Kawanishi sensei is one of the best professor you can find on UCLA. Class is really interesting and she is also very helpful. Although there might be a lot of work, it is still doable. Recommend this class if you want to enjoy learning Japanese.

I have taken J1, and J2 with Kawanishi and it is really all the same. Lot of homework, two weekly assignments and quizzes almost every week. Honestly the homework and the vocab quizzes are not really that hard. She is always very straightforward with how and what she will test you on so you always know what you have to study :) I did take this class during the pandemic and online so maybe the in person would be run different but she used slides and posted them online. Discussions were going through the exercises in the textbook in breakout rooms and watching videos which I assume would not be watched in in-person discussions. My TA Price was always patient and explained things nicely. She gave her insight on her experiences learning and living in Japan. I would recommend getting a buddy in the class so you can practice talking to each other because it gets kind of hard to just think in japanese and understand the question in speaking tests just on your own. Please take the class with Kawanishi she is the sweetest and is always very understanding of circumstances and will work with you! Also attend office hours for extra speaking practice :)

Professor Kawanishi is a teacher that evidently shows her care for ensuring she teaches the students the material properly, going into good detail, being welcoming to questions and explaining things very well. However, the biggest issue with the class is within the curriculum, which is somewhat disorganized and set up on CCLE homework assignments and a PDF textbook designed by UCLA. The textbook isn't really always explained in depth regarding the grammatical points - there seems to be a lot of nuances that aren't covered by the class or the textbook, and the homework has errors and varies drastically in difficulty. Beyond that, however, is also the extreme amount of work you must expect - with two weekly homework assignments and two to four weekly quizzes, this class is filled with work (not even considering the projects and additional assignments.) However, the class is rewarding, and Kawanishi-sensei is quite a good teacher and is understanding and usually clear.