[andylaurel]

I here in Japan with near immersion circumstances.
Living with GF (until last week), speaking just Japanese.
Colleagues all speak to me in Japanese.
It's the best possible circumstances to learn Japanese.
Don't rely on this daily conversation to help you pass exams though, I just took the JLPT level 2 exam on Sunday, and although the listening section was easy, the reading was very hard for me. The kind of words that come up in articles just don't come up in daily conversation. Don't limit yourself to conversation only.