Michael, enough already. I’ve been listening since the very first episode, and I’ve always loved the deep, niche perspectives you both bring to the discussion. The topics are excellent, and I’ve genuinely enjoyed how fact-based and insightful the conversations are. It’s also been a great way to learn English and understand different aspects of society. But honestly, Michael’s occasional irritated and dismissive attitude toward Mami, along with his increasingly biased takes, is becoming unbearable. I’ve noticed it before, but lately, it’s been harder to ignore. The balance that once made this podcast great is starting to tip, and it’s disappointing to keep listening.

Michael is so unpleasant to listen to any more. He doesn’t show any respect for Mami and has some seriously questionable takes. I have listened to this podcasts for years but it’s done.

They are not cool people anymore Such a double standard, exactly same as U.S. government So disappointed

HUGE entertainment. Listening the self-denying woke Mami converse with the godless libertarian hippie Michael is not only hilarious, but of great educational value. A rare find of real conversations, most valued for language study. I passed JLPT2 thanks to you two liberals 😂 Even conservative Christians love your podcast. Fan for life! Love you both!

Hi, I like the format and topics and occasionally purchase the transcripts when there’s a lot of vocabulary I find interesting. Lately your guys podcast is really quiet though. I have to turn up the car radio and then other notifications are really loud or when a podcast comes up after yours I get a jump scare.

Love you guys

何年も前から聞いたり聞かなかったり、ゆるくリスナーです。 トピックも面白いし、自由に自分の意見を言ってるのも好き。 人生を重ねてお二人の雰囲気も変わっていってると思う。特にまみさんの病気結婚出産子育てを通して、その時々の考えが興味深い。今後も是非続けてね！

In episode 470 you can feel how uncomfortable the girls are with the American asking very strange questions. Not sure who this guy is but he really doesn’t belong on podcasts with his delivery and the questions he asks.

I’ve been listening to this podcast for years, and when I started I barely understood anything Mami said but it was great to get my ears used to listening to spoken Japanese. Now, years later with N2 under my belt, I understand a majority of the conversation and I enjoy listening just for the interesting topics discussed. This podcast is close to my heart and I’m grateful it’s been around so long!!

I have listened this podcast for over 5 years. The topics they choose are very insightful and interesting:). The greatest point is they have no sponsors because they want to speak freely without any concern how they are looked by public. I love Mami-san, Michael, and their talk!

More than a resource to learn Japanese or English per se, it’s just a fun and informative podcast sometimes biased but definitely it is entertaining to listen non experts sharing their thoughts on current topics.

I’ve been a listener for many years and subscribe to the transcripts/homework. It’s genuinely one of the few podcasts I look forward to each week, especially during this pandemic. It hits a lot of the right buttons: a casual conversation about Japanese language and culture, current (international) news, science news, and pop culture. The hosts are open-minded and balance each other out well. They invite various specialists on every so often, which adds another dimension. Highly recommended

Overall, I really enjoy and appreciate the podcast. But I was extremely frustrated with the most recent guest. Mami was largely ignored and it devolved into an echo chamber for his conservative liberal basing at times, which was disappointing because I usually enjoy hearing the hosts discuss things from various sides. (I have libertarian tendencies myself, but I appreciate nuance over dogma.) I love and appreciate you guys, but please be more selective about your guests.

Just giving a shout out to both M&M for keeping things real. I’ve been listening since 2013 and I really appreciate how you guys have been so consistent in this format + personalities. Please don’t do the show for anybody else but yourselves, keep it up the good work!

The format is great and helps you develop your listening comprehension. But the male host, Michael, I believe, has a tired voice and is extremely boring to listen to. Plus, he seems to have a very biased position on many topics. I wish he were a bit more neutral or admitted other positions as well. The lady, though, does a great job and is easy to listen to. Also. It would be great if episodes were shorter. It is hard to find an hour and a half just to listen to a podcast.

I don’t know why but this podcast used to be way better before. I feel like it lost its appeal somehow, probably after Mami’s marriage? I am sorry I had to be honest. But it’s still a good one, though.

michael reads as a republican (or like a libertarian) tho which is unfortunate

I love this show and it’s hosts. Their carefully curated content is informative and stimulating while helping to enrich my Japanese vocabulary. They have the occasional guest which spices up the content now and again. I would recommend the transcript app of the same name, it will help you review and see written what you may miss during the episodes. Give them a listen!

I really love this podcast and love the transcripts. I just wish it were easier to maneuver through the transcript. Right now I only seem to be able to copy one word or in blocks but can’t slide to copy just certain areas. Also if the transcript moved along with the listening it would be awesome. Printing formatting would help too so I could make the print smaller and not have to print 100 pages! Just some suggestions but still love it!

This is about as good of a resource as I’ve found for practicing my Japanese listening. The fact that it is half in English allows me to get back on track if I get lost. Sometimes the stories can err on the technical/jargony side, such that even in English I can’t really make full sense of it, let alone try to process and pick up vocabulary in Japanese. My biggest complaint would be that occasionally during discussion both hosts will converse in English, with no Japanese - which defeats the purpose of the podcast for me. But, I do appreciate that they are putting out this content, and I will keep using this to sharpen my language skills.

I love this podcast for supplementing my Japanese studies. I’m genuinely confused by all of the Michael hate though. New male host? Whhhhat? No way. I love him! Some of his comments makes me laugh so hard (the choking on gum episode...have you heard this one?!) A+. I listen to it occasionally with my older kids around who can handle an occasional swear word. They enjoy it and the topics as well. The accompanying app for transcripts is so, so helpful. I’m happy to subscribe and support this amazing podcast!

I love-love-love the format of this podcast. I need to get better at understanding the news in Japanese, and I think it’s great to have a short news story to ‘study’, followed by the kind of fun, natural conversation you get from friends discussing it. However, Michael seems really arrogant and lacking in empathy, which is hard to listen to. I don’t care if a person has opinions that differ from mine, but it’s frustrating listening to Mami try to explain something to him while he spends the whole episode running his mouth and ignoring her. Their most recent episode (351) was really hard to listen to because of this. Most of the other negative reviews here seem to be due to his attitude as well. It’s a shame, because this show could be amazing if he added a touch of humility to his delivery. I hope it gets better. I really want to like this one.

One of the frustrating parts of this podcast is the host Michael, who seems to revel in his ignorance for current events by arrogantly pushing false narratives, especially his lapdog tendencies towards characters like Elon Musk. The most recent episode, the November 14th 2018 one, was especially egregious, beginning with his criticism of a movie for a game series that he quickly revealed he had no actual knowledge of. At the moment that he then began pushing a false narrative of the CNN/Trump conflict by describing a doctored video pushed by the White House as truth that I decided to unsubscribe from the podcast. The concept of the show is interesting, and has some benefit to learning conversational Japanese, but the personality of the English speaking host is absolutely horrible.

I really enjoy listening to Bilingual News since it’s often hard to find things like this even with the internet. I’ve actually listened for a couple of years, but am only getting around to posting a review now. Besides helping with my listening comprehension, I often learn new vocabulary in Japanese from listening to this. I studied Japanese at college as well as on my own and this is one of the resources I continue to use. Actually, I think it helped me score higher on the JLPT’s listening comprehension section (N2 level). I enjoy the normal podcast as well as the guest speakers they invite. I learn a lot of news from this podcast that isn’t covered by mainstream media and highly recommend it to my friends for Japanese/English listening practice. Please keep up the great work!

Bilingual News offers natural, thoughtful conversations about a range of different subjects, and I feel like I'm really able to develop my vocabulary and gain more familiarity with the rhythms of real conversation. It's really difficult to find material that hits the right register - the news is always too formal and tv series often have either incredibly unnatural dialogue and/or focus too narrowly on the language of romantic relationships. Michael & Mami seem super cool. I love how they can just riff off of one another and have such expansive conversations about everything from terrorism to vaginal steam treatments.

I love listening to this show, but Michael saying that Pizza Gate is true and always badmouthing liberals is quite annoying. Let's be less biased!

Amazing for Japanese learning but also just for finding out about really really cool things. Even if you never wanted to hear Japanese again, I'd recommended it for the English half of the content alone. I like the fact that the show isn't purely news, and that Michael and Mami offer their own opinions. I don't think EVERY show purportedly about news should strive to be objective and offer no point of view. The discussion is fun and engaging even when my perspective might differ. Those who want something more censored and less spontaneous should look elsewhere. Here is the opportunity to listen to truly casual conversation in Japanese —something i haven't found in any other podcast. I only wish there was a place to contribute my input to stories I know more about. It would also be cool to be able to submit designs for the show's LINE stickers and shirts! I know they have a Facebook page, but I don't … f^_^;)

The format is good and the world desperately needs more shows with this idea. They have enough following to be a really good show. However, the show really needs cleaning up - for a top show it is far too unprofessional: 1. Swearing for swearing sake is extremely unprofessional and you owe your audience more respect. I have bi-lingual children and the show is not kid safe. This is a shame since it would benefit many bi-lingual families to listen. 2. Excessive inane banter by the hosts. Too much biased opinion based commentary compared to actual news reporting. Some opinion is OK, but the show drags out far too long to the point where I just can't stand listening to the hosts jabber on any further. 3. Host often spout out facts with insufficient research. Lots of ad-hoc facts are given that are just plain wrong or based on misconception.

All of the commentary is very libertarian, anti-religion, etc. Which would be fine, but 75% of the podcast is discussion of the news, not the news itself, so it becomes a highly opinionated (and one-sided) discussion. I may keep listening to it just for the bilingual way of approaching a given topic, as it’s really helpful for lower intermediate/upper beginners, but Michael seems really forceful in asserting his position and Mami just kind of acquiesces. A shame!

Can't believe it's on top 10 podcasts in Japanese i tunes store. It's too informal and casual. I enjoy it, though.

走る時にいつも聞いています。毎回、更新されるのがすごく楽しみで、月曜日と木曜日は必ずアイポッドを更新しています。バイリンガルニュースに出会ってから、走るのも更に楽しくなったし、一人ではこんなにバラエティのあるニュースに出会えなかったので、本当に感謝してます！いつもありがとう！！

I really love listening to your podcast, especially conversations and comments you guys have. It's casual, easy to understand, and interesting. I'm a Mongolian and had been living in Japan for a year, and I'm in the US now. 最近日本語をあまり使わないのでだんだん忘れてきています。 Keep going!

It's like chatting with my friends on random topics. The hosts share very interesting news.

Your podcast was a godsend during my 20 hour cross-country drive. Made the time fly by. Entertaining and informative. Definitely recommending ya'll to my ryugaku-students as a study tool! Love you guys!

As an American learning Japanese in Japan, I often struggle with finding new & interesting content to listen to. Bilingual News is a breath of fresh air. Keep up the good work :)