Any particular recommendations for an intermediate Japanese learner?

Edit: Maybe "upper beginner" is a better fit. I dunno, self study is weird.

It really depends on what you like. I personally just found Japanese versions of what I liked watching in English (cooking shows, true crime, some comedy, let's plays). Interestingly I found a new interest in house makeover shows after I saw some completely insane makeovers on 大改造 (in one episode they put the entire house on rails and pulled it to the side temporarily in order to make new foundations).

The only thing I couldn't find an abundance of is long-form video essays -- it seems that (for whatever reason) that isn't something that Japanese YouTube audiences want to watch. TV shows make documentaries which are kind of similar but those are also fairly hard to find.

Self study is weird. I'm having a hard time finding good resources because I feel like the content is either too easy, not applicable by me, or completely impenetrable. I lack vocabulary and kanji knowledge to actually utilize grammar I've learned, but I also don't do well with rote memorization so I need material that's interesting and practical to learn with.

Yeah, for me my grammar is pretty weak, but I think my vocabulary is better. But I feel the same way about content. It's either too easy, really boring, or way too hard.

I was hoping for an easy win here. ;)

Nice! is there some purpose like career advancement or is it simply about pleasure and learning a new culture?

Just found it interesting to be honest. I might move there for a short time just to experience it, but I wouldn't plan to live there for the long term.

Impressive stuff, I hope you get to the level you want! keep at it.

I did similar with video games, playing them in a different language made me feel better about it.

Why not improve your local community instead of learning a foreign language?

My local community has plenty of foreign language speakers from migrant communities (myself included).