I'm putting this under Japanese 1 so that people looking for a language to take will see this, but understand that I have taken 1 year of language under Ikeda (Japanese 1, 2,and 3).

I just finished my first year here at UCLA, and I can quite safely say that Japanese class was one of the only classes I looked forward to taking each day, especially discussion. Ikeda-sensei can be a very funny guy at times, and the discussions are a blast as you're kinda just sitting around and talking about random stuff while trying to learn a new language with all of your peers. Everyone was super friendly, and it was great having such a casual class that you could actively participate in with great peers that were trying to learn along with you, unlike say a normal GE where you just wanna get the notes for the exam.

Enough of that though, you're reading this to see what you'll be jumping into if you want to take Japanese over something more useful like Spanish or something. The biggest point I want to drive home with this review: this class is a TON of work. One way I liked to put it to my friends is that this class was just a "huge mental burden" across the entire year. Every week, there are 2 vocab and 2 grammar quizzes, 2 worksheets, reading logs near the end of the quarter, and even some essays to write every once in a while. Even though the work is always pretty easy, taking much much less mental effort than say trying to tackle some physics problems, it hangs over your head all the time; there's always something you need to study for tomorrow. I'm not sure if this is useful to anyone here, but that's why I'm glad I took this class as a freshman rather than as a junior like most other people in the class because I'm note quite yet super jaded from all the other GEs and work I have to do yet for my major, and I had lots of time to think about learning Japanese.

Ikeda-sensei can be a bit frustrating because his explanations can be quite lacking sometimes (e.g. his famous "It depends on the context" answer oof) but it's more often than not quite good. He also isn't the clearest communicator, often relying on sending messages through CCLE and not clearly stating in advance when certain due dates are.

Another really nice thing about this class is that you don't have to spend a dime on textbooks or any other material as the instructors create course packets for you as the kind of "textbook" for the class, which is really cool of them.

One tip: lots of the sentences on the homework and grammar quizzes are almost perfect copies of example sentences given in places like the course packets or discussion practices, you just have to go digging sometimes.

TL;DR: Japanese is a crapton of work, but classes can be really fun and casual, and Ikeda is a great guy to take it with. Be prepared to put in lots of time outside of class, read through and memorize the example sentences a lot.

The key to learning Japanese at this level is repetition. The reps at vocab, grammar, and kanji are all structured through the class design of homework, daily quizzes and the other assignments mentioned in another review. So Ikeda's class is pretty good at this.

They won't spend a lot of time drilling on hiragana/katakana though. Ikeda and his TAs expect you to pretty much teach yourself, which most dedicated students manage to do within the first week or two.

So once all the weaboos drop the class after week 3 because they realized the language is much more than just KAWAII ANIME talk, the class becomes much more bearable. Definitely requires a LOT of work remembering all the kanji characters and grammatical rules, but if you're willing to put in the work it's doable. My favorite part of the class was when these two guys who always sat in the very front row would always try to show off their "knowledge" of Japanese (asking very rhetorical questions or answer questions using vocab we haven't covered yet) and Ikeda Sensei just telling them their question was irrelevant or condescendingly correcting them. See ya'll in japanese 2!

For a beginner class, I'd say Ikeda was OK, but the homework and discussions are more crucial than the lectures themselves. It's these that will allow you to develop your Japanese a lot better. Ask your TA's a lot of questions since you will learn and understand the majority of the material in the discussion.

If you're like me and watch a lot of anime, grammar and vocabulary in Japan 1 should be fairly easy to learn with not a lot of practice; however, the Kanji is so, so important in the nine language courses, that you have to keep track and memorize each character (you will be tested on them, and you will be marked down in later assignments for not using Kanji).

The class is structured as follows...
-Five vocabulary quizzes (for the latter three, you must be able to write Kanji)
-Homework (due every discussion)
-5 Reading Logs (read assigned texts and write a "journal")
-Four Lesson quizzes (no Kanji required, just tests your grammar)
-A composition essay and recording (you need a recording, rough and final draft essay about yourself)
-Discussion participation (15% of your grade, go to each one)
-Final oral test (an interview) and a cumulative written test.

Stay on top of your grammar, and religiously practice writing Kanji on your homework from the get-go, and you will do well in this class.