This is a great time to be studying Japanese. Even living outside of the country, beginner students have access to a massive amount of native language content thanks to the internet, and they can even mine online video streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu to improve their language skills.

However, it's not enough to turn on any old Japanese show and let it run; this is a bit too 受動的 (judōteki, passive). Students must be more 能動的 (nōdōteki, active).

The best way to accomplish this is to turn off the English 字幕 (jimaku, subtitles) and turn on the Japanese closed captioning. In the U.S., this instantly culls the long list of available Japanese shows down to a smaller handful, which I have carefully reviewed for you, dear readers.