it than uppsala? ex：challange —> challenge, drop-in —> drop in, avalible —> available, later —> later on。


what's this bird called? we dunno






stockholm's air and streets were dirtier compared to uppsala's. even though it was saturday and sunday, even though it was summer, almost all the restaurants and stuff were closed. we found and entered the grocery store called "ICA", and it was narrow with dim lighting. we both thought "we're really glad to be living in uppsala...."


「friendily (= kindly) don't touch here, thanks!」








stad＝city。


SF=the name of a movie theater


riding the subway, we stayed over at my wife's cousin's place who lived nearby。the town's name is「brottby」（brott＝broken, crime。by＝town）。rekord＝record。värme＝warmth, heat.




trafik＝traffic。plats＝place, room。SL＝Stockholm's Local Public Transportation。


enkel＝simple, easy, disposable。biljett＝ticket。vuxen＝full-grown, adult。




traditional fence


these days you can't pay with cash on the bus, so people without the bus app / smartphones like us can buy tickets at convenience stores instead。




「vanilla ice latte. made from ecological (= organic), new-(= freshly)-roasted beans and fresh milk」. there was a library inside this convenience store but the entrance being right next to the cashiers, i didn't take any photos。


cousin's "hairless dog"! anytime we went for a walk with it someone'd stop and say "how cute! is that a hairless dog?"


cousin's house (i kinda took photos without asking)








the next day, we went to the stockholm uni where the JLPT was being held. since my eyes are bad i got a special (enlarged) exam paper and testing room. the exam-giver was super nice! and she was the teacher of my wife's gymnasium/highschool japanese teacher! this was the waiting room right outside the exam room. it seemed to be in the chinese-language department. (it's a shame but photos of the actual testing room weren't allowed)















my self-study for the test was like this: for three months i studied and, of course, took practice tests.




despite that, the practice tests and the JLPT's sample exams were easier than the real test. i felt that i didn't even know half the words on the test. what's worse, in the middle of the test my eyes started hurting so i couldn't concentrate and didn't want to read anymore.

pass or fail, this test was just insurance so i'd be able to find part-time work in japan more easily, so the result wasn't actually all that important. i got my results august 23rd and failed by 10 points:

　• vocab, grammar:　27 / 60　(19 to pass)
　• reading:　23 / 60　(19 to pass)
　• listening:　30 / 60　(19 to pass)
　• overall:　80 / 180　(90 to pass)