Language Barrier

I've been in Japan for about 3 weeks now and I feel my actual grasp of the Japanese language isn't progressing as quickly as I would want it, so I've been asking around for advice as to how to improve my language skills. So I will be taking their advice and let you know which one works.

Get a Japanese boyfriend/girlfriend/significant other(lol)

Read Japanese often and outloud

Do something involving the language that interests you (karaoke, manga, anime, etc!)

Strike up random conversation with the locals

Replace English words with Japanese words you already know and integrate it into your daily vocabulary

Make Genki book your bible, pray to it, worship it, and practice its teachings!

And I had to get the bike fixed today, because all the frequent nostaligic childhood bike rides along the river totally killed the back wheel *cough* or it could've also been because I accidentally rode onto gravel. Anyways! I went to get it fixed today and everything went pretty smoothly, the shop keepers were really helpful. Luckily I had written up a Japanese translation so I could say "can you fix the bike's wheel? it's flat, I think there's a hole in it." ( It was a lot more efficient and a lot less embarassing then just pointing to the back wheel and saying "dame desu! tasukete kudasai!" though that would be so much funnier.

Oh and on my way back I greeted an old lady and she started conversating with me but I had a hard time understanding her accent, so I had to give up the charade and told her that I wasn't Japanese and that I was actually an international student. She looked amused and smiled and said either "kowai"(scary) or "kawaii"(cute) but I'm going to go with kawaii because that will help me sleep better at night haha. Either way I did a little bow and thanked her and said goodbye. I'm socially awkward regardless of what country I'm in, or what language I speak :)