Japanese learning guides and Japan travel phrases.

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  Why People Quit Duolingo: 10 Reasons and What to Do Instead

  Streak anxiety, gamification limits, and what to add when you need more than one app.

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  Onyomi vs. Kunyomi: A Practical Guide

  What on'yomi and kun'yomi are, where they came from, when to use each, and how to stop guessing every time you encounter a new kanji.

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  25 Hotel Phrases

  Check-in, room requests, and handling problems at your accommodation.

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  25 Transportation Phrases

  Trains, buses, taxis, and navigating Japan's transit system.

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  25 Restaurant Phrases

  Reservations, ordering, dietary needs, and asking for the bill.

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  Japanese Keigo (Honorific Language) Explained

  Sonkeigo, Kenjougo, and Teineigo with clear examples, decision trees, and reference charts for all levels.

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New to Japanese? Start here

1. Learn Hiragana and Katakana, or Get Left Behind
2. Hiragana Stroke Order: Every Row, Animated
3. Hiragana vs. Katakana: When to Use Which
4. After Hiragana and Katakana: Your Japanese Learning Roadmap

Kana, first readings and a plan for what comes next.

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  Kana Quiz: Free Hiragana and Katakana Test

  See a character, give its sound. 20 questions a round, with your misses listed at the end.

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  Best Apps to Learn Hiragana and Katakana

  Seven kana apps compared on writing practice, mnemonics, quizzes and price, plus a 10-character test.

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  Hiragana vs. Katakana: When to Use Which

  Same sounds, different jobs. The rule for which script a word uses, and the exceptions that trip up beginners.

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  Hiragana Stroke Order: Every Row, Animated

  All 46 basic hiragana, one animated video per row, with the stroke count for every kana and the look-alikes to watch.

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  After Hiragana and Katakana: Your Japanese Learning Roadmap

  You finished the kana. Now what? Vocabulary, kanji, grammar, textbooks, and how to build a study routine that lasts.

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  Japanese Learner's Map: Interactive Roadmap from Kana to Fluency

  A full stage-by-stage roadmap from kana to JLPT N1 with an interactive map and quick level quiz.

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  Learn Hiragana and Katakana, or Get Left Behind

  Fast-track your kana learning, stop relying on romaji, and discover what to study next.

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  Japanese Learners' Top 10 Questions, Answered

  Methods, resources, apps, and study tips: common beginner questions with direct answers.

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  Hiragana and Katakana Charts

  Reference charts for every hiragana and katakana character, with practice.

Verb forms, particles, keigo and why kanji have several readings.

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  Wa vs Ga (は vs が): When to Use Each

  The core rule, five cases where が is required, ni vs de, and a 10-question quiz.

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  Homebrewed Nihongo: A DIY Guide to Japanese Language Tech

  What it takes to parse, look up, and render Japanese text in the browser with no backend: segmentation, furigana generation, and OCR tradeoffs.

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  Common Ichidan Verbs in Japanese: Full List with Conjugation Tables

  Ichidan verbs sorted by daily routine, thought, and giving/receiving, plus the eru/iru verbs that only look ichidan and the homophone pairs that trip learners up.

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  Japanese Keigo (Honorific Language) Explained

  Sonkeigo, Kenjougo, and Teineigo with clear examples, decision trees, and reference charts for all levels.

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  How to Introduce Yourself in Japanese & Refer to Others

  Master jikoshoukai with phrase-by-phrase guidance, a plain explanation of how pronouns work, and full examples for casual, university, and business settings.

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  Onyomi vs. Kunyomi: A Practical Guide

  What on'yomi and kun'yomi are, where they came from, when to use each, and how to stop guessing every time you encounter a new kanji.

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  What Is Furigana and How to Read Japanese With It

  Switch furigana on, off or to hover in a sample passage, and learn when to stop relying on it.

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  Japanese Verb Conjugation: Godan, Ichidan, and Irregular Verbs

  How to identify and conjugate the three verb groups, the stem every other conjugation builds from, and the eru/iru exceptions that trip learners up.

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  Comprehensive Guide to Building Japanese Vocabulary

  Peer-reviewed research on spaced repetition , sentence mining, frequency lists: a full breakdown of how to build vocabulary that actually sticks.

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  JLPT N5 Vocabulary List With Audio

  All 614 N5 words with reading, meaning and audio. Search, hide the meanings to test yourself, or download the CSV.

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  Why Does One Kanji Have So Many Readings?

  How onyomi, kunyomi, compounds, okurigana and word history decide which reading a kanji takes, with examples.

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  Two-Player Japanese Crossword (Together Mode)

  Practise JLPT vocabulary with a friend: share a link or a 6-character code and fill in the same N5 to N1 grid live.

Methods and research: shadowing, spaced repetition, reading, and why people quit apps.

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  How to Learn Japanese With AI: Prompts That Work and What to Check

  Five copyable prompts for practice and corrections, and what to double-check in a chatbot’s answers.

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  How to Do Shadowing in Japanese: A 10-Minute Daily Routine

  Five steps and six practice sentences with audio at normal and slow speed.

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  Japanese Speaking Practice Apps Compared

  Six apps compared on how you speak, the feedback you get, price and platforms.

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  Duolingo Alternatives for Learning to Speak Japanese

  What replaces each part of Duolingo for speaking, seven apps compared, and a three-question chooser.

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  Best Japanese Reading Apps for Beginners (2026 Comparison)

  YoMoo, Satori Reader, LingQ, NHK News Web Easy and Renshuu compared on price, furigana, lookups and level, plus a 10-minute daily routine.

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  JLPT N3 Reading Practice: Apps and Methods (2026)

  What the N3 reading section tests, which tools build reading volume, the exam methods that matter, and a four-week plan.

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  Why Read Real Japanese Instead of a Graded Textbook

  What textbooks can't teach you, and why "authentic" doesn't have to mean "unedited."

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  Shadowing for Language Learning: What the Research Actually Shows

  What neuroscience and classroom research actually say about shadowing: fluency gains, listening comprehension limits, and prosody training.

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  Why People Quit Anki: An Analysis of User Frustration

  Review pile overwhelm, ease hell, card creation fatigue, guilt cycles: what causes dedicated learners to walk away from Anki, with evidence-backed fixes.

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  A Beginner's Guide to Japanese Speaking Practice

  Common speaking challenges, confidence-building techniques, and how to build a practice routine that doesn't require a tutor on day one.

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  Making the Most of Immersive Japanese Reading

  How authentic texts deepen vocabulary, grammar, and cultural understanding, and how to pick material at the right level.

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  The Zone of Proximal Development and Language Learning

  Vygotsky's original ZPD definition , explained in plain terms: how to find the challenge level that accelerates fluency instead of stalling it.

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  A Practical Guide to Japanese Pitch Accent

  What pitch accent is, how important it actually is, and a practical approach to improving it without letting it derail your broader study.

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  Building Speaking Fluency with the EchoFluency Cycle

  A four-step method combining listening, shadowing, and output to build real speaking confidence.

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  Exploring the Roots of Spaced Repetition: The Leitner System

  The foundational SRS method that Anki is built on, explained clearly, with notes on deliberate use.

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  Why People Quit Duolingo: 10 Reasons and What to Do Instead

  Streak anxiety, gamification limits, and what to add when you need more than one app.

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Ready-to-say Japanese for hotels, trains, restaurants, ramen shops and konbini, plus the announcements you will hear.

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  Japanese Ramen Words: A Menu Dictionary

  62 words from ramen menus and ticket machines with kana, meaning and audio: noodle firmness, kaedama, toppings, broths and how to order.

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  What to Say Before and After Eating in Japan

  Itadakimasu, gochisōsama deshita, how to compliment food and what to say when you leave a restaurant, with audio.

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  Japanese Train Announcements, Explained Line by Line

  Tsugi wa, mamonaku, kono densha wa: nine train, platform, Shinkansen and bus announcements with romaji, English and audio.

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  Japanese Konbini Phrases: What the Clerk Asks You

  Every question at a convenience store register, in order, the two answers that cover them, and the katakana on the shelves.

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  20 Essential Phrases for Travelers

  Greetings, asking directions, ordering food, and getting through daily situations.

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  25 Restaurant Phrases

  Reservations, ordering, dietary needs, and asking for the bill.

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  25 Hotel Phrases

  Check-in, room requests, and handling problems at your accommodation.

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  25 Transportation Phrases

  Trains, buses, taxis, and navigating Japan's transit system.

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Neighborhoods, rainy days, useful apps and words that do not translate.

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  10 Local Osaka Experiences Most Tourists Miss

  Nishinari, Tsurumi Ryokuchi, Senbayashi, a neighborhood sento, an old kissaten and a supermarket dinner: ten ways to see everyday Osaka. Guest post by Reiji Tatara of TabiTrace.

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  10 Non-Touristy Tokyo Neighborhoods Worth Fitting Into Your Itinerary

  Off the main circuit. Near things you're already visiting. None of them require a queue. Honest crowd ratings, best timing, and nearest stations.

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  Tokyo on a Rainy Day: What to Do When the Weather Doesn't Cooperate

  Museums, covered arcades, underground malls, and the venues that are actually better in the rain. A practical list across the city.

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  Japan Travel Apps That Actually Matter (2026)

  Jorudan vs Google Maps, Tabelog's rating scale, real GO and Uber taxi fees, Suica on your phone, PayPay's tourist limit, and the one app worth installing before an earthquake.

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  Japanese Words With No English Equivalent

  Twenty Japanese words and phrases that are hard to translate cleanly, from お疲れ様 and よろしくお願いします to もったいない and 懐かしい.

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