I think watching drama/or movies for language learning can be very beneficial, but there are some pitfalls we must be careful to avoid.  Many years ago, in order to further my Japanese language ability I started watching Japanese dramas on youtube. At first I thought they were not only cheesy, but actually rather silly. The first one I watched is so old now that I suspect most young Japanese people haven’t even heard of it! I often say as a joke that if I walked into a room of Japanese people and said ‘Kanji’ in a squeaky, girlish voice everybody in that room over the age of fifty would turn my way and say ‘Aaaahhh, Tokyo love story.’ Yes, the first drama I every watched was that one… 

Then I started getting hooked and watched all the dramas I could with the stars of yesteryear such as Matushima Nanako whom I fell in love with in a kind of adolescent fantasy way that suggests I may have had some kind of psychological trauma:) When I say I adore GTO, young people nod in understanding without realizing I am talking about the ‘old’ GTO which they have never seen. I liked some of Kim Takuya’s stuff, especially ‘Hero’ because I fell in love with the actress in that drama too! And then there is always Amami in ‘The Queen’s Classroom.’ I didn’t fall in love with her though. Sorry!

The trouble is that the more dramas I watched the more I started relying on English subtitles when available and only half listening to the Japanese because I was having so much fun. I have to say my general ability to hear fast Japanese improved to some extent but, in all honesty, it wasn’t effective studying.

I think mine was an extreme case, but the trap is there waiting for you. It is important not to spend time just enjoying dramas and movies. Rather, choose a small segment from something that you ‘really’ like and study it over and over with intensity.  Buy the script or listen to it and write it out yourself. If you need to, get a native speaker to check what you wrote so you don’t learn it incorrectly. Extract the idioms and look up other example sentences that use them in a dictionary. Try to use them in conversations. Ask your teacher on Cafetalk to explain things you don’t understand. Only after you have dome this kind of work should you give yourself a reward and just enjoy watching the whole drama or movie for fun.

What you want to learn from depends on your tastes and interests.  (Also keep in mind the differences between British and American English.) One of my favorite movies happens to be ‘Notting Hill,’ but I have no idea if you personally will enjoy it in the way I did, or if a classic ‘oldie’ like ‘Roman Holiday’ might be more to your taste.

For Japanese study I think the anime called ‘ヒカルの碁,’ the story of a young misfit who is possessed by the spirit of an Igo master from the Heian period and turns out to be an Igo genius in his own right is awesome. The story is profoundly moving (no interest whatsoever in the game is needed) and all kinds of styles of Japanese, from rough schoolboy to highly sophisticated politeness practiced by 名人　can be studied. On top of this, the manga are absolutely beautiful. They are truly representative examples of Japanese culture. Most Japanese people don’t know this, but almost all foreigners who play Igo in the west started after watching this anime. I don’t say this lightly. I have played thousands of matches against players all over the world and they always tell me this is the reason. If you think about it, that is quite shocking. In reality, one of Japan’s most influential cultural exports is not actually となりのトトロbut rather ヒカルの碁. A fact that the majority of Japanese people are not even aware of.

By the way, Matushima Nanako managed to develop from a cuddly model ‘actress’ into a very competent star over the years. Her performance in a drama about a housekeeper a few years back won prizes all over the world. Fortunately, I am now more in love with my wife than her!