Learn Japanese from zero, in order, and remember it.

Proof, not a promise

Watch a real lesson.

This is a recording of the actual app, with the actual voices: a kana, a listening question, and what the app says to an answer. Turn the sound on and press play to hear a person say it, not a robot voice.

You always know where you are.

The road shows every lesson in order, and the next one is ringed. Nothing is hidden, so you never wonder what comes next.

Every kana comes with a sound and a shape to remember.

Each character is taught with its sound, its partner alphabet, and a way to say it out loud.

You hear it, then you pick it.

Listening questions play the sound and ask which kana you heard, so your ear learns along with your eye.

A wrong answer is corrected on the spot.

The app names what you picked, what it actually was, and teaches it again before you move on.

Every kanji comes with a story.

Each kanji shows its meaning, its reading and a short story that helps you keep it.

Learn to type Japanese on your phone.

Hold a key and its other kana fan out around it. Flick up, down, left or right to type one. The keyboard is taught row by row, so your thumbs learn it as you learn the kana.

A word search after every lesson.

Real words hide in a grid made of the kana you just met. Drag through a word, or tap its first and last character. It is optional and never changes your review schedule.

See the whole road before you start.

Half way through kana, the next lesson is ringed and the rest wait behind padlocks. Finished, every tree is in blossom.

Listening

Your first lesson plays in the car.

The Essential Tourist Survival Kit is free: a guided audio lesson, about half an hour, built for a plane ride or a morning drive. One real conversation at a station in Japan, and the narrator teaches it to you piece by piece: where the bathroom is, which way to walk, how to say what you want, and what to say when the words run out. You hear each line, you say it back in the pause, and by the end the whole conversation is yours. That is how every lesson in the course works: hands-free, screen off, on the road.

Where to start

Pick your level, or let a short test pick it.

The Japanese-Language Proficiency Test, or JLPT, is the standard test of Japanese for people who did not grow up speaking it. It is held in Japan and in dozens of other countries, and it has five levels: N5 (beginner) is the easiest and N1 (advanced) the hardest, so the number goes down as you get better. The exam runs in July and December, so pick the level that fits your date and work back from it.

N6 (kana)

Hiragana and katakana, the two alphabets the test assumes you already read. This level is ours, not the exam's, and it is free.

N5 (beginner)

Read simple, set phrases and sentences, and follow slow, everyday talk.

N4 (upper beginner)

Hold basic conversations about daily life and read short passages on familiar topics.

N3 (intermediate)

Get by in everyday situations, and catch the gist of headlines and natural-speed conversation.

N2 (upper intermediate)

Read newspaper articles and follow the news. Many employers in Japan ask for this level.

N1 (advanced)

Read editorials and novels, and follow lectures and debates at full speed.

A level is worth having because other people recognise it. Employers in Japan list N2 or N1 in job adverts, universities use it for admission, and Japan's points system for highly skilled professional visas awards points for N2 and N1. You do not have to sit the test to use the course, though: the levels are also the clearest map of where you are and what comes next, and the course is arranged by them.

What it costs

Kana is free. The rest is one payment.

One payment, one account, every device you own. No ads, not now, not later. And no tracking: no cookies, no analytics, no pixels, nothing reporting what you did for marketing. We do not watch you study. If the app breaks, it tells us about the error so we can fix it, and that is all.

Why it is not a subscription

You finish a course. You never finish a subscription.

Studying Japanese takes years, and a monthly fee turns those years into a meter running in the background of your own effort. Miss three months and you are punished for it. Finish, and you are still paying.

So this is sold the way a book is sold. You buy it, it is yours, and if you put it down for a winter it is exactly where you left it when you come back, with your review schedule intact.

What is in it

More than cards.

• A drawing for every story

  Each kana and each N5 (beginner) kanji has a story card: the character itself, large, with one small drawing beside it and a pun title.

• Six voices

  Every kana, word and phrase is spoken in six synthesized voices, three female and three male. Hold the speaker and it plays slowly.

• Stroke order, and paper

  Every character draws itself stroke by stroke. Print stroke sheets, flashcards or a kana chart when you want a pen.

• Questions that make you work

  You hear it, read it and type it. Get one wrong and it is taught again on the spot, not just marked.

• A phone keyboard, learned properly

  The Japanese flick keyboard is taught row by row, with a speed run for when your thumbs catch up.

• A word search after each lesson

  Real words hidden in a grid made of the kana you just met. Optional, and never in the way.

• Words in the places you use them

  N5 (beginner) vocabulary comes in situations (food, family, getting around) with how polite each phrase is.

• Tests that mean something

  A short test closes each section and a longer one each level, so you know you can move on.

Before you ask

Questions