Learn Japanese with The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House
Updated June 29, 2026
Yes, The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House is a B1-level pick for Japanese learners. A gentle Kore-eda series about a young cook in a Kyoto maiko house, with warm, slow dialogue around food and friendship. The calm pace makes it easy to follow for intermediate learners, with some Kyoto flavour.
- Difficulty
- B1
- Genre
- drama, slice of life
- Platform
- Netflix
Japanese words you'll hear in The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House
- ごはん
- rice, meal (romaji: gohan)
- 美味しい
- delicious (romaji: oishii)
- 京都
- Kyoto (romaji: kyouto)
- 作る
- to make (romaji: tsukuru)
- 友達
- friend (romaji: tomodachi)
How to learn Japanese with The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House
Install LingoBinge, set your language to Japanese, and play The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House on Netflix. LingoBinge swaps a few subtitle words into Japanese at your level, and you tap any word to translate, hear, and save it for spaced review.
Useful Japanese vocabulary
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Frequently asked questions
- What Japanese level is The Makanai?
- Around B1. The pace is slow and warm, though you will hear some Kyoto dialect. Graded subtitles help you enjoy the food and friendship dialogue while picking up words.