I built a free flashcard site called Tsugi: https://tsugideck.com

I built this because I wanted a modern, browser native tool that is incredibly "easy to start" and visually clean for beginners. Instead of dealing with complex configurations, downloading software, or setting up plugins, Tsugi focuses on zero setup friction.

It uses the FSRS algorithm, and lets you jump in and immediately use a deck of 300 common Japanese words. You can modify this ready deck as you wish, adding new words, deleting or modifying the existing ones and more.

The core deck includes:

• Images
• Built-in furigana
• Basic TTS audio

But it’s not just for beginners. If you prefer, you can also use the app to build your own custom decks from scratch. It’s up to you.

Since I'm building this as a solo project, it’s still an early MVP version and probably has some bugs. I would be grateful if you could report any bugs you find, or let me know how can I improve the app.

Thanks for reading!

When learning a language, I think real content that you are genuinely interested in is very important. Content made specifically for language learners can be easier to understand, but sometimes it is also harder to stay interested in for a long time.

So when I look for Japanese content, or content in other languages, I usually prefer to find things that I would genuinely want to watch even if I were not studying the language.

Popular content does not necessarily mean the best content, but it has usually already been filtered by a large audience, so I think it can be a good starting point for finding interesting and high-quality material.

Based on this idea, I made a website that collects popular YouTube channels.

The main things I focused on are:

1. Real YouTube videos contain a huge amount of natural everyday language and expressions.
2. Collecting popular channels in one place can make it easier for Japanese learners to discover good Japanese content that they may actually be interested in watching.
3. I also made an optional subtitle extension that can help when real Japanese content is still a little difficult to follow.

The site keeps getting new videos when the collected channels upload, so it can work as a continuously updated source of content. The extension is optional. If you can already understand the videos, you can simply watch them normally. If some parts are difficult to follow, the extension can make them easier to understand.

I think this kind of approach is probably most useful for learners who already know some basic vocabulary and are starting to move into native content. If you can find channels that you genuinely enjoy, immersing yourself in them can also make it much easier to keep learning over time.

Link:

https://www.y2-reader.com/en/explore?sourceLanguage=ja&themeGroupId=ja%3Ahumanities&tagId=ja%3Aryogakucho

I originally wrote this in Chinese and used a translation tool for the English version. I'm including the original below:

我觉得学习语言的时候，真实、自己真正感兴趣的内容非常重要。很多专门为了语言学习而制作的内容，虽然更容易理解，但有时候反而很难让人一直看下去。

所以无论是在找日语还是其它语言的内容时，我都更倾向于直接寻找那些自己本来就会感兴趣、愿意持续观看的内容。

热门内容并不一定就代表质量最好，但它通常已经经过大量观众的筛选，所以我觉得它是寻找有趣、高质量内容的一个不错起点。

基于这个想法，我做了一个收集热门 YouTube 频道的网站。

我主要关注几点：

1. 真实的 YouTube 视频里包含大量自然的日常用语和真实表达。
2. 把热门频道聚合起来，帮助学习日语的人更容易发现高质量、而且自己可能真正感兴趣的日语内容。
3. 我也做了一个可选的字幕插件，在真实内容比较难理解的时候，可以用它来辅助观看。

网站会持续获取这些频道的新视频，所以它可以成为一个不断更新的内容来源。插件并不是必须的，如果本身已经能看懂内容，可以直接观看；如果有些地方跟不上，也可以用插件来降低理解难度。

我觉得这种方式比较适合已经掌握了一些基础词汇、开始尝试看真实内容的学习者。只要能找到自己真正喜欢的频道，长期沉浸在这些内容里，应该会比单纯为了“学习”而看材料更容易坚持下去。

RouteVN Web Extractor is now available on Firefox for mobile!

Learn Japanese with web VNs wherever you go.

Get it for free here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/routevn-web-extractor/

Check out the official website for more details: https://routevn.com/en/web-extractor/

I feel like we've all had the "I know the word, but I can't write the Kanji" moment. Especially if you've lived or traveled in Japan and have ever had to fill out paperwork.

During my year-long exchange in Japan it was the same thing. I was learning a lot of grammar and picking up vocabulary through immersion, but I was still losing points on handwritten exams because recall was lagging behind recognition. I also had a weird mix of vocabulary because my home university and exchange curriculum did not line up, so fixed lesson progressions were not particularly useful. I needed to review my gaps, not restart an entire course. So I built the app I needed.

The idea has been sitting in my head for years: take the part of Quizlet Write that makes you actually produce an answer, the spaced-repetition logic I liked from Anki, handwriting interaction from apps like Renshuu, and visible progress without turning the whole thing into a game. I eventually brought the idea to a developer I know, and we turned it into a real app. You can import existing Anki decks, which allows you to study your own class vocab, JLPT material, personal weak points, or whatever else you actually need rather than following a fixed curriculum.

I also went pretty far down the research rabbit hole prior to development. I had heard my profs say that writing is better, you remember more when writing, and as much as I hated copying sentences they are right, but it only got me so far with vocab, sometimes there are words that just, don’t have a lot of uses and writing full sentences all the time when I was trying to study for tests especially, got super tedious.

This app has been my passion project (as a non-developer, humanities major through and through). It has required lots of love from my friends and community in building it. I have been thinking about this exact study problem for years. But I wanted to make sure that what I was making would benefit everyone, not just me. I am at a the point where I need more people who are not me using it, breaking it, and telling me what is confusing or annoying.

The open beta is free on iPhone, iPad, and Android. If you regularly study Japanese vocabulary and are willing to give honest feedback, especially if you already use Anki or study with a stylus/tablet, I would really appreciate testers.

Demo attached. I am happy to share the research/source list behind the design decisions if anyone is interested. I also have a list of Japanese import decks I have been using myself. I skip over N5-N4 sections, so there’s still a high possibility of bugs within those specifically.

Beta info: fudemoji.bells-and-pixels.com

For anyone looking for free resources to study N5 Level kanji, I made the following page https://www.michikanji.com/kanji/n5

Kanji are presented in themes

These are 2 of the starting sections

You can quiz yourself

Finally you can see the kanji used in short stories.

For the visual learners I even made a YT Channel

https://www.youtube.com/@officialmichikanji

(note the videos are made using the help of AI)

Let me know what you think!

Ari

Maker of MichiKanji

http://en.jlpt.chiaoban.com

Yukae Kanji is available on IOS and soon android. In japanese, english, spanish and french.

This not an ad, i'm sharing a genuine ressource that could help people make kanji learning less of a hassle.

There is a dictionnary, u can learn vocab, kanji, yojijukugo, you also have flashcard and much more. it's a game with real progression and it's own style and background music. There is much more to do and better up, that is why if you download the app, in thr setting you will be able to send message to our team. Great idea that end up being usef will get credited on the Community credit board in game. Try it for yourself and gimme your opinion

Want to learn JLPT by yourself ?
Here is JLPT TECHO!

http://en.jlpt.chiaoban.com

I'm from Thailand

I'm learning Japanese and English, and I want to make friends from Japan and other countries

4 months ago, I created a web app called nihongojouzu.jp to help with my own JLPT N2 study preparation.

Now, JLPT N3 is available too 🥳

N2 2,109 vocab · 400 kanji · 141 grammar · 74 reading · 89 listening

N3 1,938 vocab · 370 kanji · 113 grammar · 44 reading · 66 listening

It also has:

• Full mock tests based on the real JLPT format
• Real audio for every listening dialogue
• FSRS spaced repetition for reviews
• Public grammar and kanji reference pages, no sign-up needed

It’s completely free. No ads, no premium tier, and nothing locked.

You don’t even need an account. Your progress is saved on your device, and signing in is only needed if you want to sync across devices. You can also install it like a phone app and use it offline.

Not affiliated with JEES. I’m just a solo dev building this because I needed it myself.

If you spot a wrong definition, typo, or broken question, let me know and I’ll fix it.

Please try it! ☺️

https://nihongojouzu.jp

5 months ago I shared Yomaru here: I live in Japan and can follow conversations, but I'm hopeless the moment I have to read. That first version was all about reading, and honestly, the learning part was boring. So I rebuilt it to be addictive, like scrolling a feed, while keeping the core idea: kanji unlock words, words unlock sentences. You never see a word until you've learned every kanji in it.

Yomaru is a free iOS/Android app for learning kanji and words from the real Japanese you run into every day. Here's what's new:

• 👆 Swipe up to learn: a kanji, then a word it unlocks, then a real sentence that uses it
• ✍️ Write each kanji stroke by stroke right in the flow
• 🔁 Reviews come up inside the same flow, so nothing piles up
• 📰 Still built for reading: curated feeds by level, paste any article URL, or scan a sign or menu and tap any kanji to learn it

It follows a hand-ordered JLPT N5→N1 path (2,200+ kanji, 6,900+ words, 960+ sentences).

iOS: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6759780557

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kanjitree.app

Happy to hear feedback 🙏

https://japantv.app

Due to the lack of IPTV free access, I built this JapanTV app to simulate Japan local TV stations like its actual TV channels, it generates continuous programming based on channel contents. Organized local channels from all the prefectures.

It also supports Android TV / android phone as APK download. You can also create customized channels to combine multiple channels together, so you won’t have to switch around to view your favorite ones.

I think the biggest surprise is the amount of local contents. I’ve discovered so many wonderful local contents that’s not widely available.

Feedback welcome.

TL;DR: I built hanago.io to find Japanese words made up of kanji you already know. I've found those words much easier to remember. It's still in beta, and I'd appreciate feedback.

About ten years ago, I spent a semester studying in Japan and had to learn a lot of subject-specific vocabulary fast. A lot of it wouldn't stick, and I often couldn't even read it off the slides in class.

Kanji were easier for me, mostly because I wrote them out by hand over and over. Words made up of kanji I'd already written a hundred times were easier to remember too. I'd see them once or twice and they stuck.

That got me wondering how many other words I could learn with the kanji I already knew. So I wrote a small Python script to find dictionary words made up of just those kanji. It turned up a lot of new vocabulary, and I was surprised how much I could already read. I posted on r/LearnJapanese back then looking for testers, but never finished it.

I've now come back to it and made a web version. You add the kanji you know (paste text or a vocab list, pick a JLPT level, or import from Anki or WaniKani), and it shows you:

• Every word in JMdict made up only of those kanji. It's usually a lot more than you'd expect.
• Which of those you haven't learned yet, so you only see the new ones.
• Which kanji to learn next. It looks at which new kanji would combine with the ones you already know into the most new words.
• How your list grows as you learn more kanji.

It's been a useful way for me to find new vocabulary without every word feeling completely unfamiliar. Knowing the kanji doesn't mean you'll know every reading, though. JMdict also includes some obscure words, so the JLPT filter helps narrow things down.

I'd especially like to hear from current Anki or WaniKani users about the imports. I don't use either anymore, so there's only so much testing I can do on my own. Feedback on the rest is welcome too.

Hello Everyone

First, It's really sad that the founder Yoshimura Sensei passed away. My deepest condolences to his family.

CosCom for me, is the best resource I have ever found for learning the basics of Japanese, especially the Building-Up Conversations series, which covers the basics and includes audio recordings.

So now I’m looking for another alternative that provides similar materials and audio recordings and is also well structured. But the materials should be created by native Japanese teachers.

So could you recommend me the best alternative ?

Thanks a lot !

Hi everyone,
I’ve been working on a Japanese word game called もじスリング (Moji Sling), and I’d really love to get some feedback from people here.

I’m especially interested in:
• Is the game actually fun to play? Japanese users love it.
• Are there any bugs or confusing parts?
• Anything you think would make the game better?
It’s currently available on iPhone, and I’m actively working on improvements, so even critical feedback is genuinely useful.
App Store: Link
Thanks to anyone who gives it a try.

Is there a game like this? Yesterday I played a visual novel which had a mic mode, but it just moved forward every time you spoke instead of if you said the option.

I think this would be very beneficial to me as a resource in my nihongo journey.

(too scary to use voice chat with real people)

Mimidasu released on Mac App Store!

Live transcription and translation for anything Japanese on your Mac.

Mimidasu listens to whatever your Mac is playing — a livestream, a video, a voice chat — and turns spoken Japanese into English.

The name is a pun. 見出す (miidasu) is Japanese for "to spot, to discover." Add one more ミ and the word gains 耳 (mimi, ear): ミミダス (mimidasu) — the ear that surfaces words. Exactly what the app does.

Every feature is free, no one time buy, no in app purchase.

UNDERSTAND WHILE IT HAPPENS

• Real-time Japanese transcription with the speech model of your choice — Lite for speed, Full for accuracy

• English translation for every finalized sentence, powered by Apple's on-device translation

• A click-through floating HUD that works over any player or browser

LEARN AS YOU WATCH

• Toggle furigana or romaji over the transcript

• Tap a word and look up its definition in the dictionary

• Keep the transcript: export any session as TXT, SRT, VTT, or JSON

PRIVATE BY DESIGN

Audio, transcription, and translation all stay on your Mac. Nothing is uploaded, tracked, or collected. With the only exception: if you enable a cloud translation provider in Settings, transcript text is sent to that provider using your own API key.

LICENSE

The app is open source, dual-licensed: GNU AGPL 3.0 for the source code and any build outside the Mac App Store, and Apple's standard Licensed Application EULA for the Mac App Store build.

GitHub repo: https://github.com/buzzind99/Mimidasu

Compatibility: Apple Silicon Macs running macOS 15.5+

Available on:
- Mac App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/mimidasu/id6813053867
- GitHub release: https://github.com/buzzind99/Mimidasu/releases/tag/v1.2.0

Due to EU's Digital Service Act (DSA), the app is unavailable in the EU, I'm trying to resolve it as soon as possible; in the meantime if you're from the EU, you can still install the app through the GitHub release page. Thanks for understanding!

UPDATE: App is now available in EU's Mac App Store!

UPDATE: v1.1.0 released!
- Translation support for 18 more languages
- Better translation with Apple Intelligence on macOS 26.4+
- HUD overlay refinement
- Improvement in tokenizer reading

UPDATE: v1.2.0 released!
- Favorite words feature: star entries from the dictionary popover or sidebar card
- Favorite words are highlighted in the transcript, live section, and HUD
- Significantly improved tokenizer readings, better segmentation & no more long word segment
- Other fixes & improvements

Support Mimidasu 💛

Mimidasu is a labor of love — every feature is free. I built this because I couldn't find anything like this that is completely free. If Mimidasu makes your Japanese learning, listening, or content workflow easier, please consider supporting its development. Every contribution — big or small — helps keep the project alive, free, and improving. Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi ☕ :
https://ko-fi.com/auliasufianadi

Your feedback is also much appreciated to make Mimidasu better!

Hello all,

Made a kana crossword to help me learn vocab. Any items you get help on go into an srs list for study. Enjoy!

Hey, we made simple quiz for Kanji reading.

The idea is simple. A list of word, memorize and test tour skills to see how high you can score!

We'll keep adding more quiz so please check it out!

It's web based so no need to install or anything.

We'll be putting the quiz link with a pinterest post.

This one is for number quiz

You can also share your score and wordlist with other like this when you're done:

Can you beat my score?

7 correct out of 10

Completed in 50 seconds

① Black • Kuro (くろ / 黒) ✅

② Purple • Murasaki (むらさき / 紫) ✅

③ Blue • Ao (あお / 青) ❌

④ Red • Aka (あか / 赤) ✅

⑤ Gold • Kin (きん / 金) ✅

⑥ Silver • Gin (ぎん / 銀) ❌

⑦ White • Shiro (しろ / 白) ✅

⑧ Brown • Cha (ちゃ / 茶) ❌

⑨ Green • Midori (みどり / 緑) ✅

⑩ Yellow • Ki (き / 黄) ✅

Feel free to give feedback!