Some nice translation tools...

According to several of my Japanese friends, this is the best online dictionary available. That said, it is far more useful to native speakers than non-native speakers. Still, this is a great "secondary" source to help when your primary source (e.g. WWWJDIC) leaves you unsure. Another strength is its sample sentences which really help figure out if a word is appropriate for your intended use.
• Eijiro on the Web (ALC)
This site is an absolute god-send for those studying Japanese! I live by it. Use it as a simple dictionary or use its much more advanced features which include:
- Translate (great for inputting an entire email sent to you in Japanese for example)
- Find Kanji (multiple methods)
- Handwritten Interface
- Mobile phone access
- Check out Kanji stroke order
• Jim Breen's WWWJDIC Dictionary Server
This is a great site! Enter the address of a webpage which has Japanese encoding into the URL box. In the Dictionary next to that, choose the type of translation you want to perform and hit GO. Now the new page will show pop-ups in English of the meanings of the words as you pass your mouse over them. Similar to Rikai.com - but maybe even better...

When you\'re at this site be sure to pick up the bookmarklets which lets you click a button on your browser toolbar to automatically call up the POPjisyo translated page from any page you are visiting - similar to the PetitKanji bookmarklets but useful for the whole page...

The site also has RSS/RDF word feeds that might be helpful in your studies...
• POPjisyo.com
The Reading Tutor was designed to help JFL/JSL learners improve their reading skills in Japanese. This system was developed specifically to help learners study written Japanese at their own pace, in their own way.

Here\'s what is in the toolbox to help you start reading Japanese or improve the skills you already have.

Dictionary Tool:
- Japanese-Japanese Dictionary Tool
Just click on the button marked "JP->JP" and you\'ll find all the words with an explanation in Japanese, their English equivalents, and furigana.
- Japanese-English Dictionary Tool
Click on the button marked "JP->EN" and you\'ll find all the words with an explanation in English, their English equivalents, and furigana.

Level Checker:
- Vocabulary Level Checker
Click on "Vocabulary" and all the words in a text will be analyzed according to their level of difficulty. These levels correspond to the 4 levels in the Japanese Language Proficiency Test.
- Kanji Level Checker
Click on "KANJI" and the Kanji (characters) that appear in the text will be analyzed according to their level on the Japanese Language Proficiency Test.
• Reading Tutor
This site is incredibly useful - just paste a URL or selected Japanese text, hit Go and you will see your page or text reproduced but with a twist - when you mouse over a word you will see a definition and readings for that word.

Note: POPjisyo.com offers more or less the same thing and is, apparently, an imitator of this site. You can\'t go wrong with either site, but I actually prefer POPjisyo a bit because it seems to include some non-Kanji words (not always accurate though). It also uses a different dictionary at its foundation which is sometimes better.
• Rikai
Another reason to migrate to Firefox - rikaichan, from Polarcloud.com , is a Firefox extension that displays a popup showing the English definition of Japanese words as your cursor passes over them.　Enabled/disabled with a simple right mouse-click rikaichan is the perfect companion when you browse the 新聞、朝日新聞　or 日経新聞　online. But there\'s more. Installing rikaichan puts a Lookup a Word item in the Tool menu - click it and a dictionary search box appears in your browser navbar. Sweet. rikaichan was based on Todd Rudick\'s excellent RikaiXUL, but is faster and easier to use. It uses the EDICT and KANJIDICT dictionaries. [courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]

Editor\'s Note: I LOVE this tool - it\'s more convenient than going to PopJisyo or Rikai.com and I have actually found it to be more robust in some ways...
• rikaichan
Babel Fish is a well-known site that will allow you to translate a block of text or a web page. I leave it to you to decide how accurate it is...
• Babel Fish Translation
Denshi Jisho is a web-based Japanese dictionary with word, kanji and sentence databases drawn from the WWWJDIC project. The site has a simple, clean design, but beyond that it also has a number of helpful features which make it more than just a pretty interface for Jim Breen\'s dictionaries.
1. search results also link to Example Sentences, Kanji Details, Goo Jisho, Yahoo Jisho, Google, Google Image, JeKai, JGram, Wiktionary and Japanese Wikipedia.
2. When you hover over search results a big, juicy magnified version appears, making it easier to read.
3. In the event your search returns no result, Denshi Jisho refers you to other dictionaries.
4. A "search by radical" function that is faster than the WWWJDIC server.
[courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]
• Denshi Jisho
This site lets you input a URL and then it will display it with furigana.

Editor\'s Note: with the development of tools like rikaichan I don\'t see a strong need for this site, but it may suit some people\'s tastes so I am adding it...
• Hiragana no Megane
With this online dictionary you can lookup the details and pronunciations of Kanji. Each Kanji is presented by a grade, a stroke count, an enlarging image with Kyokasho (Kyoukasho) font, stroke order, radical, English meaning, On-yomi (phonetic reading), Kun-yomi (native Japanese reading), the example of each reading, and special reading. Moreover, each Kanji has audio files so you can listen to the pronunciation of the reading(s), example(s), and special reading(s). These audio files are pronounced by native speaker of Japanese.
• Japanese Kanji Dictionary (with Sound)
JEDict is multilingual dictionary for Mac computers that is capable of searching any plain text files including:
* all Japanese-English dictionaries from Monash University FTP Archive.
* Wadoku JT (Japanisch-Deutsches elektronisches Wörterbuch).
* .DIC and .DZ dictionaries from BEDIC project.
* XDXF files.
* EIJIRO files (not free).

Originally JEDict was developed as Japanese-English dictionary, therefore it supports all conceivable methods of kanji lookup. JEDict has an internal text editor, multilingual user dictionary, JLPT list viewer and web browser with contextual word translation. [Hat Tip to Nihongojouzu.com]
• JEDict
This has similar functionality as Jim Breen\'s WWWJDIC (uses the same underlying dictionary files). I\'m not entirely sure of the differences but I think they are mainly just cosmetic so you can decide which you are more comfortable using. Someone correct me if there are in fact major functional differnces.
• Jeffrey's Japanese⇔English Dictionary Server
English speakers who study or use Japanese acutely aware of the lack of good, comprehensive Japanese-English dictionaries. The best paper dictionaries either are intended for native speakers of Japanese or list only words written in kanji. Free online dictionaries such as EDICT and Eijiro offer a good alternative, but because they provide only word equivalents, not explanations, their usefulness is limited.

In May 2000, a group of volunteers throughout the world began creating an open, free, online Japanese-English dictionary. The form and content of the dictionary are decided by the participants in the project. Among its features are the following:
- Definitions that explain the meaning of words as completely as possible
- As many examples as possible of each word in real contexts
- Photographs and other illustrations, especially for entries about uniquely Japanese things
- No restrictions on the type or range of vocabulary
- No restrictions on the length of entries

The dictionary has been named jeKai (je海), pronounced "jay-kai" or ジェーカイ.
• jeKai Japanese-English dictionary project
Typical features of a denshi-jisho (wa-ei, ei-wa, kanji, etc.) but accessible online. You can also add the dictionary functionality directly to your browser.

Note: this site is in Japanese
• Lycos Online Electronic Dictionary
The nciku Japanese Dictionary brings together three essential language learning tools: Japanese, English and Bilingual dictionaries to help you fully understand a word, with kanji details and audio pronunciation; an innovative handwriting recognition tool to help you look up Japanese words you see written down but don\'t know how to type; and a range of customized vocabulary lists and memorization tests to help you build up your vocabulary.

nciku comes from our Chinese name "n词酷", pronounced ncíkù (\'εn\'tsɪku / en-suh-koo). "n" stands for "next", while "词" means "word" and "酷" means "cool". cíkù is also the sound of "词库", which means "warehouse full of words".
• nciku Japanese Dictionary
This online dictionary site offers Chinesse, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Russian in addition to Japanese. Unfortunately, the E-J and the J-E pages are separate right now but otherwise it seems to work fast and offers sample sentences where available.
• Online-Dictionary.biz
Tagaini Jisho is a free, open-source Japanese dictionary and kanji lookup tool that is available for Windows, MacOS X and Linux and aims at becoming your Japanese study assistant. It allows you to quickly search for entries and mark those that you wish to study, along with tags and personal notes. It also let you train entries you are studying and follows your progression in remembering them. Finally, it makes it easy to review entries you did not remember by listing them on screen or printing them on a small booklet.

Tagaini Jisho also features complete stroke order animations for more than 6000 kanji.
• Tagaini Jisho
Tangorin is a free online Japanese dictionary and learning tool combining words and kanji search with example sentences and custom vocabulary lists. Tangorin includes 18 different glossaries and various look up methods.

Editor\'s Note: for an interview with the creator of the dictionary, see http://www.tofugu.com/2012/10/10/tangorin-interview/
• Tangorin 「単語林」ｵﾝﾗｲﾝ和英辞典
Peter Rivard has written an article about setting up a PDA to be a super dictionary.
• The Super Dictionary
Translating documents from desktop applications is always a bit difficult due to inadequate translating resources provided (if at all) by applications, such as, text editors, word processors and messenger application. Transmiti is a Google Powered portable application which is capable of translating text from any application. It can translate selected text or entire documents using a hotkey. You can either copy the translation to clipboard or replace the current text with the translation (if applicable). Transmiti supports translations to and from all languages supported by Google Translate. Transmiti is quite similar to the previously reviewed Linguarde, however unlike Linguarde, the pop-up window contaning the translation is quite stable and does not vanish unless you close it manually. Transmiti works from system tray and requires being launched whenever you require translating text. You can set translation preferences by double clikcing on system tray icon. The Settings tab allows setting the language in which the text is to be translated to. You can leave the Translate From option to Automatic, so Transmiti can detect the current language automatically. The Additional action drop down menu provides the option to either automatically copy the translated text to clipboard or to replace the current text with the translated text. The default hotkey for translating text is the Windows key, however, you can change it by selecting an alternative key from the drop down menu (e.g. F1). [AddictiveTips annotation]
• Transmiti
Enter the dictionary form of a Japanese verb and click the button.

Editor\'s Note: I haven\'t used the site yet, and based on the description the conjugation is based on a programmatic algorithm which may or may not be robust enough to do the job. But, it seems like a good addition to the online Japanese language learning universe.
• Ultra Handy Japanese Verb Conjugator
This online dictionary is "based off the Kenkyusha dictionaries. The English entries are good, but the Japanese entries are superb, breaking the word down into all of its potential meanings(including peripheral or metaphorical ones), cross-linking most of the compounds in its definition to other entries and in many cases giving example sentences. It is definitely more useful for intermediate and advanced students... It took a bit of effort to get used to reading the entries in Japanese, but after looking up a few lower level words, you can easily get a feel for how things tend to work. Cannot recommend enough." [annotation from Tanuki, commenting on Tofugu.com]
• weblio
Websaru.info is a free online Japanese learning resource dedicated in helping English speakers to get inside Japanese language and culture.

NOTE: doesn\'t appear to accept romaji input for Japanese to English or be as generally robust and useful as some of the others available.
• Websaru

Summary Notes from Courses I Have Taken

These are notes I compiled from my study at Nichibei Kaiwa Gakuin in Tokyo. They are from the school\'s second level course, B2 which is the second basic level grammar course (would be considered intermediate at many U.S. based programs).
• Nichibei Kaiwa Gakuin - B2S Notes
  Yookoso is a popular two-volume textbook that is used in many U.S. Universities\' Japanese language curriculum. Overall, they are solid books for learning the basic grammatical structure of Japanese but they are a bit heavy (literally not figuratively). Thus, I decided to compile the key points covered and make them available here on the Web. I hope you enjoy.
  
  Caveat: These notes have not been checked for accuracy by any professional Japanese language educator. Since they were transcribed from the textbooks directly they should be more or less accurate, but I make no warranties to that effect (and, hey, they\'re free!). Of course, please let me know if you find any errors.
• Yookoso - Book 1
  Yookoso is a popular two-volume textbook that is used in many U.S. Universities\' Japanese language curriculum. Overall, they are solid books for learning the basic grammatical structure of Japanese but they are a bit heavy (literally not figuratively). Thus, I decided to compile the key points covered and make them available here on the Web. I hope you enjoy. Caveat: These notes have not been checked for accuracy by any professional Japanese language educator. Since they were transcribed from the textbooks directly they should be more or less accurate, but I make no warranties to that effect (and, hey, they\'re free!). Of course, please let me know if you find any errors
  
  These notes correspond to the second volume in the series, Yookoso! Continuing With Contemporary Japanese.
• Yookoso - Book 2
  ビジネスのための日本語
  Getting Down to Business: Japanese for Business People (Lower Intermediate Level)
  
  The following pages are notes I took summarizing the key grammar, concepts and key phrases covered in my business Japanese class...
• Getting Down to Business: Japanese for Business People
  These notes are mostly a reproduction of the 文法ノート sections of the chapters in the textbook, An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese by Akira Miura & Naomi Hanaoka McGloin.
  
• An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese, Ch. 1-8
  These notes are mostly a reproduction of the 文法ノート sections of the chapters in the textbook, An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese by Akira Miura & Naomi Hanaoka McGloin.
• An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese, Ch. 9-15
  Notes from the textbook ビジネスのための日本語: Getting Down to Business: Japanese for Business People (Lower Intermediate Level) by Yoneda Ryusuke, Fujii Kazuko, Shigeno Mie, and Ikeda Hiroko
• ビジネスのための日本語
  A chart summarizing the causative, passive, passive-causative and natural potential verb forms - stolen from the excellent book, Making Sense of Japanese by Jay Rubin.
• Causative, Passive, Passive-Causative and Natural Potential Verb Forms

Special Study Tools

• Grammar Quiz

Random Kanji, Yookoso Kanji, & Vocabulary From Courses I Have Taken

• Cool Random Kanji Study Tool!
  
  
• Business Japanese Class Vocabulary
• Review Kanji for Yookoso Book 1
• Review Kanji for Yookoso Book 2
• Review Kanji for All Classes
  
  
• The Joyo Kanji - A Complete Table

These links should help in your studies

Blogs

Tae Kim, the author of the useful Japanese guide to Japanese grammar offers up this site. What you will find here are tidbits about Japanese that he hopes will be useful for those studying the language. He plans to separate posts into three major categories: Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. The beginner category will talk about the fundamental principles of Japanese such as particles, parts of speech, and simple expressions. The advanced category will cover things like formal language and various written expressions. Everything in between will go in the intermediate category.
• 3Yen
If you want to find out about the sights, sounds and experiences of daily life in Japan this vlog site is well worth a click. Nathan Miller offers up a steady stream of videos, most of which include subtitles.
• Bicycle-sidewalk.
Learn Japanese with our free Japanese lessons in podcast format. We use examples from anime and everyday conversation to teach you Japanese that is useful for everyday life. Hitomi-sensei is from Tokyo and will teach you to speak with the most common Japanese accent.
• Japancast.net
This website is the personal web journal of Paul Davidson, intended primarily as a place to jot down discoveries made during the course of learning Japanese and living in Nagoya, Japan.
• Japanese for Life
This blog by Mark Wehlack (a translator and interpreter who has lived in Japan for over 12 years) is for people who are interested in taking their Japanese to a higher level.

• JAPANITE
This site provides a widget that you can use to include a random kanji in your blog (or any website).
• Kanji My Blog
Don\'t let the full title fool you: "Osaka dialect 大阪弁 Japanese lesson in English" - Mayumi K\'s podcast is fully bilingual, with Mayumi speaking in Osaka-ben and then repeating the words in English. Along the way she also throws in vocab explanations and speaking tips. At 5 minutes a serve the podcast is a good length for repeated listens. The level is intermediate and it is a nice touch that Mayumi doesn\'t make concessions in her speech but zooms along at normal speed. Easy on the ears, useful content and full scripts on the accompanying website. Even if you aren\'t keen on speaking the Kansai dialect you should at least get accustomed to its features - who knows - you may even start enjoying manzai. Recommended. [courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]
• Mayumi K's Osaka dialect 大阪弁 Japanese Podcast
A blog that covers a variety of topics about learning Japanese with an emphasis on studying with the Nintendo DS.
• Naruhodo!
Will Jasprizza offers this informative and useful blog focused on topics relevant to learners of the Japanese language.

Editor\'s Note: this is one I read regularly myself.
• Nihongojouzu
zonjineko! is a little Japanese blog teaching...well....Japanese and also featuring photos from the author\'s trips to Japan.
• zonjineko!
Otokorashi (full title: 男らしい: For the questions that bug ya. Questions, commments, complaints about the ol\' nee-hon-go) covers grammar points aimed at people taking the JLPT Level 1 or 2, like the difference between わけではない　and わけがない、the various uses　for 気, how to use 限り、discussions of kanji compounds and advanced vocabulary. Very readable posts and informative comments. Worth a gander. [courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]
• 男らしい: For the questions that bug ya

Connecting

Meetup is an online service that allows people with similar interests to find each other and "meetup" to share those interests. This is the Japanese language page. Use it to find others interested in studying and practicing Japanese in your town.
• Japanese Language Meetup
This penpal/friendship forum specializes in contacts between Japanese and non Japanese people of any age for friendship, inter-cultural communication, language exchange, etc. A free japan-guide.com membership is required for participation.
• Japanese Penpals
"You can use JapaneseLearning.com Friends to meet new international friends, find pen-pals and language learning partners, or meet your ideal match!

We\'re the only service that will match you in THREE different ways, according to your Language Exchange, Dating, and Travel preferences"
• JapaneseLearning.com Friends
"This is the first site to actually host online language exchange practice, thus allowing you to find exchange partners from all over the world instead of only where you live.

We host your online language exchange by providing voice chat rooms, an online dictionary, proven lesson plans from a teacher specializing in language exchange practice and your own notepad to record new words and expressions."

NOTE: full ("gold") membership is not free.
• MyLanguageExchange.com
Site for finding Japanese housemates in Tokyo and Kansai. Also offers listing of language exchange mates.
• Sharese.com
The Mixxer is a free educational site for language learners and teachers to find a language partner for a language exchange. The language partner is someone who speaks the language you study as their native language and is studying your native language. The partners then meet online to help each other practice and learn a foreign language.
• The MIXXER
Find some a penpal, snail pal, language exchange partner, etc.
• World Friend Network - Japan

General

Koichi at Tofugu has come up with a list of ten things he really wishes he had known during the days of his youth that would have made my Japanese-learning life so much easier.
• 10 Things I Wish I Knew About Japanese Learning When I Was First Starting Out
This is a pretty basic site, but what makes it worth a studied visit is the "appendix articles" section. This section, designed with the intermediate student in mind, offers about a dozen articles that analyze and break down concepts that many beginning students find difficult to understand.
• Brian Rak's Learn Japanese Page
This site offers an excellent assortment of free-to-use online study materials, including:
- Japanese-English Quizzes in Romaji
- Japanese Kana Quizzes
- Kanji Study
- Words from Japanese Newspapers in Order of Frequency
- CGI Flashcards: Randomly Chosen Japanese Words for Reading Practice
- Matching Quiz: Words You Should Know
- Reading Japanese Signs
- Japanese Language Proficiency Test Vocabulary Lists
- more...

Try this site!
• Charles Kelly's Online Japanese Language Study Materials
David Hallgren offers various tools for studying Japanese, including:
- Hiragana and Katakana quizes
- various Kanji quizes and exercises
- vocabulary practice drills that cover the Genki textbooks as well as the JLPT levels 3 and 4
- a grammar database (currently in nascent stages it appears)
- a forum
- a kana editor (IE only supported)
• David Hallgren's Nihongo Website
An Internet Broadcasting Site developed by Richard Harrison in the Education Center for International Students, Nagoya University, Japan. Includes multiple lessons geared toward intermediate, advanced and superior levels.
• ECIS Internet Broadcast (インタネート放送局)
This site offers a variety of "courses" to help learn Japanese, including grammar, vocabular, kana, and multimedia. The site doesn\'t appear to offer original material, but rather acts as an aggregator for good content found elsewhere on the Web, which can be quite useful.
• eLanguageSchool.net
This site offers self-study exercises (requires Japanese input abilities) that correspond to the textbook, \'Genki - An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese\'.

The use of javascript technology for the study exercises is pretty cool, though it may not be obvious that from Lesson 4 on you have to hit the enter key (not enter button) after entering your answers.
• Genki Self-Study Pages
On this LiveJournal site you can post some Japanese text and ask for corrections, suggestions, etc. Or use it to post a grammar/vocabulary question. I haven\'t used it much, but a quick check looked like postings do indeed get quite a few responses so give it a try.
• Have Your Japanese Corrected by Native Speakers' Journal
Find various audio and text files with associated exercises covering beginners\', continuers\', extension and background speakers\' courses.
• HSC Online - Japanese Course Materials
This site is geared to helping you learn kanji, kana, and japanese vocabulary, with occasional articles about Japan thrown in. Menu items include:
- Kanji
- Kana
- JLPT vocabulary
- Games
- Lessons
- Reviews
- Downloads
- Culture
- Forum
- Blog

• japanese-kanji.org
Sixteen introductory Japanese lessons (for free) including pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary for each lesson. Also includes free online message board and link to a free Japanese/English dictionary online. Also has links to Japanese software and other useful Web sites.
• Japanese-Online.com
"JapaneseLearning.com came on line March 10, 2003. Before that time it was a little site I created in April 2002 during my last year of University called: Aaron Jones\' Japanese Learning Web. Now that I am done University I felt that I should expand and develop this site. So I then registered the name JapaneseLearning.com and started to redevelop the site. My goal behind this site is to create a free resource for Japanese Learning. My Degree is in Pacific and Asian Studies with Japan and the Japanese Language as my major focus for this degree. Right now the site is sponsor driven and I would like it to keep it that way, so please support the adds on this site and purchase your Amazon.com items, other items through the links and the storee on the site. I currently live in Japan and because I am here I can now give good and accurate content to the users of JapaneseLearning.com
Thank you for visiting the site and come back often!"
• JapaneseLearning.com
JOSHU (Japanese Online Self-Help Utility), is a word that literally means "assistant" or "tutor" in Japanese, which is what this website attempts to be to anyone interested in learning the Japanese language. The goal of this project is to create a dual-purpose web-based Japanese language learning module, using HTML, web forms, and JavaScript. It will provide supplementary exercises to reinforce in-class lessons for the Japanese language courses in the Department of Asian Studies at The University of Texas at Austin. It will also serve as a self-contained instructional unit free to use by anyone interested in learning the Japanese language. Main sections include:
- Learn the Basics
- Vocabulary
- Conjugation
- Grammar
- Counters
- Kanji/Kana
- Video
- Culture
• JOSHU
Welcome to the JP NET Home Page! The JP NET project seeks to build a clearinghouse for tools, services and information for Japanese Language and Culture educators and students world-wide.

Great Site!
• JP Net - Japanese Language and Culture Network
Part of TJP\'s WagaWiki, this site offers quite a bit of grammar explanations, mostly at the basic and advanced basic levels. Note that the main page says later grammar pages are under continuing revision and aren\'t shown but in fact if you click the link on those pages at the top the content does exist...
• Lessons in Japanese on WagaWiki
Have your Japanese corrected by native speakers at this community, part of the LiveJournal site.
• Livejournal correctjapanese
MIT made an historic decision a while back to offer their course materials online to the public for free. This page is for their foreign languages and literatures courses where you can find various Japanese courses.
• MIT OpenCourseWare
Meguro Language Center offers some examples of their original teaching materials here, mostly in Flash or PDF format. Materials are separated into flash, beginner, low-intermediate, high-intermediate, intermediate and advanced, JETRO Test, and JLPT. The JLPT materials are especially useful, containing requirments, kanji lists, vocabulary lists and grammar points covered.
• MLC Meguro Language Center - Free Material
nihongoresources is a general site for learning Japanese. It offers:

5 Dictionaries:
1. A Japanese/English - English/Japanese dictionary, based on edict
2. A Kanji dictionary, based on kanjidic
3. A Japanese names dictionary, based on enamdic
4. A Particles dictionary
5. An Onomatopoeia/mimesis dictionary
(The JE/EJ and Kanji dictionary are linked, so unknown kanji in search results can instantly be searched for.)

Various resources:
- All Jouyou kanji lists, based on kanjidic
- Full detail xml Jouyou kanji lists (currently only level 1 is available)
- Summaries of the Japanese grammar
- Free lessons in Japanese (currently partially completed)

Also, the site has an (underused ;) forum for questions, comments, and general forum activity.
• Nihongo Resouces
"Your Conversational Language Learning Resource Center and Community"

Features:
- Live Webcam Audio/Video Chatroom - Meet language exchange partners and friends in this live webcam based audio/video and textual virtual classroom.
- Language Exchange Pen-Pals - Community of people from around the world interested in teaching their language and sharing their culture with you.
- Online Phrasebook - Internet\'s largest database of common, useful, everyday words and phrases translated into over 90 different languages.
- Country Information - Internet\'s largest compilation of detailed facts, information and statistics about every country in the world.
- Language Information - Internet\'s largest intelligent database of detailed facts, information and statistics about every human language in the world.
• Phrasebase
This is a Frequently Asked Questions for the Usenet newsgroup sci.lang.japan, which is an internet discussion forum concentrating on the Japanese language.
• sci.lang.japan FAQ
A basic overview of the characteristics, history, and varieties of the Japanese language.
• The Japanese Language
On this site you will find lots of great tools for studying Japanese. For example, there is a weekly Japanese idiom explained. There is also a daily column with a short reading aimed at intermediate level students. Then there is a cool photo dictionary where you can see pictures of common events, items, etc. in Japanese life. Not enough for you? How about a daily kanji, book reviews and polls, and downloadable photos.
• Web Japanese
Access various course materials from York University\'s Japanese Studies Program on this site. Materials include vocabulary lists, lesson notes and dialogues, reading materials, exercises, dictation practice sounds, and quicktime videos for the following:
- Elementary Modern Standard Japanese
- Intermediate Modern Standard Japanese
- Advanced Modern Standard Japanese
- Advanced Reading in Contemporary Japanese

Additional content includes:
- Brief History of Japan
- E -J Classified Vocabulary
- J - E Idiomatic Expressions (Advanced)
- Manuscript Paper (Genkoo Yooshi)
• York University Japanese Studies Program Materials

Grammar

Most textbooks try to teach you Japanese with English. That want to teach you on the first page how to say, "Hi, my name is Smith," but they don\'t tell you about all the arbitrary decisions that were made behind your back. They probably decided to use the polite form even though learning the polite form before the dictionary form makes no sense. They also might have decided to include the subject even though it\'s not necessary and excluded most of the time. In fact, the most common way to say something like "My name is Smith" in Japanese is to say "am Smith". That\'s because most of the information is understood from the context and is therefore exluded. But does the textbook explain the way things work in Japanese fundamentally? No, because they\'re too busy trying to push you out the door with "useful" phrases right off the bat. The result is a confusing mess of "use this if you want to say this" type of text and the reader is left with a feeling of confusion about how things actually work.

The solution to this problem is to explain Japanese from a Japanese point of view. Take Japanese and explain how it works; forget about trying to force what you want to say in English into Japanese. Another thing is to explain things in an order that makes sense in Japanese. If you need to know [A] in order to to understand [B], don\'t cover [B] first just because you want to teach a certain phrase.

Essentially, what we need is a Japanese guide to learning Japanese grammar.

This guide is an attempt to systematically build up the grammatical structures that make up the Japanese language in a way that makes sense in Japanese. It may not be a practical tool for quickly learning immediately useful Japanese (for example, learning common phrases for travel). However, it will logically create grammatical building blocks that will result in a solid grammatical foundation.
• A Japanese guide to Japanese grammar
Mash Satou offers this overview of Japanese grammar (available in HTML online or as a PDF download). Topics include:
- Pronunciation
- Loan Words from English
- Parts of Speech
- Word Orders
- Correspondence of Pronouns, Cases, Articles, Interrogatives
- Nouns, Adjectival Nouns, Verbal Nouns
- Verbs, Adjectival Verbs, Auxiliary Verbs
- Particles
- Uniformed Regular Verbal Conjugation of Japanese

This site also offers a verb conjugation tool, Kanji cards (HTML and PDF)
• A Logical Japanese Grammar
Another fine feature of the excellent About.com Japanese Language site. There aren\'t a ton of entries yet (more added regularly) but the ones that I have read through are explained very well and target useful and/or tricky areas of comprehension.
• About.com Japanese Grammar/Expressions Lessons
This is one section of the Bible Japanese Page in which you will find a weekly grammar lesson that draws from readings of the Bible (currently the Gospel of John). Useful even if you\'re not Christian...
• Bible Japanese Page - Weekly Grammar Example
This CAI program is designed to help you practice and review basic Japanese grammar. It covers many of the grammar points taught in elementary Japanese language courses.

The program is based on A Course in Modern Japanese (CMJ), Volumes 1 & 2 (Nagoya University Japanese Language Education Research Group, University of Nagoya Press, 1983). If, while working with the program, you have any questions concerning grammar, please refer to the grammar notes in the textbooks. Volume 1 covers lessons 1 to 12 and Volume 2, lessons 13 to 24.

The original version of this program was developed by Kazuo Otsubo, Toshiko Kanda, Yuriko Fukao and Yoko Otsuka.
• CMJ Grammar Online
In conversations, openers and fillers are used quite often. They don\'t always have specific meanings. Openers are used as signals that you are about to say something, or to smooth communication. Fillers are usually used for pauses or hesitation. English also has similar expressions such as "so," "like," "you know," and so on. When you have opportunity to hear native speakers\' conversation, listen carefully and examine how and when they are used. Here are some openers and fillers frequently used.
• Conversation Openers and Fillers
Watered-down, understandable, bite-sized grammar helps. Perhaps by knowing these basic Japanese grammar points, you will be able to communicate in Japanese limited only by vocabulary and guts! Of course this list is a simplified grammar, and is only an introduction to the grammar points.
• Fast Track - 100 Grammar & Useful Phrase Bits
On this LiveJournal site you can post some Japanese text and ask for corrections, suggestions, etc. Or use it to post a grammar/vocabulary question. I haven\'t used it much, but a quick check looked like postings do indeed get quite a few responses so give it a try.
• Have Your Japanese Corrected by Native Speakers' Journal
Kim Allen offers this basic look at Japanese grammar. She has written several "chapters" as a series of short articles on topics related to the chapter title. The divisions are not perfect; there is some overlap and some mixing of categories. It is important to note that each chapter phases from basic to advanced material. Hence, the beginning student will understand the beginning of each chapter, not simply the earlier chapters. Read accordingly.

The material is not presented in kana and kanji characters. Examples in Japanese are written in romaji (romanized Japanese).
• Japanese for the Western Brain
This is a cool site that offers a database of Japanese grammar entries. Search for a specific (or partial) grammatical point or look at grammar by JLPT level. Also, register and set up your own study lists. Very cool!
• jGram - Japanese Grammar Database
This summary of some basic Japanese grammar has been derived from the Japanese grammar text books that were used at Swinburne University when I was studying Japanese there in the 1980s. I copied these points into a small notebook to use as revision while travelling, etc.. I have decided to key them in and make them available as a WWW page which can supplement Keith Smillie\'s introduction to Japanese grammar.

The summary starts with the assumption that the reader knows the basic sentence structure, etc. Each grammatical point is briefly outlined, then followed by one or more examples. There is quite a lot of kanji in the examples, so I have added furigana to the ones a beginner might not recognize. The Swinburne course never used romaji. (The astute reader will note a certain Australian bias in the examples.)

Note that the nomenclature of the Swinburne course is retained, so you need to be aware that "adjectival nouns" are 形容動詞, i.e. what some people call "quasi-adjectives", "na-adjectives" or "prenominal adjectives". Verbs are sometimes referred to as "Type I", i.e. 五段動詞 and "Type II", i.e. 一段動詞. Most of the nomenclature is self-evident.
• Jim's Japanese Grammar Summary
Ed Jacob offers this list of 200 expressions you can expet to find on the JLPT exam. Meaning, notes, and examples are offered.
• JLPT Grammar Guide
Have your Japanese corrected by native speakers at this community, part of the LiveJournal site.
• Livejournal correctjapanese
This online tool/program is designed to help you practice and review basic Japanese grammar. It covers many of the grammar points taught in the book A Course in Modern Japanese (CMJ). [hat tip to Nihongojouzu.com]
• Nagoya University CMJ Grammar Online!
Some grammar notes posted back in 1996. The first three items are useful and easily comprehended but the last three items are more appropriate to a linqguistic conversation/study only.
• Nihongo Notes
nihongoresources is a general site for learning Japanese. It offers:

5 Dictionaries:
1. A Japanese/English - English/Japanese dictionary, based on edict
2. A Kanji dictionary, based on kanjidic
3. A Japanese names dictionary, based on enamdic
4. A Particles dictionary
5. An Onomatopoeia/mimesis dictionary
(The JE/EJ and Kanji dictionary are linked, so unknown kanji in search results can instantly be searched for.)

Various resources:
- All Jouyou kanji lists, based on kanjidic
- Full detail xml Jouyou kanji lists (currently only level 1 is available)
- Summaries of the Japanese grammar
- Free lessons in Japanese (currently partially completed)

Also, the site has an (underused ;) forum for questions, comments, and general forum activity.
• Nihongo Resouces
Particles are probably one of the most difficult and confusing aspects of Japanese sentences. A particle (joshi) is a word that shows the relationship of a word, a phrase, or a clause to the rest of the sentence. Some particles have English equivalents. Others have functions similar to English prepositions, but since they always follow the word or words they mark, they are post-positions. There are also particles that have a peculiar usage which is not found in English. Most particles are multi-functional.
• Particles (About.com)
In Japanese, there are many particles that are added to the end of a sentence. They express the speaker\'s emotions, doubt, emphasis, caution, hesitation, wonder, admiration, and so on.
• Sentence Ending Particles
A download from the JapanEd site (basically a site to promote the books "Understanding Japanese Verbs & Adjectives" and "Techniques for Japanese-English Translation") which offers, I think, a very good overview of the complexities involved with using the passive verb form in Japanese.
• The "Passive"
A download from the JapanEd site (basically a site to promote the books "Understanding Japanese Verbs & Adjectives" and "Techniques for Japanese-English Translation") which offers, I think, a very good overview of the complexities involved with using the causative/permissve verb form in Japanese.
• The Causative/Permissive
The verb "suru (to do)" has many extended uses that occur quite often.
• The Extended Use of the Verb "Suru"
The Quick and Dirty Guide to Japanese is a canonical classic of the Internet community. Posted years ago on the sci.lang.japan newsgroup, this guide appears in a multitude of pages written by folks such as myself, devoted to the learning of the Japanese language.

Usually the guide is presented in a plain-text-only format. I recall running across a similarly html-lized version a year or two ago, but have since not been able to find it again, hence this presentation. It\'s not very different from other versions available on the web other than that it\'s been indexed for easy browsing, and contains further links and information at the bottom.
• The Quick and Dirty Guide to Japanese
A collection of online and .pdf files covering basics of Japanese grammar. I personally found the Japanese Verbs section to be the most useful and comprehensive.
• Tim's Takamatsu: Language
Enter the dictionary form of a Japanese verb and click the button.

Editor\'s Note: I haven\'t used the site yet, and based on the description the conjugation is based on a programmatic algorithm which may or may not be robust enough to do the job. But, it seems like a good addition to the online Japanese language learning universe.
• Ultra Handy Japanese Verb Conjugator
Another wiki on Japanese grammar - this one has some o.k. material, but generally not nearly as good as the wikipedia site...
• Wikibooks Japanese
A detailed (and growing) entry on Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia.
• Wikipedia Japanese grammar
A compilation of Japanese grammatical expressions - completely in Japanese.
• 日本語阜ｻ文型辞典

JLPT Exam

A resource to aid the learning of Japanese Kanji. Included in this site is a listing of the full Jouyou Kanji, classified into JLPT levels, with a lookup of vocabulary for each JLPT level. Including printable kanji lists (Example list), save kanji and vocab to your folder, and kanji and vocabulary level marks to indicate JLPT level.
• JLPT Kanji Project
A java-based tool to review/drill the JLPT kanji by level (well, at least levels 2,3,4). Test on-yomi, kun-yomi, or meanings (english-japanese or japanese-english).
• Drill the Kanji - JLPT Kanji Review Tool
A site with useful materials to help your preparation for the Japanese proficiency test (Nihongo nouryoku shiken - JLPT). Includes the following JLPT sections:
- JLPT word online
- JLPT grammar (currently missing level 1)

In addition to JLPT content, the following sections also exist:
- Language exchange
- Need student? (find private students and teaching jobs in Japan)
- J-star (famous Japanese actress page)
- Animation (Japanese Anime & Manga information page,BBS,WEB etc.)
- Teacher bank (Looking for private Japanese teacher in your area?)
• e-Japanese
Japanese Kanji Flash is a flash card and vocabulary testing application for your cellular phone. Currently only supports JLPT Level 4 vocabulary and is not free (though a free trial is available).
• Japanese Kanji Flash
A fairly detailed look at the JLPT exam, focusing on JLPT1 and JLPT2, with advice for how to study and do well on the exam.
• Japanese Language Proficiency Test First and Second Grade Study Guide
Jonathan Waller put together some useful resources to help him study for the JLPT exam and offers them for download on this site. Included are vocabulary and kanji lists for each level.
• Japanese Language Proficiency Test Resources
Find information about this year\'s and last year\'s JLPT test from the organization that administers the test.
• JEES Guide to the Japanese language proficiency test (in Japan)
This page contains a quiz covering JLPT 2 verbs. See the bottom of the page for links to quizes for JLPT level 2 adjectives, nouns and other words.
• JLPT - Level 2 Vocabulary Quizzes
This page contains a quiz covering JLPT 3 verbs. See the bottom of the page for links to quizes for JLPT level 3 adjectives, nouns and other words.
• JLPT - Level 3 Vocabulary Quizzes
This page contains a quiz covering JLPT 4 verbs. See the bottom of the page for links to quizes for JLPT level 4 adjectives, nouns and other words.
• JLPT - Level 4 Vocabulary Quizzes
Ed Jacob offers this list of 200 expressions you can expet to find on the JLPT exam. Meaning, notes, and examples are offered.
• JLPT Grammar Guide
The quiz is based on 727 words of vocab from the JLPT Level 4 Vocabulary List put together by Peter van der Woude (though keep in mind that there are no official JLPT lists of vocabulary). [hat tip to Nihongojouzu.com]
• JLPT Level 4 Vocabulary Quiz
Sample sentences covering the JLPT N3 level kanji.
• JLPT Level N3 Kanji
Sample sentences covering the JLPT N4 level kanji.
• JLPT Level N4 Kanji
Sample sentences covering the JLPT N5 level kanji.
• JLPT Level N5 Kanji
This page lists the complete JLPT vocabulary lists in UTF-8 format, as printed in the official specification book (Japanese Language Proficiency Test: Test Content Specification, The Japan Foundation and Association of International Eduation, 1994-1997).
• JLPT Vocabulary Lists
Get - as you would guess - a kanji-a-day with each Kanji tied to its respective JLPT level (online only). Additionally, find JLPT Kanji and vocab lists, JLPT kanji quizes, etc. The site is customizable (e.g. save a vocab list).

NOTE: free registration required
• kanji-a-day
Meguro Language Center offers some examples of their original teaching materials here, mostly in Flash or PDF format. Materials are separated into flash, beginner, low-intermediate, high-intermediate, intermediate and advanced, JETRO Test, and JLPT. The JLPT materials are especially useful, containing requirments, kanji lists, vocabulary lists and grammar points covered.
• MLC Meguro Language Center - Free Material
speedanki.com is an interactive flashcard system designed to aid in the memorization of Japanese kanji and kanji compounds for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. Though designed for the JLPT, we believe this system of memorization will be useful to any students of Japanese looking to improve their Japanese reading ability. The flashcards can be viewed in kanji or hiragana form, and flipped back and forth between them. Both sides of the card offer the option to display the English meaning and an example sentence. Each card can be moved between five categories, allowing you to separate the kanji by your familiarity with them. Register for a free account and the status of your cards will be saved.
• speedanki.com
Attention beginners! Peter van der Woude has done people a big favour and typed up a mass of grammar points, vocab and grammar for Level 4 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (the easiest level). The JLPT Level 4 Study Page has the grammar points for the years 1992 to 2002 - it doesn\'t have 2003, 2004 and 2005 but the past papers for these are available anyway. There are also Level 3 and Level 2 pages but Level 4 is the most complete. [courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]
• The JLPT Level 4 Study Page

Kanji

A resource to aid the learning of Japanese Kanji. Included in this site is a listing of the full Jouyou Kanji, classified into JLPT levels, with a lookup of vocabulary for each JLPT level. Including printable kanji lists (Example list), save kanji and vocab to your folder, and kanji and vocabulary level marks to indicate JLPT level.
• JLPT Kanji Project
Learn how to read buttons on remote controls and appliances, traffic signs, and train ticket machine.

• A Door to the World of Kanji
Japanese school children first learn hiragana and katakana, then 1006 kanji characters (Education Kanji) through grade one to six. With "Kanji Land" lessons, you will learn all of the 1006 kanji characters.

A new kanji character is introduced every day. First you will learn 80 kanji characters which are taught in grade one at Japanese school, then 160 for grade two, and it goes on to all 1006 kanji characters.

You will find "kanji of the day" and its stroke order on the top of the page.
• About.com Kanji Land
A radical (bushu) is a common sub-element found in different kanji characters. Every kanji has a radical or a radical itself can be a kanji. Radicals express the general nature of the kanji characters. A radical is the part of the kanji character that gives you a clue to its origin, group, meaning or pronunciation. Many kanji dictionaries organize characters by their radicals.

There are 214 radicals. Don\'t worry about learning all of them! I doubt most Japanese can recognize and name them all. However, if you memorize some of the important radicals, they will help you to figure out the meanings of many kanji.

Radicals are roughly divided into seven groups (hen, tsukuri, kanmuri, ashi, tare, nyou, and kamae) by their positions.
• All About Radicals
Terminology for Chinese and Japanese writing styles, including history, detailed information, and Hiragana & Katakana charts.
• Asian Language Terminology
Several dozen short lessons on reading and writing the Japanese Hiragana writing system. Includes pronunciation cues, a Hiragana table, and words that use each letter.
• Benjamin Barrett's Japanese Lesson Pages
"Crazy for Kanji" provides the context sorely missing from most classes and books about kanji. Jam-packed with exhibits, the book supplies background information, explores fun themes, and challenges readers with games. Novices will gain the basic knowledge needed to grasp kanji, and advanced students will come to understand the system of kanji as they\'ve never understood it before.

Students often stop learning Japanese because of kanji. If teachers present kanji as a random collection of characters, it leaves students feeling hopeless about understanding and mastering this system. Above all, they don\'t have the slightest inkling that kanji can be fun. What a shame!

They\'ll feel differently once they read "Crazy for Kanji" and realize the following:

The immense challenge of kanji can lure you on, much as Mt. Everest beckons to intrepid mountaineers. You can love kanji, not in spite of its being difficult but because of that.

Japanese words abound in puns that you can understand if you grasp the kanji. Hanabi, "fireworks," breaks down as "flower" + "fire"--a perfect, poetic way of describing fireworks!

Understanding kanji affords a wonderful feeling of being in the know, as when you can decipher characters on restaurant signs, tattoos, and T-shirts.

The child in us longs to decode. That\'s why kids spend hours solving puzzles. And that\'s why you\'ll enjoy unlocking the door to a hitherto sealed-off area.

Kanji study has proven effective as an antidepressant! This "drug" works because it gives endless entertainment to overactive minds.

Studying kanji brings you into contact with old Japan--with a pure form of the culture and the Japanese mind--as well as with ancient China. Dating back several thousand years, kanji provide a time capsule, giving us insight into the way people once made sense of the world. As timeless human symbols, kanji characters can evoke the deepest feelings, above all joy.
• Crazy for Kanji: A Student's Guide to the Wonderful World of Japanese Characters
David Hallgren offers various tools for studying Japanese, including:
- Hiragana and Katakana quizes
- various Kanji quizes and exercises
- vocabulary practice drills that cover the Genki textbooks as well as the JLPT levels 3 and 4
- a grammar database (currently in nascent stages it appears)
- a forum
- a kana editor (IE only supported)
• David Hallgren's Nihongo Website
Fennel Aurora offers an insightful take on how to study kanji. Particularly useful is the description of Jack Halpern\'s skip system.
• deciphering japanese: how to teach and learn kanji
A java-based tool to review/drill the JLPT kanji by level (well, at least levels 2,3,4). Test on-yomi, kun-yomi, or meanings (english-japanese or japanese-english).
• Drill the Kanji - JLPT Kanji Review Tool
Excel@Japanese is a new way to learn vocabulary and Kanji quickly to prepare you for all levels of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test or general reading fluency. Download the Excel@Japanese spreadsheet to learn up to 7000 Japanese words and their Kanji.

Features:
* Covers all Kanji vocabulary words from all JLPT levels. We will be adding all JLPT non-Kanji vocabulary shortly.
* Simple to use. Just press "Start Test" for randomized flashcards.
* Checks pronunciation entered in hiragana or virtually any Romanization system including Hepburn and Kunrei-shiki.
* Sophisticated knowledge fading model tests you frequently on words that provide you the most trouble without wasting your time by constantly reviewing words you know well.
* Great for beginner through advanced students since it progresses in JLPT order.
* Automatically displays your progress over time in Excel charts
• Excel@Japanese
Draw a kanji in the box with the mouse. The computer will try to recognize it (be careful about drawing strokes in the correct order and direction). The screen will write the top ten kanji which it thinks match your as you enter strokes with the best match on the left and hyperlinks to the entry for that kanji in Jim Breen\'s "WWWJDIC." If you make a mistake you can clear all your entered strokes or just your last stroke.
• Handwritten Kanji Recognition
Hans Wadsten has put together what he calls a portal but what I think you will really find useful on this site are the kanji lists he has posted. He has .gif and .doc files that you can print and make into kanji flashcards. Find kanji sets by character number and also by grade (1-6).
• Hans Wadsten's Nippon Portal
This page contains mnemonics for the kanji taught in the first six years of school in Japan (i.e. 1,006 kanji), as developed by Professor Kenneth Henshall. They have been extracted from his book: "A Guide To Remembering Japanese Characters" (Tuttle, 1995). The book covers all 1,945 general-use kanji.

This page has been prepared by William Clausing and Jim Breen with the kind permission of Professor Henshall and Tuttle Publishing.
• Henshall Kanji Mnemonics
Koichi at Tofugu offers up an excellent primer on identifying unknown kanji characters and lists some useful resources. Even more useful resources are mentioned in the comments, so check them out as well.
• How To Identify A Kanji That You Don’t Know
Your mission, if you choose to accept it Mr. Hunt, is to master the meaning and writing of 2,042 "Standard Use Kanji" (常用漢字・じょうようかんじ) in 90 days. This feat normally takes the Japanese themselves all the way through the end of junior high school, and most non-native learners of Japanese never make it even after years of study.

But worry not! Armed with the right psychology and tools, this seemingly impossible mission becomes a walk in the park.
• How to Learn 2,000 Kanji in 3 Months: Mission Possible
This site is geared to helping you learn kanji, kana, and japanese vocabulary, with occasional articles about Japan thrown in. Menu items include:
- Kanji
- Kana
- JLPT vocabulary
- Games
- Lessons
- Reviews
- Downloads
- Culture
- Forum
- Blog

• japanese-kanji.org
The Java Kanji Flashcard 500 project is designed to help students of written Japanese learn the 500 most commonly occuring Chinese characters, or kanji. This Java applet displays Japanese in any browser that supports Java 1.0. You do not need a Japanese browser or operating system to study these kanji.


Each kanji character is displayed on a "card" containing a large kanji character, its on and kun readings, an english meaning, and a stroke order animation. There are also Kanji compounds (using only the 500 target kanji) with their readings and english meanings. You can choose what is displayed on the "front" and "back" of the card to suit your preferences. (see the help page for more information.)

The program has three modes:
1. Browse, which lets you look at all of the cards
2. Search, which lets you search for a card using English or romaji
3. Drill, which allows you to review a subset of the cards
• Java Kanji Flashcards 500
Sample sentences covering the JLPT N3 level kanji.
• JLPT Level N3 Kanji
Sample sentences covering the JLPT N4 level kanji.
• JLPT Level N4 Kanji
Sample sentences covering the JLPT N5 level kanji.
• JLPT Level N5 Kanji
Great site focuses on "...teaching Kana and the Japanese Ministry of Education\'s J? Kanji since 1996"
• Joyo 96
Wikipedia (the free encyclopedia) offers this short but informative explanation of what kanji are and where they come from - good for beginners.
• Kanji (Wikipedia Encyclopedia Entry)
A simple site that provides lists of kanji sorted in various ways:
- Grade
- Radical
- Shape
- Topic
- to learn

Editor\'s Note: only a subset of kanji seems to be listed...
• Kanji by Frequency
Mary Noguchi is a proffessor at Meijiro University who writes a column on learning Kanji for the Japan Times. Her homepage has all of her columns, other articles, reviews of Kanji learning materials, and links to other Kanji-related sites.
• Kanji Clinic
Claims to be the prime resource for Kanji learners but mostly exalts the (admittedly quite good) Kodansha Kanji Learner\'s Dictionary (KALD). I recommend you check out the Guide to the Japanese Writing System section.

• Kanji Dictionary Publishing Society
Lawrence Howell, creator of the Kanji Master Program, has put together this interesting and informative Kanji FAQ.
• Kanji FAQ
Japanese students wrote English explanations of the meanings of their Japanese names. All of the kanji is given in caligraphy-style images. You can also get your name translated into Kanji.

• Kanji Names Project
Here is a Kanji dictionary geared for the serious learner or for anyone with a curiousity about the historial etymology of the characters. The dictionary covers the 1945 Joyo Kanji.

Each entry is organized as follows. The character; the number of strokes, ON reading(s), KUN reading(s), ancient forms (where applicable) and the etymological explanation. Present-day meanings in Japanese are in boldface. As is customary in Japanese dictionaries, ON readings are given in katakana, KUN readings in hiragana.

Editor\'s Note: this dictionary is NOT intuitive at first, so I recommend you read the About This Site page and the reference terms page before using it.
• Kanji Networks Etymological Dictionary
Kanji Practice is a site which helps learners of Japanese to master reading and writing kanji. Kanji are grouped in sets of 50, following the order used by learners of Japanese at Dartmouth College. For each kanji, the site offers a brushstroke image, a brief video clip demonstrating stroke order, sample sentences for On and Kun readings with accompanying audio clips, print variations and the English translation of the kanji. So far, kanji 1-300 and some supplementary kanji are available, with more kanji in production.
• Kanji Practice
This 8 page .pdf document is one of the free sample documents from Lawrence Howell\'s Kanji Master Program. It lists and categorizes the 214 Kanji radicals.
• Kanji Radical List
This page offers up the 214 Kanji radicals along with their names, mnemonic names, and hyperlinked Kanji that contain the relevant radical (clicking these characters brings up all their relevant information along with compound words that contain them).
• Kanji Radical List
Michael Engel has put together some downloadable .pdf kanji writing exercise sheets, available in various groupings. Some of the site and sheets use German, but don\'t let that scare you as the important information exists in English as well.
• Kanji Writing Exercise Sheets
Get - as you would guess - a kanji-a-day with each Kanji tied to its respective JLPT level (online only). Additionally, find JLPT Kanji and vocab lists, JLPT kanji quizes, etc. The site is customizable (e.g. save a vocab list).

NOTE: free registration required
• kanji-a-day
This site is quite distinct from other dictionaries of kanji. It provides students of Japanese with unrivalled opportunity to focus on the most important things. To make the task of learning characters manageable only most frequently used words are presented here to illustrate character usage. The almost 1,700 words illustrating usage of the first 200 most basic characters at level 1 are definitely "must know" words - they are given with their English translations in "Dictionary - Level 1" at this site. The scope of vocabulary used to illustrate characters at higher levels is obviously wider, but again the illustrating words are most frequently used among those which are written with the help of a particular character.

Although students using this site can follow a traditional path of learning characters - one by one, the very practical emphasis laid by this site allows them to follow another route and completely change the very strategy of character learning. One can start from mastering the words included into the "Dictionary - Level 1" (in fact, most of these words are quite familiar to intermediate level students as these words are normally included in ordinary courses and textbooks of Japanese) and only after that enjoy the first 200 most basic characters: then you can see which readings and meanings of a particular character are actually very important, if some reading or meaning is missing among the illustrating words, don\'t worry: you will definitely have a chance to learn them at a more advances level! The first level gives you a firm basis to advance to higher levels: for characters from 2, 3 and higher levels examples of usage written with their help that appeared at previous levels are included in the list of illustrations for the particular character. The numerous examples of character usage and, consequently, their meanings presented by this site are, in fact, the strict minimum one should be very familiar with. If you know more, it is fine, but if you know less, it\'s a problem.

Level 1 characters are available without any registration. If you want to get access to higher levels, you need to register. Registration is free.
• Kanji.kiev.ua
KanjiGymLight is a Java based application for reviewing the 2042 kanji introduced in Jim Heisig\'s book Remembering the Kanji. It is designed to aid in kanji review via either 56 pre-set lessons or using the Heisig numbers. KanjiGymLight comes in a laptop/PC and a Palm version, needs the Java Runtime Environment and all you need do is register to download it.

The interface is straightforward - the Heisig keyword is given and a blank pallet enables you to write the kanji using a mouse or touchpad. Click the "Check" button and the kanji itself appears - compare it with what you wrote on the pallet and then mark yourself correct or not. A "Note" button allows you to add comments - for example you can write your particular story for that kanji - and saves automatically on quitting. Click the "Stroke order" button and see the kanji drawn as a small animation.

KanjiGymLight is the perfect companion to Remembering the Kanji - so long as you have access to your computer you don\'t need to lug around flashcards, but you will have to enter the mnemonic story for each kanji manually - hey, if all the stories, elements etc were included you wouldn\'t need to buy the book! Cheaper than WriteKanji, comes in English, German and French versions, works on both PCs and Macs and put togther by Jim Heisig himself. A must have. Just add time and effort.... [courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]
• KanjiGymLight
Want to study kanji but you left all your flashcards at home? Help is at hand because your iPod is not only musical but literate too.

kanjiPod is a program for generating sets of files for studying kanji on the iPod via the Notes feature. Programming maestros can download the Python based source code here and get cracking putting together personalised files, while code allergic mere mortals can simply download one of three pre-compiled dictionary files:
- Shimbun + Radicals set: of 844 kanji found in newspapers
- Jōyō Kanji 1-6 set: but note that 6 kanji were cut because of filesize restrictions
- JLPT 3/4 Kanji set: (not authoritative)
[courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]
• kanjiPod
The Kanjiroushi website has put together 4 daily JLPT (noryokushiken) RSS feeds. Of course, I beat them to it, but the more the merrier I say.
• Kanjiroushi kanji a day RSS feeds
At kanjistep.com you can find information about the Japanese language, culture and other Japan related topics. Our goal is to help students of Japanese to master the language and build a global community of people interested in Japan, its language and culture.

On this web site we offer free language teaching materials of all levels for self-study. Currently there are over 200 pages and over 600 sound files available.

Topics include:
- JLPT placement tests
- daily expressions
- japan forum
- language exchange
- mail friend (penpal service)
• Kanjistep.com
This site combines the popular Kanji dictionary KANJIDIC and Japanese-English dictionary EDICT from Jim Breen. Kiki\'s Dictionary is very different from other online dictionaries, such as WWWJDIC. Kiki lets you "browse" to learn useful kanji and compounds, rather than searching for a single kanji and viewing it out of context. Each compound has clickable links to other kanji entries. The meaning of any kanji is just a click away!
• Kiki's Kanji Dictionary
KingKanji is an award winning Japanese / kanji flashcard program that emphasizes writing as well as reading. It includes stroke animation and automatic feedback for over 1,200 characters including first through sixth grade Joyo kanji and kana. A flashcard may contain single or multiple kanji and kana along with the English meaning. Over 294 lessons are included and additional kanji lessons can be created using the included Lesson Editor, Microsoft Word XP/2000, or a Japanese word processor. Available for PocketPC, PalmOS, and Windows.

Editor\'s Note: this program costs $25 and I haven\'t tried it myself, but I often come across web posts singing its praise, so I have listed it here...
• KingKanji
This is one part of the immensely useful Jim Breen\'s WWWJDIC Server. Here you can quickly look up kanji by radical(s). Sometimes this is a very useful method of finding kanji...
• Look Up Kanji by Radical
This site features a new Kanji each weekday (and a randomly selected kanji from the prior week on weekends). Unfortunately, the site doesn\'t offer an email newsletter so you have to actively remember to visit the site each day. Also, though there is a section for examples, the few times I have visited none were actually available.
• Mainichi-Kanji
Find lots of useful background information on Kanji on this page.

- Section I A Brief History of the Characters

- Section II The Four Types of Characters

- Section III Points of Note Regarding the Characters

- Section IV ON and KUN Readings of the Characters in Japan
• More About Kanji
This site offers Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana study quizzes, flashcards and games.
• Nihongo Ganbatte!!
OCha No Kanji is a free, simple software designed to map your knowledge of kanji. This software runs under MS Excel 2000 and above. There are currently three levels : 4 kyuu (80 kanji), 3 kyuu (245 kanji) and 2 kyuu (985 kanji) of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT).

You can test up to 40 kanji at a time. The test consists in asking the pronunciations of each kanji in a few words of the JLPT list. You will learn all the pronunciations you need and only the pronunciations you need !

After testing, the software updates the colors of the kanji in the \'All Kanji\' table:
- Red means that the pronunciations tested were all incorrect.
- Blue means that some were correct some were incorrect.
- Green means that they were all correct.

The important point of the software is that the \'green kanji\' will fade progressively to an almost white color, simulating your forgetting process. The more often you test a kanji and get all pronunciations correct, the slower the green color will fade (see help for details). Therefore, the \'All Kanji\' table really maps your memory of kanji and prompts you to keep revising.
• OCha No Kanji
Index to This Document
1. The Origin of Chinese Characters
1.1 The Birth of a Pictographic Scrip
1.2 Formation of Chinese Characters

2. Introduction of Chinese Characters to Japan
2.1 Early Stages
2.2 On and Kun Readings
2.3 Classification of On Reading
2.4 Special Uses
2.5 Language Reforms

3. Chinese Characters in Japanese
3.1 The Japanese Script
3.2 Functions of Kanji
3.3 Word-Formation
3.4 Meaning of Kanji
• Outline of Japanese Writing System
A short but useful post by Will at Nihongojouzu.com about describing unknown Kanji via their radical.
• Radical positions and Japanese names
The "radical" of a character is more or less its "base component." Find background on radicals here.
• Radicals
Read the Kanji is an quiz application bent on allowing passionate Japanese learners to hone their kanji skills to perfection. We want to show our users that with practice, learning kanji is not impossible, but in fact very doable. Also, we try to make in fun (and challenging) in the process.

In the current version, we are focusing on JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) vocabulary and kanji, but in the future we are hoping to add vocab lists for Kanji Kentei, yojijukugo, idioms, and popular textbook vocabulary lists, as well as different quiz types. In the long run, we\'re interested in pretty much anything that has to do with kanji.
• Read the Kanji
renshuu.org is a collection of resources and personalized tools for studying and mastering Japanese vocabulary and kanji. Information exists for the Genki, Intermediate Japanese, Japanese for Busy People, JLPT and Kanji Kentei.

You can use this site without registering, but the free registration allows you access to personal quiz history, a quiz scheduler (great for the JLPT!), and an advanced quiz system that keeps track of often-missed vocab to help reinforce difficult vocabulary.
• renshuu.org
Samurai Kanji is a 2042-kanji flash-card application for PDA\'s (PalmOS, SymbianOS, or Windows CE) intended for drilling after studying James Heisig\'s Remembering the Kanji I.

What primarily makes this kanji flash-card application different from other, similar applications is that the kanji are divided into the same lessons that Heisig uses in his book. The user can then choose which lessons to drill on as the user progresses through the book. The cards can be reshuffled, and do not repeat until all cards in all selected lessons have been viewed. The user can also choose to drill from the English word to the kanji, or from the kanji to the English word.
• Samurai Kanji
speedanki.com is an interactive flashcard system designed to aid in the memorization of Japanese kanji and kanji compounds for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. Though designed for the JLPT, we believe this system of memorization will be useful to any students of Japanese looking to improve their Japanese reading ability. The flashcards can be viewed in kanji or hiragana form, and flipped back and forth between them. Both sides of the card offer the option to display the English meaning and an example sentence. Each card can be moved between five categories, allowing you to separate the kanji by your familiarity with them. Register for a free account and the status of your cards will be saved.
• speedanki.com
The 214 traditional radicals, arranged according to stroke count, along with their Japanese names and the English names commonly associated with them (with thanks to Prof. David Mosher). Part of the Kanji Clinic site but seemed worthy of its own entry.
• The 214 radicals and their English names
The Japanese learning industry has, for all intents and purposes, failed you. It\'s not your fault that learning kanji is like hitting your face on a curb, it\'s the industry as a whole. Sure, there are pockets here and there that are pretty smart about it, but they tend to be small and nobody really knows about them. Most likely, you know what your teachers says about kanji, or what Rosetta Stone Japanese (doesn\'t) say about kanji, or what your textbook throws at you... But, here\'s the problem, though: You\'re learning kanji from native Japanese speakers, and they have no idea what it\'s like to learn kanji anymore (and even if they do, they just emulate the way Japanese school children learn kanji), which really just doesn\'t work.

The Japanese learning industry, on a whole, has failed us when it comes to kanji learning. But, you can learn from their mistakes, and in doing so, learn how to fix the way you learn kanji.
• The 5 Biggest Mistakes People Make When Learning Kanji
The Kanji SITE was launched in September 1999 as a way for its author, Chris Jennings, to practice his kanji in preparation for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). It originally covered only the 80 kanji required for Level 4 of the JLPT, but has since grown to include a total of 1,000 kanji, namely the entire official syllabus for Levels 4, 3 and 2 of the exam.

The Kanji SITE is aimed primarily at people who are studying for the JLPT, and as such the kanji are organized according to the syllabi for Levels 4, 3 and 2 of that test. The JLPT Level 1 kanji will start to be added in due course. It will soon also be possible to study the kanji in the order that nature (well, the Japanese Ministry of Education, anyway) intended, i.e. according to the government\'s official Joyo and Kyoiku Kanji lists.

Editor\'s Note: I love this site!
• The Kanji SITE
Bad news everyone. It looks like if you want to be considered as a literate member of the Japanese society, you\'re going to have to learn an additional 196 kanji to make it in every day life. A proposal is in (and it seems like it\'s going to pass.
• The Kanjipocolypse Is Here: 196 Additional Kanji To Be Added To The Joyo Kanji List
This list was produced by scanning over a million kanji on thousands of Japanese web pages and ranking them according to the number of times they were seen. In total, over 3200 distinct characters were encountered. However, in order to eliminate anomalous entries at the lower end of the frequency scale, the list was arbitrarily truncated at 2000 entries.

Each kanji character on this page is linked to its entry in WWWJDIC, an online Japanese dictionary that provides more information about the character and words that use it.
• The Top Two Thousand Kanji
This site uses diagrams to explain the seven basic radical positions, providing examples and even mini Flash demos of the stroke order.
• 主な部首名と漢字

Mobile Phone

Japanese Kanji Flash is a flash card and vocabulary testing application for your cellular phone. Currently only supports JLPT Level 4 vocabulary and is not free (though a free trial is available).
• Japanese Kanji Flash

Online Lessons

This site offers fee-based online study, though there are some free materials as well (which require a registration). I haven\'t checked it out too thoroughly, but it appears to be focused on lower level students.
• hesjapanese.com
Harvey Beasley has produced a new blog based on the idea of learning Japanese through print ads and posters. Japanese Ads features one ad per post and Harvey\'s dissection of the meaning and cultural nuance therein. It is, like all great ideas, simple in its elegance and a great way to learn Japanese in the context of real word usage. Harvey does a great job of explaining how Japanese actually works and has a good time in the process. [courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]
• Japanese Ads - Learning Japanese Through Print Ads
JOI is an online Japanese school. Learn Japanese online in real time. Take online Japanese classes - group classes, private lessons, or JLPT lessons - from native, professional Japanese teachers.

Connect a headset to your PC or Mac (webcam optional), and you have an instant online Japanese school. Learn Japanese at your pace from professional Japanese teachers.
• Japanese Online Institute (JOI)
Sixteen introductory Japanese lessons (for free) including pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary for each lesson. Also includes free online message board and link to a free Japanese/English dictionary online. Also has links to Japanese software and other useful Web sites.
• Japanese-Online.com
At kanjistep.com you can find information about the Japanese language, culture and other Japan related topics. Our goal is to help students of Japanese to master the language and build a global community of people interested in Japan, its language and culture.

On this web site we offer free language teaching materials of all levels for self-study. Currently there are over 200 pages and over 600 sound files available.

Topics include:
- JLPT placement tests
- daily expressions
- japan forum
- language exchange
- mail friend (penpal service)
• Kanjistep.com
Listen to foreigners using unrehearsed Japanese in situations that you too are likely to encounter in Tokyo.
• Live from Tokyo
Welcome to the NHK World Japanese Lessons web site!
NHK airs Japanese lessons for people of various languages on its international shortwave RADIO JAPAN service. On this site, you can listen to those lessons.

Languages included: English, Arabic, Bengali, Burmese, Chinese, German, French, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Malay, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Thai, Urdu, Vietnamese
• NHK World Japanese Lessons
This site offers daily comments in Japanese (left) and romaji (right). You can hear the entries as spoken .wav files by clicking the links under the romaji.
• Nihongo Everyday
Tanabata is an online supplement to the Star Festival CD-ROM. By using the internet and its multimedia functions, Tanabata provides you with an interactive graphical interface to learning Japanese.

Tanabata was originally intended for students with at least two years of Japanese, but English translations and Furigana are provided for all of the text, so the most important element should not be skill, but rather interest. The material is unique in that it is based on real life interviews with some very interesting people. There are also games and questions to see how much you have learned.
• Tanabata

Other

This site uses the the Kougouyaku Translation (Colloquial Translation) of the Bible to study Japanese. Basically, you can view each book chapter (currently only the Gospel of John) in three columns - an English translation, Japanese with furigana and Japanese without furigana. You can even hide the English column for enhanced study effort.

The site also features a weekly grammar example taken from the reading material and Kanji/Vocabulary flashcards for use in the JFC (Japanese Flash Card) program.

And, for those interesting in Christianity in general, there are many Japanese Christian links.
• Bible Japanese Page
The difference between written language and conversational language in Japanese is much greater than in English. Japanese letters often use classical grammar patterns which are seldom used in conversation. Although there are no particular rules when writing to close friends, there are many set expressions and honorific expressions (keigo) used in formal letters. A conversational style is not usually used when writing formal letters.
• Expressions Used in Letters
Read what Harvey has to say about studying, living, and working in Japan.
• Japan Newbie
Kansai Ben is a dialect of Kansai area,and the most powerful dialect. Learn more about it here (though the site is not too extensive)
• Kansai Ben
This site offers free downloads of various well-known books, audio and software (e.g., Pimsleur, Lonely Planet, Japanese for Busy People, Kanji Power 555). I am quite sure it is not at all legal, but I leave the decision whether or not to use it up to your own conscience.
• LearnJapanese (Sabotage Internet)
The home for MIT class 24.946. This course is a detailed examination of the grammar of Japanese and its structure which is significantly different from English, with special emphasis on problems of interest in the study of linguistic universals. Data from a broad group of languages is studied for comparison with Japanese. This course assumes familiarity with linguistic theory.
• Linguistic Theory and the Japanese Language
The Kansai Japanese-Language Institute has developed this web portal in order to support overseas learners of Japanese. The site introduces all kinds of websites and useful tools which learners can use in their studies.

Each website or online-tool includes a summary of the contents, some basic user instructions and guidelines on how the site could be used to address concrete learning needs, all in a way that is easy to understand.
• NIHONGO eな
This is a "cheat sheet" for the Japanese language. It is an attempt to condense and organize as many of the basic elements of the language onto one sheet of paper as possible. The intended use of this document is for you to download it, print it on two sides of one sheet of paper and keep it wherever you need it (in your Japanese textbook, on your desk, in your pocket, etc).

The intended use of this document is for you to download it, print it on two sides of one sheet of paper and keep it wherever you need it (in your Japanese textbook, on your desk, in your pocket, etc).
• Nihonshock’s Japanese cheat sheet
Charles Kelly, Aichi Institute of Technology Professor and the man behind Charles Kelly\'s Online Japanese Language Study Materials, has grabbed 900 photos of real life Japanese signs and stuck them on the web so people outside of Japan (or people in Japan who can\'t pry themselves away from the computer) can practise reading them. The photos don\'t come with translations (you have to do some work yourself!) but Charles indicates that he may set up the pages in quiz format like this older set. Street signs, shop signs, family surnames (as found on houses and gates) and from simple to read to fiendishly difficult. If you are sitting level 1 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test this would be a fun way to boost the breadth of your kanji exposure. [courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]
• Reading Japanese Signs
This is a Japanese learning web site by Reiko Sakaguchi. I will teach you Japanese using my favorite Anime, Yu Yu Hakusho and Magic Knights RayEarth as learning materials. If you are a serious Anime fan and wish to understand what the characters are saying without reading the subtitles, but don\'t have the time or the money to hire a tutor or to take Japanese courses, then this is the class for you! Each day, I will introduce to you some Japanese using Anime characters\' voices.
• Reiko-chan's Japanese for Anime-Lovers
A Japanese learning site for use on a Japanese mobile phone designed for non-native speakers. Includes E<->J Dictionaries, Kanji Lookup tools, PhraseBooks, Quiz games, reading articles plus a heap more.

Editor\'s Note: this is a fee-based service, but it is just 300 yen per month...
• TangoTown
A basic introduction to Japanese grammar covering the following topics:
1. Introduction
2. Standard hiragana
3. Double hiragana
4. Other kana information
5. Numbers
6. Greetings
7. Basic grammar
8. Vocabulary
9. Dialogues
• Teach Yourself Japanese
This list has been broken up by category, that way you can find the things you\'re most interested in quickly and easily (without having to scroll through the entire list). Within each category, I\'ve listed resources starting with my favorites and working my way down. Those marked with a tofugu logo () are "Tofugu approved," which mostly just means they\'ll give you a warm and fuzzy feeling when using them (oh, and I would use the resource myself). Things that I just kinda-sorta like don\'t get a sexy fish next to their names.
• Tofugu’s 100 Best Resources For Learning Japanese
This site claims to be a one-stop shop for all your Japanese language needs. It isn\'t that, but it does have some interesting articles, interviews, and reviews.
• Total Quality Japanese
WWOOF Japan allows travelers to stay at places around Japan, receive meals, boarding, and learning with the local people at no cost, in return for helping the people with their work.

By the way, WWOOF originally stood for \'Weekend Workers on Organic Farms\'
• WWOOF Japan - Work Your Way Around Japan

Reading Material

Looks like a non-Japanese (aka USA, for now) Amazon Kindle store now stocks books in the Japanese language. This opens up some huge opportunities for study, though it does currently have its share of problems. Koichi spent the weekend reading terrible books and trying things out, though, so he\'d be able to share them with you.
• Amazon’s Kindle USA Now Offering Japanese eBooks; Here’s How To Study With Them
インターネットの電子図書館.

This site is completely in Japanese and is above my level, but I think it is an online library of Japanese writings that are no longer covered by copyright. There is no listing by level of difficulty but I guess all of the entries are for more advanced students. A downloadable ruby .zip version or an HTML version of each entry is available.
• Aozora (青空文庫)
I haven\'t read through these yet, but there are numerous essays in Japanese on this site.
• Canadian Association for Japanese Language Education 日本語ものがたり
This site offers lots of digitized versions of e-hon (picture books) and in multiple languages. You can see the books covered by picture or title indexes.

Editor\'s Note: the standard display is an image of the page so the text can\'t be highlighted (and thus is not useful for tools like rikaichan). But, if you choose the big characters (大きな字) option then the text is listed in large font below the pictures and can be highlighted and converted...
• Digital E-hon Site (デジタル絵本)
This site features several childrens books online, in flash format. They have cute little animated pictures, and are written mostly in hiragana. However, there is some kanji, but they all have furigana. Tales are the \'common\' ones, such as Momo the peach boy. Some of them also are accompanied by a voice reading the text, but not all. Great for reading practice if you can\'t find childrens books in your town or they\'re too expensive.
• DoCoMo Digital Library - 日本のむかしばなし
This site, no longer be updated, offers readings to aid your kanji study. There are 4 readings each for the beginner and intermediate levels and 9 readings for the advanced level. When reading, if you click on any unknown kanji its reading and meaning will appear in the lower left frame of the site.
• E-Kanji
Will at Nihongojouzu.com details his method for learning new vocabulary in context. Maybe it will work for you as well...
• Harry Potter and reading for vocabulary
This site offers a series of short readings. In fact, the title ひとくち can be translated as mouthful, one word or bite. Douwa is fairy tale.
• Hitokuchi Douwa (ひとくち童話 )
Harvey at JapanNewbie.com talks about using his Kindle to read Japanese.
• How I Use My Kindle
Harvey Beasley has produced a new blog based on the idea of learning Japanese through print ads and posters. Japanese Ads features one ad per post and Harvey\'s dissection of the meaning and cultural nuance therein. It is, like all great ideas, simple in its elegance and a great way to learn Japanese in the context of real word usage. Harvey does a great job of explaining how Japanese actually works and has a good time in the process. [courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]
• Japanese Ads - Learning Japanese Through Print Ads
A variety of recommendations (and articles) on pleasure reading for JSL students, covering the following topics:
- For Kids (& JSL Learners!)
- Fiction
- Non-fiction
- Movie & TV Reading
- Audio books
- Language Learning
• Japanese as a Second Language Pleasure reading (娯楽のための読書)
Just as the title implies, Kasumi Kobayashi reads classical Japanese literature in a clear soft voice appropriate for bedtime. If old-fashioned Japanese isn\'t your cup of tea, don\'t worry: some of the offerings are translated into modern Japanese. You can even hear what\'s arguably the most famous piece of classical Japanese literature: The Tale of Genji.

Note: Kobayashi-san offers a warning - that though she reads in Standard Japanese (標準語), her mother tongue is Tosa dialect(土佐弁) and she occasionally fails to switch.
• Japanese Classical Literature at Bedtime Podcast
Since it\'s normally pretty hard for beginners to find reading resources, Tofugu put together a list of resources for beginners to study with, listing them with a little bit about each including some suggestions on how to study with them.
• Japanese Reading Practice For Beginners
The University of Virginia Library Electronic Text Center and the University of Pittsburgh East Asian Library are pleased to sponsor the Japanese Text Initiative, a collaborative effort to make texts of classical Japanese literature available on the World Wide Web. I haven\'t read through the site yet, but it appears appropriate only for intermediate to advanced levels. There appear to be some really good novels and stories here. Some of the texts are given in multiple versions (with furigana, romaji, original/modern, English translation). Usually, these multiple versions can be displayed side by side in frames. Very cool. Finally, there is a search function which could be quite useful if you wanted to find examples of a grammar pattern or vocabulary word in literature.
• Japanese Text Initiative
Japanorama supplies Japan-related products and information to Japanophiles throughout the world. The site is mostly collections of Amazon affiliate links, but there are some free downloads, especially free e-books and screen savers that might be worthwhile.
• Japanorama
This site, written entirely in Japanese, offers numerous pages of Japanese reading aimed at covering everyday and other topics. Others have recommend the daily life/culture reading materials (「日常生活に見る日本の文化」読み教材).
• Ken Ijikevich Ujie's Reading Materials
Find online text and audio for various children\'s stories in Japanese. Stories include:
- いっすんぼうし
- うらしまたろう
- かぐやひめ
- かさじぞう
- かちかちやま
- さるとかに
- たなばた
- つるのおんがえし
- ももたろう
- やまんばと牛方
- 舌切りすずめ
• Logos Children's Library
This site offers up a series of short manga panels with translations and audio readings. The manga are listed by subject.
• Mangarama
This site offers daily comments in Japanese (left) and romaji (right). You can hear the entries as spoken .wav files by clicking the links under the romaji.
• Nihongo Everyday
This unique voice blog is great for reading and listening practice. Generally, posts are of various Japanese cultural topics (e.g. setsubun, business cards, geisha and maiko, Valentines day, etc.) and are long enough to be challenging but short enough to not be discouraging for less advanced students. And each post includes a native speaker reading the text. I recommend listening first to see how much you understand, then go through the text with a took like rikaichan and then listen again.
• Nippon VoiceBlog
This site is fantastic. Masahiro Kudo posts famous old Japanese stories in both Japanese and English about once a month (there are more than 170 as of this writing). He has also posted some famous Japanese songs.
• Old Stories of Japan (日本昔ばなし)
This site contains flash files for a selection of children\'s picture books.
• WEB絵本胡桃の森 (Web picture book walnut forest)
Adamu at MutantFrog Travelogue has written an excellent piece on the importance of developing good Japanese reading comprehension skills. Adamu points out a number of great resources for practicing reading and the discussions carried on in the comments sections make some good points too. [courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]
• Why Japanese reading comprehension matters
1. Yomihoudai is an application to help read Japanese text.
2. Texts are culled from the Web, Sources are Acknowledged wherever possible.
3. Texts are rendered in 3 ways:
1. Hyperlinked Words: Japanese text scraped from original pages, morphanalysed and linked to Edict/Enamdict dictionaries.
2. Hardcopy: Japanese text presented as a static page, with a vocabulary at the end.
3. ChaSen Morphanalysis: The morphemes as analysed by ChaSen, with JIS analysis, and links to Edict/Enamdict.
4. We assume familiarity with ひらがな (Hiragana) and カタカナ (Katakana).

Editor\'s Note: much of this site is made obsolete by tools like rikaichan, but you may find some of the articles they chose to present interesting...
• Yomihoudai
Looking for some light reading material? Try the letters page of the Yomiuri Shinbun. The letters make a great read because:
* they are free of painfully difficult kanji
* the writing is conversational and straightforward
* they are not too long
* we all like to read about things going wrong in other peoples\' lives

The subject matter varies from the mundane to the depressing but search a little and you are sure to find something to amuse you...Arm yourself with Moji and rikaichan and happy reading. [courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]
• Yomiuri Shinbun letters page (発言小町）
This site from Reading Tutor has reading material in Japanese and you can choose the difficulty level from 1 star easy to 5 stars difficult. The writing is supplemented by a dictionary of the word that you click on and the word is also added to your list at the bottom. Just check it out to get the picture.
• チュウ太の読解教材バンク (Reading Comprehension Teaching Materials Bank)
世界と日本の童話 - 昔話集
You can listen to some children\'s stories on this site. When you click "お話しを表示する", you can see the script.

• 福娘童話集 (fukumusumedouwashuu)
Tomoaki Watanabe not only reads the stories, he usually gives a little background on them. All of his podcasts are narration only, with no background music or sound effects, which makes them easy to listen to. [Charles Kelly Annotation]
• 阜ｻよみ作品集 (Hyogen Yomi Sakuhinshuu)
Here is a large collection of novels in electronic form.

Editor\'s Note: I am not sure if these are actually complete texts or just excerpts...
• 電子文藝館小説
As its name suggests, Undecided Title\'s topics are varied, but many are about Apple, iPods and technology. Helpfully, the transcripts for each show are on the website, meaning you can read along and learn some kanji, as well as looking up words that you don\'t know. [Charles Kelly Annotation]
• 題名未定キャスト (Daimei Mitei Cast)
Here is a collection of simple short reading stories about a character named BOTさん. The grammar and vocab appears appropriate for lower to intermediate level students.
• ＢＯＴさんのおはなし

Schools

The Association for the Promotion of Japanese Language Education is the certification body for what is commonly referred to as a "Japanese language school" intended for foreigners in Japan. If you plan to attend a specialized training college (vocational college), miscellaneous school or quasi-miscellaneous school that provides Japanese language education, be sure to confirm that it is a Japanese-language institute that meets specified standards and is certified by the Association for the Promotion of Japanese Language Education. If you enroll in such Japanese-language institutes, you will be eligible to enter Japan as a "college student" or "pre-college student."
• Association for the Promotion of Japanese Language Education
The Department of Asian Studies\' FALCON (Full-year Asian Language CONcentration) programs enable beginning students of Japanese to study in a concentrated and uninterrupted manner over a period of time long enough to gain working proficiency.

Editor\'s Note: I have heard good things about this program, but be warned it is quite expensive...
• Cornell FALCON Program
A site with useful materials to help your preparation for the Japanese proficiency test (Nihongo nouryoku shiken - JLPT). Includes the following JLPT sections:
- JLPT word online
- JLPT grammar (currently missing level 1)

In addition to JLPT content, the following sections also exist:
- Language exchange
- Need student? (find private students and teaching jobs in Japan)
- J-star (famous Japanese actress page)
- Animation (Japanese Anime & Manga information page,BBS,WEB etc.)
- Teacher bank (Looking for private Japanese teacher in your area?)
• e-Japanese
The Japanese Language Institute (JLI) is managed by the International Education Center, which was established in 1947and authorized as a nonprofit organization by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. The IEC is the parent organization of both the Japanese Language Institute and Nichibei Kaiwa Gakuin.

Editor\'s Note: This is the school where I studied for one 10-week term. I highly recommend it. One very nice aspect of the school is that a course lasts 10 weeks so you can take a course without needing a special educational visa.
• Japanese Language Institute (JLI), IEC
JOI is an online Japanese school. Learn Japanese online in real time. Take online Japanese classes - group classes, private lessons, or JLPT lessons - from native, professional Japanese teachers.

Connect a headset to your PC or Mac (webcam optional), and you have an instant online Japanese school. Learn Japanese at your pace from professional Japanese teachers.
• Japanese Online Institute (JOI)
"Nowadays, Japanese language schools are facing a new era in which their values are being questioned. Within this context, we at Kyoto Minsai Japanese Language School aim to give not only the meaning and information found in words through Japanese language education, but also an understanding of Japanese culture and the ways of thinking of Japanese people and their everyday life, through these experiences our students can explore the warmth of Japan with our living and breathing Japanese language program."
• Kyoto Minsai Japanese Language School
"With over 10,000 language schools teaching 88 languages in 115 countries, [this] is the largest online directory of language courses and language schools worldwide." Search in many languages for language to learn and location of program. Also includes information about language tests and certificates, online learning resources, and related travel material. From a company that has produced a language learning guidebook since 1985. [LII Annotation]
• Language Course Finder
The MIT Japan Program was established in 1981 with a small number of MIT students in science, engineering, and, later management. After spending two years learning the Japanese language these students were placed as interns in Japanese organizations: most of them stayed there for at least a year. From that small group, we grew. Up to now, over seven hundred young people went to Japan through the MIT Japan Program. Nearly half of these "alums" continue to work in Japan related positions.

Additionally, we have taught thousands of American business people and government employees about Japanese science and technology and how that science and technology is managed through workshops, symposia and working papers.

Today, the program is the largest and most comprehensive center of applied Japanese studies in the country.
• MIT-Japan Program
Various information for those interested in studying in Japan.
• Study in Japan Comprehensive Guide

Software / Tools

English speakers who study or use Japanese acutely aware of the lack of good, comprehensive Japanese-English dictionaries. The best paper dictionaries either are intended for native speakers of Japanese or list only words written in kanji. Free online dictionaries such as EDICT and Eijiro offer a good alternative, but because they provide only word equivalents, not explanations, their usefulness is limited.

In May 2000, a group of volunteers throughout the world began creating an open, free, online Japanese-English dictionary. The form and content of the dictionary are decided by the participants in the project. Among its features are the following:
- Definitions that explain the meaning of words as completely as possible
- As many examples as possible of each word in real contexts
- Photographs and other illustrations, especially for entries about uniquely Japanese things
- No restrictions on the type or range of vocabulary
- No restrictions on the length of entries

The dictionary has been named jeKai (je海), pronounced "jay-kai" or ジェーカイ.
• jeKai Japanese-English dictionary project
JFC is a basic Japanese flash card program designed to aid students learning Japanese. Much of JFC is designed to basically mimic what one would normally do with paper flash cards, except on a computer. There are a number of potential advantages to using a computer flash card program over a normal paper system:
1. One does not need a big stack of paper cards to keep track of. The disadvantage is that one needs to have access to a computer, but since JFC runs on Windows CE systems this is not a significant limitation.
2. JFC is integration with JWPce, allowing sharing of files and resources.
3. Because JFC is integrated with JFC it can use your color-kanji list from JWPce to determine what kanji you know and adjust the flash cards automatically for known kianji.
4. JFC can also use dictionary files to automatically supply kanji reading, kanji meanings and definitions of words.
5. The computer flash card system can keep track of cards that you frequently miss and adjust the flash card list automatically to emphasize words/kanji that are often missed.
• JFC (Japanese Flash Card) Program
This is a free Japanese word processor (and more) program that was originally based on the JWP free program (though note that JWPce is a different program from JWP and has a different feature set).
• JWPce
This site provides a widget that you can use to include a random kanji in your blog (or any website).
• Kanji My Blog
This is a Tetris-like matching game (ie. things move and you can\'t stop them) to make studying Japanese Kanji and the Chinese Hanzi characters fun. Basically, you have to match:
"kanji character"+"phonetic reading"+"English meaning"
to score points.

Current word lists follow the Basic Kanji Book series:
Basic Kanji Book vol. 1-2
Chieko Kano, Yuri Shimizu, Hiroko Takenaka, Eriko Ishii
Bonjinsha Co., Ltd.

Other sites may have created .LVL files for other books. (for example there are Bible files on the biblejapanese.com site)
• Kanji Trainer Penpen
KanjiGymLight is a Java based application for reviewing the 2042 kanji introduced in Jim Heisig\'s book Remembering the Kanji. It is designed to aid in kanji review via either 56 pre-set lessons or using the Heisig numbers. KanjiGymLight comes in a laptop/PC and a Palm version, needs the Java Runtime Environment and all you need do is register to download it.

The interface is straightforward - the Heisig keyword is given and a blank pallet enables you to write the kanji using a mouse or touchpad. Click the "Check" button and the kanji itself appears - compare it with what you wrote on the pallet and then mark yourself correct or not. A "Note" button allows you to add comments - for example you can write your particular story for that kanji - and saves automatically on quitting. Click the "Stroke order" button and see the kanji drawn as a small animation.

KanjiGymLight is the perfect companion to Remembering the Kanji - so long as you have access to your computer you don\'t need to lug around flashcards, but you will have to enter the mnemonic story for each kanji manually - hey, if all the stories, elements etc were included you wouldn\'t need to buy the book! Cheaper than WriteKanji, comes in English, German and French versions, works on both PCs and Macs and put togther by Jim Heisig himself. A must have. Just add time and effort.... [courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]
• KanjiGymLight
Want to study kanji but you left all your flashcards at home? Help is at hand because your iPod is not only musical but literate too.

kanjiPod is a program for generating sets of files for studying kanji on the iPod via the Notes feature. Programming maestros can download the Python based source code here and get cracking putting together personalised files, while code allergic mere mortals can simply download one of three pre-compiled dictionary files:
- Shimbun + Radicals set: of 844 kanji found in newspapers
- Jōyō Kanji 1-6 set: but note that 6 kanji were cut because of filesize restrictions
- JLPT 3/4 Kanji set: (not authoritative)
[courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]
• kanjiPod
KingKanji is an award winning Japanese / kanji flashcard program that emphasizes writing as well as reading. It includes stroke animation and automatic feedback for over 1,200 characters including first through sixth grade Joyo kanji and kana. A flashcard may contain single or multiple kanji and kana along with the English meaning. Over 294 lessons are included and additional kanji lessons can be created using the included Lesson Editor, Microsoft Word XP/2000, or a Japanese word processor. Available for PocketPC, PalmOS, and Windows.

Editor\'s Note: this program costs $25 and I haven\'t tried it myself, but I often come across web posts singing its praise, so I have listed it here...
• KingKanji
Another excellent innovation from the chaps at mozdev.org - the Moji extension for Firefox and Thunderbird. Moji is an integrated sidebar-dictionary aimed at helping people read Japanese (and Chinese) on the web. Simply select a single kanji or a whole word from whatever Japanese text you are reading and click on the respective button in the Moji sidebar to display the kanji reading and English meaning. The killer aspect of Moji is that any terms you look up stay in the sidebar until you erase them, so you can use Moji to read an article in Japanese, accumulate a list of all the kanji/words you couldn\'t read and then export that list as text or html. This is what differentiates it from say, rikaichan, which gives you the appropriate reading on the fly without letting you make a list. [courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]
• Moji Firefox Extension
Will at Nihongojouzu.com has a review of the Nintendo DS Lite, which apparently makes a nice alternative to the standard denshi jisho choices, especially since it includes a stylus so you can write kanji.
• Nintendo DS Lite
Another reason to migrate to Firefox - rikaichan, from Polarcloud.com , is a Firefox extension that displays a popup showing the English definition of Japanese words as your cursor passes over them.　Enabled/disabled with a simple right mouse-click rikaichan is the perfect companion when you browse the 新聞、朝日新聞　or 日経新聞　online. But there\'s more. Installing rikaichan puts a Lookup a Word item in the Tool menu - click it and a dictionary search box appears in your browser navbar. Sweet. rikaichan was based on Todd Rudick\'s excellent RikaiXUL, but is faster and easier to use. It uses the EDICT and KANJIDICT dictionaries. [courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]

Editor\'s Note: I LOVE this tool - it\'s more convenient than going to PopJisyo or Rikai.com and I have actually found it to be more robust in some ways...
• rikaichan
Samurai Kanji is a 2042-kanji flash-card application for PDA\'s (PalmOS, SymbianOS, or Windows CE) intended for drilling after studying James Heisig\'s Remembering the Kanji I.

What primarily makes this kanji flash-card application different from other, similar applications is that the kanji are divided into the same lessons that Heisig uses in his book. The user can then choose which lessons to drill on as the user progresses through the book. The cards can be reshuffled, and do not repeat until all cards in all selected lessons have been viewed. The user can also choose to drill from the English word to the kanji, or from the kanji to the English word.
• Samurai Kanji
Peter Rivard has written an article about setting up a PDA to be a super dictionary.
• The Super Dictionary
WaKan is a freeware tool to assist in learning the Japanese and Chinese languages. It contains a character dictionary, a word dictionary, a vocabulary manager, a translation tool, a simple text editor and many other helpful functions, including the printing of flashcards.

One of the main goals of this project is to enable students to read Japanese or Chinese text with minimum knowledge of the language. You can paste Japanese or Chinese text from a website or a document into Wakan. While browsing through the text, Wakan displays not only the meaning of the word the cursor is on, but also displays information about characters, adds furigana to text and allows you to print the text with the furigana. When you encounter a word or character you would like to learn, you can add it into vocabulary or get to know additional information about it. When you enter some Japanese or Chinese text into the editor, Wakan automatically displays relevant dictionary entries and lets you choose the right character conversion. These features enable you to learn the language and build a vocabulary in a natural way: By coping with the real texts written in the real way (with all the characters) without becoming frustrated with the difficult writing system.
• WaKan

Translate

Babel Fish is a well-known site that will allow you to translate a block of text or a web page. I leave it to you to decide how accurate it is...
• Babel Fish Translation
Denshi Jisho is a web-based Japanese dictionary with word, kanji and sentence databases drawn from the WWWJDIC project. The site has a simple, clean design, but beyond that it also has a number of helpful features which make it more than just a pretty interface for Jim Breen\'s dictionaries.
1. search results also link to Example Sentences, Kanji Details, Goo Jisho, Yahoo Jisho, Google, Google Image, JeKai, JGram, Wiktionary and Japanese Wikipedia.
2. When you hover over search results a big, juicy magnified version appears, making it easier to read.
3. In the event your search returns no result, Denshi Jisho refers you to other dictionaries.
4. A "search by radical" function that is faster than the WWWJDIC server.
[courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]
• Denshi Jisho
According to several of my Japanese friends, this is the best online dictionary available. That said, it is far more useful to native speakers than non-native speakers. Still, this is a great "secondary" source to help when your primary source (e.g. WWWJDIC) leaves you unsure. Another strength is its sample sentences which really help figure out if a word is appropriate for your intended use.
• Eijiro on the Web (ALC)
This site lets you input a URL and then it will display it with furigana.

Editor\'s Note: with the development of tools like rikaichan I don\'t see a strong need for this site, but it may suit some people\'s tastes so I am adding it...
• Hiragana no Megane
With this online dictionary you can lookup the details and pronunciations of Kanji. Each Kanji is presented by a grade, a stroke count, an enlarging image with Kyokasho (Kyoukasho) font, stroke order, radical, English meaning, On-yomi (phonetic reading), Kun-yomi (native Japanese reading), the example of each reading, and special reading. Moreover, each Kanji has audio files so you can listen to the pronunciation of the reading(s), example(s), and special reading(s). These audio files are pronounced by native speaker of Japanese.
• Japanese Kanji Dictionary (with Sound)
JEDict is multilingual dictionary for Mac computers that is capable of searching any plain text files including:
* all Japanese-English dictionaries from Monash University FTP Archive.
* Wadoku JT (Japanisch-Deutsches elektronisches Wörterbuch).
* .DIC and .DZ dictionaries from BEDIC project.
* XDXF files.
* EIJIRO files (not free).

Originally JEDict was developed as Japanese-English dictionary, therefore it supports all conceivable methods of kanji lookup. JEDict has an internal text editor, multilingual user dictionary, JLPT list viewer and web browser with contextual word translation. [Hat Tip to Nihongojouzu.com]
• JEDict
This has similar functionality as Jim Breen\'s WWWJDIC (uses the same underlying dictionary files). I\'m not entirely sure of the differences but I think they are mainly just cosmetic so you can decide which you are more comfortable using. Someone correct me if there are in fact major functional differnces.
• Jeffrey's Japanese&#8660;English Dictionary Server
English speakers who study or use Japanese acutely aware of the lack of good, comprehensive Japanese-English dictionaries. The best paper dictionaries either are intended for native speakers of Japanese or list only words written in kanji. Free online dictionaries such as EDICT and Eijiro offer a good alternative, but because they provide only word equivalents, not explanations, their usefulness is limited.

In May 2000, a group of volunteers throughout the world began creating an open, free, online Japanese-English dictionary. The form and content of the dictionary are decided by the participants in the project. Among its features are the following:
- Definitions that explain the meaning of words as completely as possible
- As many examples as possible of each word in real contexts
- Photographs and other illustrations, especially for entries about uniquely Japanese things
- No restrictions on the type or range of vocabulary
- No restrictions on the length of entries

The dictionary has been named jeKai (je海), pronounced "jay-kai" or ジェーカイ.
• jeKai Japanese-English dictionary project
This site is an absolute god-send for those studying Japanese! I live by it. Use it as a simple dictionary or use its much more advanced features which include:
- Translate (great for inputting an entire email sent to you in Japanese for example)
- Find Kanji (multiple methods)
- Handwritten Interface
- Mobile phone access
- Check out Kanji stroke order
• Jim Breen's WWWJDIC Dictionary Server
Typical features of a denshi-jisho (wa-ei, ei-wa, kanji, etc.) but accessible online. You can also add the dictionary functionality directly to your browser.

Note: this site is in Japanese
• Lycos Online Electronic Dictionary
The nciku Japanese Dictionary brings together three essential language learning tools: Japanese, English and Bilingual dictionaries to help you fully understand a word, with kanji details and audio pronunciation; an innovative handwriting recognition tool to help you look up Japanese words you see written down but don\'t know how to type; and a range of customized vocabulary lists and memorization tests to help you build up your vocabulary.

nciku comes from our Chinese name "n词酷", pronounced ncíkù (\'εn\'tsɪku / en-suh-koo). "n" stands for "next", while "词" means "word" and "酷" means "cool". cíkù is also the sound of "词库", which means "warehouse full of words".
• nciku Japanese Dictionary
This online dictionary site offers Chinesse, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Russian in addition to Japanese. Unfortunately, the E-J and the J-E pages are separate right now but otherwise it seems to work fast and offers sample sentences where available.
• Online-Dictionary.biz
This is a great site! Enter the address of a webpage which has Japanese encoding into the URL box. In the Dictionary next to that, choose the type of translation you want to perform and hit GO. Now the new page will show pop-ups in English of the meanings of the words as you pass your mouse over them. Similar to Rikai.com - but maybe even better...

When you\'re at this site be sure to pick up the bookmarklets which lets you click a button on your browser toolbar to automatically call up the POPjisyo translated page from any page you are visiting - similar to the PetitKanji bookmarklets but useful for the whole page...

The site also has RSS/RDF word feeds that might be helpful in your studies...
• POPjisyo.com
The Reading Tutor was designed to help JFL/JSL learners improve their reading skills in Japanese. This system was developed specifically to help learners study written Japanese at their own pace, in their own way.

Here\'s what is in the toolbox to help you start reading Japanese or improve the skills you already have.

Dictionary Tool:
- Japanese-Japanese Dictionary Tool
Just click on the button marked "JP->JP" and you\'ll find all the words with an explanation in Japanese, their English equivalents, and furigana.
- Japanese-English Dictionary Tool
Click on the button marked "JP->EN" and you\'ll find all the words with an explanation in English, their English equivalents, and furigana.

Level Checker:
- Vocabulary Level Checker
Click on "Vocabulary" and all the words in a text will be analyzed according to their level of difficulty. These levels correspond to the 4 levels in the Japanese Language Proficiency Test.
- Kanji Level Checker
Click on "KANJI" and the Kanji (characters) that appear in the text will be analyzed according to their level on the Japanese Language Proficiency Test.
• Reading Tutor
This site is incredibly useful - just paste a URL or selected Japanese text, hit Go and you will see your page or text reproduced but with a twist - when you mouse over a word you will see a definition and readings for that word.

Note: POPjisyo.com offers more or less the same thing and is, apparently, an imitator of this site. You can\'t go wrong with either site, but I actually prefer POPjisyo a bit because it seems to include some non-Kanji words (not always accurate though). It also uses a different dictionary at its foundation which is sometimes better.
• Rikai
Another reason to migrate to Firefox - rikaichan, from Polarcloud.com , is a Firefox extension that displays a popup showing the English definition of Japanese words as your cursor passes over them.　Enabled/disabled with a simple right mouse-click rikaichan is the perfect companion when you browse the 新聞、朝日新聞　or 日経新聞　online. But there\'s more. Installing rikaichan puts a Lookup a Word item in the Tool menu - click it and a dictionary search box appears in your browser navbar. Sweet. rikaichan was based on Todd Rudick\'s excellent RikaiXUL, but is faster and easier to use. It uses the EDICT and KANJIDICT dictionaries. [courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]

Editor\'s Note: I LOVE this tool - it\'s more convenient than going to PopJisyo or Rikai.com and I have actually found it to be more robust in some ways...
• rikaichan
Tagaini Jisho is a free, open-source Japanese dictionary and kanji lookup tool that is available for Windows, MacOS X and Linux and aims at becoming your Japanese study assistant. It allows you to quickly search for entries and mark those that you wish to study, along with tags and personal notes. It also let you train entries you are studying and follows your progression in remembering them. Finally, it makes it easy to review entries you did not remember by listing them on screen or printing them on a small booklet.

Tagaini Jisho also features complete stroke order animations for more than 6000 kanji.
• Tagaini Jisho
Tangorin is a free online Japanese dictionary and learning tool combining words and kanji search with example sentences and custom vocabulary lists. Tangorin includes 18 different glossaries and various look up methods.

Editor\'s Note: for an interview with the creator of the dictionary, see http://www.tofugu.com/2012/10/10/tangorin-interview/
• Tangorin 「単語林」ｵﾝﾗｲﾝ和英辞典
Peter Rivard has written an article about setting up a PDA to be a super dictionary.
• The Super Dictionary
Translating documents from desktop applications is always a bit difficult due to inadequate translating resources provided (if at all) by applications, such as, text editors, word processors and messenger application. Transmiti is a Google Powered portable application which is capable of translating text from any application. It can translate selected text or entire documents using a hotkey. You can either copy the translation to clipboard or replace the current text with the translation (if applicable). Transmiti supports translations to and from all languages supported by Google Translate. Transmiti is quite similar to the previously reviewed Linguarde, however unlike Linguarde, the pop-up window contaning the translation is quite stable and does not vanish unless you close it manually. Transmiti works from system tray and requires being launched whenever you require translating text. You can set translation preferences by double clikcing on system tray icon. The Settings tab allows setting the language in which the text is to be translated to. You can leave the Translate From option to Automatic, so Transmiti can detect the current language automatically. The Additional action drop down menu provides the option to either automatically copy the translated text to clipboard or to replace the current text with the translated text. The default hotkey for translating text is the Windows key, however, you can change it by selecting an alternative key from the drop down menu (e.g. F1). [AddictiveTips annotation]
• Transmiti
Enter the dictionary form of a Japanese verb and click the button.

Editor\'s Note: I haven\'t used the site yet, and based on the description the conjugation is based on a programmatic algorithm which may or may not be robust enough to do the job. But, it seems like a good addition to the online Japanese language learning universe.
• Ultra Handy Japanese Verb Conjugator
This online dictionary is "based off the Kenkyusha dictionaries. The English entries are good, but the Japanese entries are superb, breaking the word down into all of its potential meanings(including peripheral or metaphorical ones), cross-linking most of the compounds in its definition to other entries and in many cases giving example sentences. It is definitely more useful for intermediate and advanced students... It took a bit of effort to get used to reading the entries in Japanese, but after looking up a few lower level words, you can easily get a feel for how things tend to work. Cannot recommend enough." [annotation from Tanuki, commenting on Tofugu.com]
• weblio
Websaru.info is a free online Japanese learning resource dedicated in helping English speakers to get inside Japanese language and culture.

NOTE: doesn\'t appear to accept romaji input for Japanese to English or be as generally robust and useful as some of the others available.
• Websaru

Video / Audio

If you want to find out about the sights, sounds and experiences of daily life in Japan this vlog site is well worth a click. Nathan Miller offers up a steady stream of videos, most of which include subtitles.
• Bicycle-sidewalk.
An Internet Broadcasting Site developed by Richard Harrison in the Education Center for International Students, Nagoya University, Japan. Includes multiple lessons geared toward intermediate, advanced and superior levels.
• ECIS Internet Broadcast (インタネート放送局)
This video series (originally TV and DVD) now has a web version. Each episode features two skits (basic and advanced) focusing on a grammar topic, discussion of the grammar and various cultural videos.

The skits and cultural videos are subtitled in normal japanese, kana only, romaji, or japanese + English making them open to many level sets. The navigation is currently in Japanese only but an English version is planned. [Hat tip to jyuichi ]
• Erin's Challenge
A few videos for learning Japanese that are freely available on Google video.
• George and Keiko
How to learn, and not learn, to speak Japanese
• Good Learner, Bad Learner
Find various audio and text files with associated exercises covering beginners\', continuers\', extension and background speakers\' courses.
• HSC Online - Japanese Course Materials
Irasshai gets up close and intimate with video learners through the easy, engaging manner of Dr. Tim Cook, the course instructor. Tim takes students on a personal journey to where Japanese is spoken, sometimes to predictable places-inside a Japanese home or an office building in Tokyo. Sometimes the places are less predictable, such as a sushi bar in Atlanta or a fishing hole in the Appalachians.

Guided by standards established by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), Irasshai was developed as a two-year course in Japanese language and culture.
• Irasshai Video Lesson Website
Learn Japanese with our free Japanese lessons in podcast format. We use examples from anime and everyday conversation to teach you Japanese that is useful for everyday life. Hitomi-sensei is from Tokyo and will teach you to speak with the most common Japanese accent.
• Japancast.net
Just as the title implies, Kasumi Kobayashi reads classical Japanese literature in a clear soft voice appropriate for bedtime. If old-fashioned Japanese isn\'t your cup of tea, don\'t worry: some of the offerings are translated into modern Japanese. You can even hear what\'s arguably the most famous piece of classical Japanese literature: The Tale of Genji.

Note: Kobayashi-san offers a warning - that though she reads in Standard Japanese (標準語), her mother tongue is Tosa dialect(土佐弁) and she occasionally fails to switch.
• Japanese Classical Literature at Bedtime Podcast
This website was created for people who want to study Japanese by watching movies and/or TV. The text is only written in Hiragana and Katakana.
• Japanese TV and movies' transcripts
Will at Nihongojouzu.com offers up his strategies for finding good Japanese video content on YouTube.
• Japanese TV on Youtube
Bite size pieces of intermediate Japanese for your ears 神田Podsayings is a daily podcast featuring Japanese sayings with brief explanations, which at 30-60 seconds per episode won\'t spoil your listening appetite. The site is all Japanese, but nothing a judicious application of rikaichan or LiveDictionary can\'t fix. [courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]
• Kanda (神田) Podsayings Podcast
Not only does this podcast have the coolest title image ever it features some of the most laid back yet instantly useful Japanese lessons around. The lessons contain real samples of language as actually used by Japanese people plus commentary by host Alex Brooke, who is obviously having a good time recording the material - a point which makes the whole thing so much easier to listen to. [courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]
• Learn Japanese Podcast
Let\'s Learn Japanese is a video-based Japanese language study course for English speakers produced by The Japan Foundation. It consists of 52 video lessons, divided into two parts (Basic I and Basic II). Each part consists of 26 episodes, and the episodes explain grammatical structures, new words and cultural information about Japan.

According to Wikipedia, the first part (Basic I) was made in the mid 1980\'s, and the second part (Basic II) was created in the mid 1990\'s as a video-based Japanese language study course for English speakers. And all episodes of both parts were aired on television.
• Let's Learn Japanese
This site offers up a series of short manga panels with translations and audio readings. The manga are listed by subject.
• Mangarama
Don\'t let the full title fool you: "Osaka dialect 大阪弁 Japanese lesson in English" - Mayumi K\'s podcast is fully bilingual, with Mayumi speaking in Osaka-ben and then repeating the words in English. Along the way she also throws in vocab explanations and speaking tips. At 5 minutes a serve the podcast is a good length for repeated listens. The level is intermediate and it is a nice touch that Mayumi doesn\'t make concessions in her speech but zooms along at normal speed. Easy on the ears, useful content and full scripts on the accompanying website. Even if you aren\'t keen on speaking the Kansai dialect you should at least get accustomed to its features - who knows - you may even start enjoying manzai. Recommended. [courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]
• Mayumi K's Osaka dialect 大阪弁 Japanese Podcast
Is your audio cupboard looking bare? You may be interested in this cache of listening goodies. mp3japan is an archive of mp3 files from the NHK audio series "Basic Japanese for You" and "Brush Up Your Japanese" which are only available in streaming form on the NHK site. 100 and 50 episodes respectively, 3-4Mb per episode. Knock yourself out. [courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]
• mp3japan
MyKikitori is a fun and easy way to practice kikitori (listening comprehension) for beginning learners of Japanese. It is based on the textbook, Genki: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese Volume 1. It is FREE and there is no need to sign up for an account. Lessons come equipped with audio lessons and quizzes.
• MyKikitori
This website provides you with the reedited versions of "Basic Japanese for You" and "Brush Up Your Japanese" that are designed for the Internet users. Their original versions are on the air on NHK World Radio Japan, that is the overseas shortwave service of NHK.
• NHK World Japanese Lessons
Another excellent podcast, but this one is aimed at intermediate and advanced students of Japanese. While Learn Japanese mixes wry English commentary with samples of Japanese conversation, Nihongo-Juku is an all Japanese affair. Narrator Rieko discusses common mistakes and areas of improvement garnered from her efforts teaching her American husband to speak Japanese. The material is relevant and practical - for example, how to accept compliments, what pronoun to use when talking about yourself and in my favourite episode Rieko lists the phrases which male learners of Japanese should avoid if they don\'t want to sound like 16 year old schoolgirls, and even provides the more manly equivalents. Each podcast is short - all are under 6 minutes and most are under 3 - making them perfect for when you (a) don\'t have a lot of time or (b) can\'t psych yourself into listening to a 20 minute news segment from the Yomiuri Shinbun. Sound good? There\'s more - the companion blog has full transcripts of each podcast and for those too lazy or procrastinatory to install rikaichan or LiveDictionary you\'re in luck - the transcripts come complete with vocab lists of the meatier expressions. [courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]
• Nihongo Juku - A resource for students of Japanese
Beginning dialogs done with Flash. All are related to being a student (classroom, teachers, schoolmates, etc.) While this seems simplistic, there is actually a lot of material presented and quite a bit of vocabulary. If you visit the main page, you will find that versions exist for English, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese and Cambodian. To get those to work, use the ? marker on each page.
• Nihongo o Manabou (にほんごをまなぼう)
Want to learn or improve your Japanese? Tune in, listen, repeat, and learn. Improve your listening comprehension, speaking, build your vocabulary, or learn some new expressions. nihongo.fm Radio plays up-to-date, useful Japanese words, phrases and expressions.
• nihongo.fm
This unique voice blog is great for reading and listening practice. Generally, posts are of various Japanese cultural topics (e.g. setsubun, business cards, geisha and maiko, Valentines day, etc.) and are long enough to be challenging but short enough to not be discouraging for less advanced students. And each post includes a native speaker reading the text. I recommend listening first to see how much you understand, then go through the text with a took like rikaichan and then listen again.
• Nippon VoiceBlog
Japanese drama is a pretty excellent way to study Japanese. Watching it is one thing... but actually actively studying it is another. I will tell you exactly how to do that and get a ton of benefit compared to the time spent.

Editor\'s Note: some good links and suggestions in the comments section as well.
• Studying With Japanese Drama: The Step-By-Step Guide
A podcastin both English and Japanese, geared mostly toward beginners (based on my very limited sampling).
• TalkSushi Learn Japanese Podcast
Your broadband Portal to watch live TV broadcasts and on demand TV broadcasts on the Internet (wwiTV.com is an index to streaming media available on the web). When I last checked there were 19 live television feeds listed and 15 broadband TV feeds listed.
• wwwiTV (World Wide Internet TV)
Access various course materials from York University\'s Japanese Studies Program on this site. Materials include vocabulary lists, lesson notes and dialogues, reading materials, exercises, dictation practice sounds, and quicktime videos for the following:
- Elementary Modern Standard Japanese
- Intermediate Modern Standard Japanese
- Advanced Modern Standard Japanese
- Advanced Reading in Contemporary Japanese

Additional content includes:
- Brief History of Japan
- E -J Classified Vocabulary
- J - E Idiomatic Expressions (Advanced)
- Manuscript Paper (Genkoo Yooshi)
• York University Japanese Studies Program Materials
These voice blog entries are short, so they are good for repeated listening. Background music is absent, so there\'s only one person to blame for your incomprehension. Not aimed at students of Japanese, but enjoyable nonetheless. [Charles Kelly Annotation]
• あまね☆ごえ (amanegoe)
This site has animated every day situation conversations in Japanese. There are 3 levels for every conversation: beginner, intermediate and advanced and the conversation becomes of course more and more complicated (and more natural sounding) within every level.
• ちまたの日本語 - "Real World" Japanese
This is a good example of a blog-like podcast in which a Japanese girl talks about her daily life in an "audio diary." It is a high-quality recording with no background music, making it good for language study. [Charles Kelly Annotation]
• 怜祈の日常ですよ？(Reiki no Nichijou Desu Yo)
The daily news in Japanese. It sounds pretty much like regular radio news, albeit with the added advantage that you can pause the show and look up unfamiliar words, or rewind and listen to difficult parts again. [Charles Kelly Annotation]
• 読売ニュースポッドキャスト (Yomiuri News Podcast)
Tomoaki Watanabe not only reads the stories, he usually gives a little background on them. All of his podcasts are narration only, with no background music or sound effects, which makes them easy to listen to. [Charles Kelly Annotation]
• 阜ｻよみ作品集 (Hyogen Yomi Sakuhinshuu)
As its name suggests, Undecided Title\'s topics are varied, but many are about Apple, iPods and technology. Helpfully, the transcripts for each show are on the website, meaning you can read along and learn some kanji, as well as looking up words that you don\'t know. [Charles Kelly Annotation]
• 題名未定キャスト (Daimei Mitei Cast)

Vocabulary / Phrases

Online resource guru Charles Kelly has just uploaded a Flash-based quiz on the ii-adjectives marked as commonly used in EDICT as of 2006-07-14. Straightforward stuff - you are given an adjective in kanji/kana and you have to pick the correct meaning from 4 or 5 options (depends on which quiz you pick). I gave it a whirl, did 100 questions and got paddled - only 82% correct. A lot of sneaky bastard never-heard-in-conversation chaps like ねばりづよい　and いちじるしい, which makes it perfect for people studying for JLPT 1kyu. English-日本語 quizzes too. [courtesty of Nihongojouzu.com]
• 261 Commonly-Used Japanese Adjectives
This site contains some of the common terms heard in anime and gives their explanations.
• Common Japanese Terms in Anime
Each language has different ways of counting objects. Japanese uses counters. They are similar to English expressions such as "a cup of ~," "a sheet of ~" and so on. There are a variety of counters, often based on the shape of the object. The counters are attached directly to a number (e.g. ni-hai, san-mai). When combining a number with a counter, the pronunciation of the number or the counter might change. Click the link for each counter to learn about the phonetic change.
• Counters
This site offers quizzes to help you learn and review vocabulary (part of The Internet TESL Journal\'s Activities for ESL Students). Tons of subjects are covered, some available in romanized Japanese to English and the rest in English to Japanese.
• English-Japanese Vocabulary Quizzes
Excel@Japanese is a new way to learn vocabulary and Kanji quickly to prepare you for all levels of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test or general reading fluency. Download the Excel@Japanese spreadsheet to learn up to 7000 Japanese words and their Kanji.

Features:
* Covers all Kanji vocabulary words from all JLPT levels. We will be adding all JLPT non-Kanji vocabulary shortly.
* Simple to use. Just press "Start Test" for randomized flashcards.
* Checks pronunciation entered in hiragana or virtually any Romanization system including Hepburn and Kunrei-shiki.
* Sophisticated knowledge fading model tests you frequently on words that provide you the most trouble without wasting your time by constantly reviewing words you know well.
* Great for beginner through advanced students since it progresses in JLPT order.
* Automatically displays your progress over time in Excel charts
• Excel@Japanese
healthhokkaido\'s symptom translator lets you choose a list of your symptoms and have them translated into a printer friendly bilingual format that you can take to the doctor.
• healthhokkaido Symptom Translator
Will at Nihongojouzu thought it would be fun to insert examples of sound words (onomatopoeia) into an account of an average day in the life of an Assistant Language Teacher in a public school in Japan. This way readers can see immediately how to use these nifty word devices in context.
• Japanese Onomatopoeia in Action
Learning in context makes sense - the relevancy of the words helps aid memorisation and use. The problem of learning words as you meet them is that you will never learn words you never meet! One way is to supplement contextual learning with some good old fashioned word lists. Then the question becomes "What words should I learn?"

A Swadesh list is a list of basic vocabulary developed by linguist Maurice Swadesh for the purposes of studying the evolution of languages, and contains a set of 207 basic words which can be found in every language. Beyond their use in glottochronology (ie language genealogy) Swadesh lists make great vocabulary self assessment tests for beginning language learners. [courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]
• Japanese Swadesh List
This page contains a quiz covering JLPT 2 verbs. See the bottom of the page for links to quizes for JLPT level 2 adjectives, nouns and other words.
• JLPT - Level 2 Vocabulary Quizzes
This page contains a quiz covering JLPT 3 verbs. See the bottom of the page for links to quizes for JLPT level 3 adjectives, nouns and other words.
• JLPT - Level 3 Vocabulary Quizzes
This page contains a quiz covering JLPT 4 verbs. See the bottom of the page for links to quizes for JLPT level 4 adjectives, nouns and other words.
• JLPT - Level 4 Vocabulary Quizzes
The quiz is based on 727 words of vocab from the JLPT Level 4 Vocabulary List put together by Peter van der Woude (though keep in mind that there are no official JLPT lists of vocabulary). [hat tip to Nihongojouzu.com]
• JLPT Level 4 Vocabulary Quiz
This page lists the complete JLPT vocabulary lists in UTF-8 format, as printed in the official specification book (Japanese Language Proficiency Test: Test Content Specification, The Japan Foundation and Association of International Eduation, 1994-1997).
• JLPT Vocabulary Lists
Bite size pieces of intermediate Japanese for your ears 神田Podsayings is a daily podcast featuring Japanese sayings with brief explanations, which at 30-60 seconds per episode won\'t spoil your listening appetite. The site is all Japanese, but nothing a judicious application of rikaichan or LiveDictionary can\'t fix. [courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]
• Kanda (神田) Podsayings Podcast
This game shows you an English word and asks you to type in the Japanese (you can hear the Japanese word and character as you click on the Kana keys).
• Language Express Kana Game
English-to-Japanese dictionary/database project for scientific words/phrases. Files available, as well as information about the project.
• Life Science Dictionary Project
This project was first started as a desktop application to help the author quickly recall the Japanese vocabulary in the Minna No Nihongo textbooks. That program was ported to the web so that he could share it with others.

The question order and "filler" (or "other possible") answers are randomized each time you start a new quiz. This should keep the learning fresh and exciting.
• minna no benkyou
Nathan Mrvichin, a student at the University of Texas Austin, created an online program to review the Yookoso vocabulary. It has all of Yookoso! Introduction vocab (vol 1) for a review, and he is adding Yookoso! Continuing vocab (vol 2) as we go along in class. It is a very good self assessment tool.

Editor\'s Note: the explanations and format of the site need some help, but stick with the four links at the top and you will be o.k.
• Nathan Mrvichin's Nihongo stoof (Yookoso! vocabulary)
Beginning dialogs done with Flash. All are related to being a student (classroom, teachers, schoolmates, etc.) While this seems simplistic, there is actually a lot of material presented and quite a bit of vocabulary. If you visit the main page, you will find that versions exist for English, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese and Cambodian. To get those to work, use the ? marker on each page.
• Nihongo o Manabou (にほんごをまなぼう)
A collection of Japanese expressions, words and other amusing bits and pieces discovered on a Japanese learning journey.
• Nihongo Shticks
Want to learn or improve your Japanese? Tune in, listen, repeat, and learn. Improve your listening comprehension, speaking, build your vocabulary, or learn some new expressions. nihongo.fm Radio plays up-to-date, useful Japanese words, phrases and expressions.
• nihongo.fm
Japanese is filled with onomatopoeic phrases, the word that describe sound or action directly. There are two categories: giongo and gitaigo. Giongo are the words which express voice or sounds. Gitatigo are the words which express actions, states or human emotions.
• Onomatopoeic Expressions
Neko (cats) are regarded as both auspicious and fearful in Japan. Learn some of many expressions including cats.
• Relationships with Animals: Cats
renshuu.org is a collection of resources and personalized tools for studying and mastering Japanese vocabulary and kanji. Information exists for the Genki, Intermediate Japanese, Japanese for Busy People, JLPT and Kanji Kentei.

You can use this site without registering, but the free registration allows you access to personal quiz history, a quiz scheduler (great for the JLPT!), and an advanced quiz system that keeps track of often-missed vocab to help reinforce difficult vocabulary.
• renshuu.org
This is a collection of easy Japanese phrases. Speaking Japanese shouldn\'t be too complicated even for beginners. Try these simple phrases whenever you have a chance. The more you practice, the better you get! The Japanese writings for each phrase are included for your reading and writing practice. New phrases will be added every week.

Editor\'s Note: one nice aspect of this feature is that if a phrase sounds feminine a more masculine form is also provided.
• Simple Japanese Phrases
Let\'s learn common expressions used on the phone. Don\'t be intimidated by phone calls. Practice makes perfect!
• Talking on the Phone
These 100 words will get you through an untold number of situations, problems, and feelings, just by knowing these all-important words. I\'m not saying that there aren\'t any other important words out there (and I hope you add to the list by commenting below), but I do think this list of 100 words will get you really, really far if you are, for some reason, only limited to learning 100 words. Enjoy!
• The 100 Most Important Japanese Words You Should Know
Yoji-jukugo are idiomatic expressions made up of four kanji characters. Japanese is normally written with three types of scripts: kanji, hiragana and katakana, but these idiomatic words are written in kanji only and with no kana between them.

Yoji-jukugo contain classical wisdom or morals in short phrases. In English there are words that people use which make them sound intelligent or denote higher education. Japanese also has words that educated people are more likely to know. Yoji-jukugo are such words. There are hundreds of yoji-jukugo. Some of them are not even familiar to the Japanese, therefore they are often asked at a school\'s entrance examination to test one\'s knowledge.
• Yoji-Jukugo
Kasumi Kobayashi reads lists of words so you can practice pronunciation. The lists are published on her website, so you can follow along, painlessly learning the kanji for each word. This website is aimed at French speakers, but there\'s a lot of good stuff here even for non-Francophones.
• 気ままに日本語　(Kimama ni, Nihongo)
How many words do you know in Japanese? Take the 語彙数推定テスト (Vocabulary Assessment Test) and find out. You will be presented with a list of 50 words - just tick the boxes next to the ones you know (be honest!) and based on how many of these representative words you know the page will spit out an assessment of your vocabulary. Compare your score with the vocabulary of an average Japanese student:

小学生レベル： ５千〜２万語
中学生レベル： ２万〜４万語
高校生レベル： ４万〜４万５千語
大学生レベル： ４万５千〜５万語

Warning: it can be very humbling......:-)
[courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]
• 語彙数推定テスト (Vocabulary Assessment Test)
Nihongoresources offers a semi-detailed look at kansaiben, including syntax, grammar and vocabulary.
• 関西弁 (kansai dialect)

All work and no play make Yoshi a dull boy...

Postings in Japanese; Japanese language software.
• alt.japanese.text
No description available...
• bit.listserv.japan
The nature of research in Japan. (Moderated)
• comp.research.japan
Topics on life of foreigners in Japan
• fj.life.in-japan
Traveling in Japan.
• fj.rec.travel.japan
Bilingual Japanese/English with native speakers.
• k12.lang.japanese
The Japanese language, both spoken and written.
• sci.lang.japan
Everything Japanese, except the Japanese language.
• soc.culture.japan

Useful site from those who teach

As you may know, MIT has committed to putting all of their course materials online. To benefit from that, visit their Japanese materials site, which is navigable by year/course#
• MIT Japanese Language Program Materials

Recommended books for studying Japanese

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• All About Particles: A Handbook of Japanese Function Words
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• Basic Connections: Making Your Japanese Flow
This book was formerly available under the more intriguing title Gone Fishin\': New Angles on Perenial Problems. I highly recommend this book for all intermediate- or higher students of Japanese. It has been one of the most helpful books I have ever read since it deals with perennial problems that Japanese students deal with.
• Making Sense of Japanese: What the Textbooks Don't Tell You
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• 13 Secrets for Speaking Fluent Japanese
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• 2001 kanji: Structure analysis, association method, fully cross referenced, fast visual index
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• A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters
David M. Mosher\'s Review of Kenneth Henshall\'s "A Guide to Remembering the Japanese Characters." A balanced evaluation of what the reviewer calls the "potential strengths and drawbacks of (the) approach" taken in this well-known work. Mosher also considers two other popular guides, James Heisig\'s "Remembering the Kanji I" and Joseph R. De Roo\'s "2001 Kanji."
• A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters: REVIEW
Reading great books in the original should be the culmination of language study, but reading Japanese literature unassisted is a daunting task that can defeat even the most able of students. Breaking into Japanese Literature is specially designed to help you bypass all the frustration and actually enjoy classics of Japanese literature.

Breaking into Japanese Literature features seven graded stories covering a variety of genres: whether it\'s the spellbinding surrealism of Natsume Soseki\'s Ten Nights of Dreams, the humor of Akutagawa Ryunosuke\'s fable of temple life ("The Nose"), or the excitement of his historic thrillers ("In a Grove" and "Rashomon"), you are sure to find a story that appeals to you in this collection.

The unique layout -- with the original Japanese story in large print, an easy-to-follow English translation and a custom dictionary -- was created for maximum clarity and ease of use. There\'s no need to spend time consulting reference books when everything you need to know is right there in front of your nose.

To make Japanese literature fun, Breaking into Japanese Literature also has some unique extra features: mini-biographies to tell you about the authors\' lives and works, individual story prefaces to alert you to related works of literature or film, and original illustrations to fire your imagination. Best of all, MP3 sound files of all the stories have been made available for FREE on the Internet.

Breaking into Japanese Literature provides all the backup you need to break through to a new and undiscovered world -- the world of great Japanese fiction. All the hard work has been taken care of so you can enjoy the pleasures of the mind. Why not take advantage?
• Breaking into Japanese Literature
At 140 pages this is a wonderful collection of set phrases for all manner of situations. Set phrases? Shouldn\'t I just say things in my own words? Well, a lot of the time, no. The blurb on the back explains:

"Words don\'t exist in isolation, to be placed willy-nilly in grammatical slots by a speaker exercising absolute freedom of choice. Rather, words come in neatly bound packages - in phrases or entire sentences - ready to communicate an idea that cannot be expressed economically in any other way"

Sage advice. Once you realise that there is no need to reinvent the wheel and create sentences anew in a vast number of situations your learning becomes much simplified:

1. Find out what situations have set phrases.
2. Learn the appropriate phrase for each situation.
3. In all other situations wing it.

Don\'t waste time trying to cobble together your own sentences when those expressions already exist - you will sound more natural by following protocal and the person you are talking to will understand immediately because they are expecting a set expression. [courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]
• Common Japanese Phrases (決まり文句の辞典)
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• Complete Master Series-The Japanese Language Proficiency Test
"Crazy for Kanji" provides the context sorely missing from most classes and books about kanji. Jam-packed with exhibits, the book supplies background information, explores fun themes, and challenges readers with games. Novices will gain the basic knowledge needed to grasp kanji, and advanced students will come to understand the system of kanji as they\'ve never understood it before.

Students often stop learning Japanese because of kanji. If teachers present kanji as a random collection of characters, it leaves students feeling hopeless about understanding and mastering this system. Above all, they don\'t have the slightest inkling that kanji can be fun. What a shame!

They\'ll feel differently once they read "Crazy for Kanji" and realize the following:

The immense challenge of kanji can lure you on, much as Mt. Everest beckons to intrepid mountaineers. You can love kanji, not in spite of its being difficult but because of that.

Japanese words abound in puns that you can understand if you grasp the kanji. Hanabi, "fireworks," breaks down as "flower" + "fire"--a perfect, poetic way of describing fireworks!

Understanding kanji affords a wonderful feeling of being in the know, as when you can decipher characters on restaurant signs, tattoos, and T-shirts.

The child in us longs to decode. That\'s why kids spend hours solving puzzles. And that\'s why you\'ll enjoy unlocking the door to a hitherto sealed-off area.

Kanji study has proven effective as an antidepressant! This "drug" works because it gives endless entertainment to overactive minds.

Studying kanji brings you into contact with old Japan--with a pure form of the culture and the Japanese mind--as well as with ancient China. Dating back several thousand years, kanji provide a time capsule, giving us insight into the way people once made sense of the world. As timeless human symbols, kanji characters can evoke the deepest feelings, above all joy.
• Crazy for Kanji: A Student's Guide to the Wonderful World of Japanese Characters
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• Gateway to Japan (Kodansha Guide)
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• How to Sound Intelligent in Japanese: A Vocabulary Builder
Instant Business Japanese was published in March 1997. It was praised by the Financial Times as "a down-to-earth insight into Japanese business" and by the Asahi Evening News for "decoding many of the idiomatic words and expressions common in the Japanese business world, but which are not taught at language schools." Centered around the story of a word-processor maker reinventing itself as a maker of cool multimedia PCs, Instant Business Japanese teaches you everything need to know to deal with your Japanese business counterparts on an equal footing.
• Instant Business Japanese: Real Life Skills for Real Life Situations
To communicate effectively in Japanese》o speak one\'s mind and be understood, and respond appropriately to what is said（s a goal for most beginners, but not an easy one to achieve quickly. This book brings this goal within reach, teaching 142 essential sentence patterns for daily life‖ll the ones an intermediate student should know, and all the ones a beginner should study to become minimally proficient in speaking. All are presented in a handy, step-by-step format with pattern practice on almost every page.
• Japanese Sentence Patterns for Effective Communication
This is a discussion list designed for Japanese teachers and students to discuss different textbooks. The books are segregated by level and some important ones are missing while others don\'t have many comments. Still, it is a good idea and I recommend you use and contribute to it.
• Japanese Textbook Discussion Board: List of Books
Dictionaries are like fibre - necessary, but not often consumed on their own. Why? Well dictionaries are boring. They have a set order, few if any pictures and they are written in school marmish seriousness.

But not the Kotoba Tsukaikata Ejiten ことばつかいかた絵じてん　(Words in Use Picture Dictionary - my translation) by Sanseido - this guy is FUN. The first hint is the colorful cover - any book with a gorilla playing baseball and a pig eating ice cream gets my attention. Inside, with the exception of the Contents, Index and Kana Writing Guide the book is ALL pictures. Yes, it is a children\'s dictionary but that\'s what makes it perfect for people studying Japanese as a foreign language. Rather than explaining concepts the dictionary illustrates them. For example, the first chapter deals with all the activities associated with getting up and getting ready in the morning. Washing, getting dressed etc are all shown as pictures with kana describing the action:

The pictures are so simple and easy to follow that there is no need for an English explanation - context is king. No kanji either - hiragana the whole way. [courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]
• Kotoba Tsukaikata Ejiten (ことばつかいかた絵じてん)
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• Memoirs of a Geisha: A Novel
Unless you happen to live near a specialty bookstore, a good selection of Japan-related titles is hard to find. That\'s why, in association with Amazon.com, O-Hayo Sensei has researched, collected and now offer 1800+ handpicked titles -- we think it\'s the best selection of the best books about Japan, anywhere.
• O-Hayo Sensei's Online Japan Bookstore
Morley\'s 1985 novel portrays the mores of Japanese society as seen through the eyes of a traveling Englishman.
• Pictures from the water trade: An Englishman in Japan
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• Pimsleur Comprehensive Japanese
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• Read Real Japanese: All You Need to Enjoy Eight Contemporary Writers
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• Remembering the Kanji I
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• Sing Japanese: The Fun Approach to Studying Japanese
A collection of Japanese stories with audio files.
• Storyteller Book
This book is a clearly laid out and well explained collection of idioms. The main part of the book devotes a page per expression to a wide variety of common Japanese idioms like とことんまで (to the bitter end) and しらぬ　が　ほとけ　(ignorance is bliss). Each page contains a sample two line dialogue incorporating the idiom, an English translation of the dialogue, a paragraph explaining the idiom, its derivation and usage, and finally 5 example sentences using the idiom, with English translations.

The last part of the book contains a list of additional idioms, with English translations but without explanations or examples (bringing the total number to 600).

TCJEG is for intermediate to advanced learners – if you are looking to use expressions like 無駄足が運ぶ　(go on a wild goose chase) I think you can count yourself as having progressed from the beginners pack. My personal take is that the book is better as a reference guide than as a source of phrases to throw around at your next party, because trying too hard to use an idiom you have just studied can make you sound unnatural, but if you take the time to read through TCJEG you will soon find that idioms hitting your ear every day will start making sense. You will soon realize that 顔が広い　does not mean someone has a fat face but rather a big Rolodex.

If there is a downside it is the use of romaji – kanji/kana are only used to render each idiom at the top of the page - after that it is roman letters the whole way. [courtesy of Nihongojouzu.com]
• The Complete Japanese Expression Guide

Here are some sites about Japan or Japanese for those who speak something other than English

Hitomi Hirayama's Pera Pera Penguin

Some Japanese Language Related Twitter Accounts

Learn japanese vocabulary with Twitter! You will learn a new word every day. Each word will be written in kanji, hiragana, romaji and english.
• learnkanji (Learn Japanese - 日本語)