Tools

Rikaichan
Firefox and Chrome plugin that lets you hover over Japanese words and get a translation
Evernote (take notes on grammar, vocab, use when reading articles, etc.)
http://www.evernote.com/
Yomichan - Dictionary lookup Anki plugin, create vocab cards on the fly!
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=7074&page=1
subs2srs - (subtitles to SRS) a small utility that allows you to create Anki import files based on your favorite
foreign language movies and TV shows to aid in the language learning process.
http://rtkwiki.koohii.com/wiki/Subs2srs

Lists of More Resources

Read through these, try them out, search the forums, just explore! There's TONS of information compiled in
these. I've only touched the surface in this article
Learning Resources Forum on Kanji Koohii
Search in the forums for info you want and make sure to READ THE STICKIES!
http://forum.koohii.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=9
Tofugu's 100 Best Japanese Learning Resources
http://www.tofugu.com/2010/04/06/tofugu-...resources/
Nihongo-e-na - One of my favorites. Has summaries/previews of useful websites for reading, listening, kanji,
vocab etc.
http://nihongo-e-na.com/
Gakuu Lots of reading and listening links.
http://gakuu.com/resources/#textbooks
Yookoso (HUNDREDS of links to useful websites, has listening and reading too!)
http://www.yookoso.com/pages/study.php

Saboten Web - lots and lots of links

http://www.sabotenweb.com/bookmarks/language.html
Nukemarine's Suggested Guide for Beginners Thread
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=5110
Buonaparte's Audio and Text Links
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=6840&page=1

------------------------------------------------------------------(3) Beginners: Before You Start (Read these before you do anything else!)
------------------------------------------------------------------1) Setting Up Japanese on Your Computer
Your Computer (to enable typing in Japanese): http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/resources
Your Browser (to see characters properly): http://redcocoon.org/cab/mybrowser.html
2) Human Japanese Free Demo (Just read through Chapters 1-3 for now, don't memorize
vocab/grammar/kana at this point)
http://www.humanjapanese.com/download.html
3) Japanese for Everyone Sample on Amazon - read Structure of the Japanese Language before Chapter 1
("First Pages") in the "Look Inside" sample from the Japanese for Everyone textbook. Go slowly and absorb the
information. Make special note of the description of whispering "i" and "u" when put between "voiceless
consonants" and the passage on word accent (when you listen to Japanese audio you'll have a better idea of
what these mean)
http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Everyone-...686&sr=8-2

------------------------------------------------------------------(4) Hiragana/Katakana
------------------------------------------------------------------Human Japanese Demo (Chapters 3-6)
http://www.humanjapanese.com/download.html
Tae Kim's Guide (also has worksheets)
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/writing
Comparison of Hiragana/Katakana
http://www.sf.airnet.ne.jp/~ts/japanese/shape_k.html

Browser Games to Test Kana

http://www.learn-hiragana-katakana.com/

------------------------------------------------------------------(5) Grammar
------------------------------------------------------------------Articles about Studying Grammar
http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blo...no-grammar
Cheat Sheets that Summarize Japanese Grammar/Counters/Particles/Kana etc.
http://www.tofugu.com/2010/04/06/tofugu-...heatsheets
Quizzes to test yourself, cheat sheets, tons of stuff for JLPT too
http://www.mlcjapanese.co.jp/Download.htm (scroll down to see everything)

Beginner to Intermediate
Human Japanese Demo (Chapter 7 to end of demo)
http://www.humanjapanese.com/download.html
Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese (one of the best resources!)
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar
An Introduction to Japanese - Syntax, Grammar & Language (Free eBook)
http://grammar.nihongoresources.com/doku.php
Grammar Bank with Audio - buonaparte says: Explanations in plain English, many example sentences, the
majority with audio. You have to register, but it's free.
http://www.japanesepod101.com/learningce...jlpt&value
The Japanese Page Grammar
http://thejapanesepage.com/grammar.htm
Tim's Grammar
http://ww8.tiki.ne.jp/~tmath/language/jpverbs/index.htm
Visualizing Japanese Grammar
http://www.gwu.edu/~eall/vjg/vjghomepage/vjghome.htm
Maggie Sensei (may be better for upper-beginners)
http://www.maggiesensei.com/

About Japanese
http://japanese.about.com/
Anki - Japanese for Everyone Sentence Deck
Anki Tae Kim Vocab/Grammar Decks
Anki - Other shared sentence decks
Anki - All About Particles shared deck

Intermediate +
jGram.org
JLPT websites with list of grammar points (search web or jGram for examples)
http://www.tanos.co.uk/jlpt/
http://www.jlptstudy.com/

Grammar Practice
Lang-8.com journal entries (in beginning just write short sentences)
Do exercises from the websites listed above
Talk to yourself
------------------------------------------------------------------(6) Vocab
------------------------------------------------------------------JLPT Vocab (10,000 words)
http://www.tanos.co.uk/jlpt/
http://www.jlptstudy.com/

Beginner to Intermediate
Anki Deck - Core 2000 (shared corePlus deck has audio too)
Human Japanese Demo
http://www.humanjapanese.com/download.html

Intermediate+

Core 6000 Anki deck (corePlus deck is good)

JLPT Anki decks
Other Anki decks
Vocab from reading native materials (make a list as you read, then later look them up and put into Anki)

------------------------------------------------------------------(7) Kanji
------------------------------------------------------------------How to Learn Kanji (one method by learning the radicals)
http://www.tofugu.com/2010/03/25/the-5-b...ing-kanji/
Stroke Order Dictionary (Click "Kanji" for stroke animation lookup)
http://www.yamasa.cc/members/ocjs/kanjid...h?OpenView
Stroke Order Rules
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroke_order
Denshi Jisho: Kanji by Radical
http://jisho.org/kanji/radicals/

Method 1: Remembering the Kanji (Heisig)

(Remember that you can try various modifications on this method to better suit your needs)
RTK sample pdf
http://kanji.koohii.com/learnmore
Kanji Koohii and/or Anki deck for RTK to study/review

Method 2: Traditional Memorization

Textfugu Online "Textbook" (first articles about kanji are free)
http://www.textfugu.com/
Radicals (learn them first!)
http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/aa070101a.htm
http://infohost.nmt.edu/~armiller/japane...adical.htm
http://nuthatch.com/kanji/demo/frame.html
JLPT Kanji

http://www.tanos.co.uk/jlpt/
http://www.jlptstudy.com/
Anki JLPT kanji decks
Henshall Kanji mnemonics (For the book "A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters")
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/henshall_mnem.html

Other Great Methods

Kanji Town Method - A good method to learn the sounds for each kanji
http://kanjitown.blogspot.com/2005/12/wh...-come.html
Kanji Damage - Hilarious way to learn Kanji with one reading
http://kanjidamage.com/
Movie Method Learn kanji and onyomi by playing scenes in your head
http://drmoviemethod.blogspot.com/2008/0...ethod.html

Kanji Practice
Print your own grid/graph paper
http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/genkoyoushi/
Ninja Words Adventure - Kanji game for iPhone (very polished, there is a free demo available to try. Full version
teaches 500 kanji with keyword and is $3)
http://www.snamiapp.com/12_ntan/12_ntan_pc.html
Kanji Sudoku
http://www.kanji-sudoku.com/kanji-writing-sheets.html
Kanji Games (manga/anime theme)
http://anime-manga.jp/index.html

------------------------------------------------------------------(8) Reading Practice

------------------------------------------------------------------Reading Japanese Articles with Evernote
http://www.tofugu.com/2010/08/30/5-step-...-for-kids/
Word List Generator and Reading Level Checker

Make your own word/definition list for ANY Japanese article with this Japanese Reading Tutor tool. Paste in
any Japanese article and it will generate a list of translations/definitions with the push of a button. The original
article is shown in the main part of the page and the list of vocab is to the right. They also have a reading level
checker. Very powerful and useful!
http://language.tiu.ac.jp/tools_e.html
Yomichan - Dictionary lookup Anki plugin, create vocab cards on the fly!
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=7074&page=1

Beginners
(Note: If you want some real physical books to read that are cheaper than the Japanese Graded Reader series,
read section 1 of this list.)
ChokoChoko - Great for Beginners. JLPT Levels 5 to 1, has wordlists
http://chokochoko.wordpress.com/the-great-library/
Erin's Challenge! Manga - About a girl named Erin who goes to a new school. Also has video episodes,
transcripts, vocab practice. Made by The Japan Foundation. Excellent resource!
https://www.erin.ne.jp/en/lesson01/basic/manga.html
Tokyo International University Reading Tutor (variety of levels, huge wordlist to the right of each story/article.
You can click on a word and it takes you to that part of the wordlist for a definition. The number of stars
represents the difficulty level, with 1 star being the easiest)
http://language.tiu.ac.jp/index_e.html
[Note: The blog has disappeared...anyone know where it went? Looks like Hiragana times is now selling
articles aimed at people learning Japanese, so this blog may be gone for good]
Hiragana Times Beginners - Hiragana Blog for Beginners (bite-sized articles)
http://www.hiraganatimes.com/hiragana_blog/
Rosa's Blog -- short blog entries that are relatively easy and interesting to read (3 different blogs, so check
them all out!)
http://www.ajalt.org/rosa.html
Japanese in Anime and Manga - Various short manga stories that have clickable text with audio, kanji,
hiragana, and translation options. Tons of vocab quizzes too. Made by The Japan Foundation.
http://anime-manga.jp/
Children's Library Japanese Books
http://www.childrenslibrary.org/icdl/Res...y=country7
Botsan

http://botsan.com/ (a bit primitive in style, but it has very simple vocab/grammar. Make sure your character
encoding is set to Japanese in your browser)
JapanesePod101 - This is a podcast, but the dialogue transcripts could serve as graded reading practice that
slowly increases in difficulty. Sign up for the free trial and download as much as you want (if that makes you
feel guilty then pay for 1 month and download everything). Has some pretty nice dialogues with
transcripts/grammar notes (need "basic" subscription or be in trial period for these). Newest episodes are free
through iTunes.
NHK News Easy
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/

Kids Websites
Yahoo News Kids Japan
http://kids.yahoo.co.jp/
Mainichi Kids Newspaper
http://mainichi.jp/feature/maisho/etc/about/
Yomiuri Newspaper
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/nie/note/
NHK Kids
http://www.nhk.or.jp/kids/
Goo Kids
http://kids.goo.ne.jp/index.html?SY=0&MD=2
Hiragana Times (Articles in English and Japanese, not a kids website, but good)
http://www.hiraganatimes.com/
Short Articles about Seasons
(Note: this is now unavailable, but Nagareboshi has downloaded the materials and uploaded them, see post
below).
Simple Stories (some have audio too)
http://p.booklog.jp/book/29948 - tons of children's books!!
http://www.e-hon.jp/demo1/index1.htm
http://hukumusume.com/douwa/betu/index.html
http://english.franklang.ru
http://www.kankomie.or.jp/mukashi/ (Note: the stories seem to have moved, but they are probably still on the

website somewhere)
http://www.logoslibrary.eu/pls/wordtc/ne...num_row=20
http://thejapanesepage.com/ebooks

Intermediate+
NHK News "Easy" Version
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=10084 (discussion)
University of Virginia Japanese Text Initiative
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/japanese/texts/index.html
Aozora Bunko
http://www.japannewbie.com/2011/02/13/ho...ese-books/
http://www.aozora.gr.jp/
Lyrics to your favorite songs

------------------------------------------------------------------(9) Audio/Listening Practice (Including Pronunciation)

------------------------------------------------------------------Pronunciation
http://tisc.isc.u-toyama.ac.jp/pronuncia...tents.html
http://www.coelang.tufs.ac.jp/english/mo...01-01.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_phonology
http://accent.u-biq.org/english.html
Beginner to Intermediate
Human Japanese demo (vocab/sentences)
http://www.humanjapanese.com/download.html
Anki Core 2000 and 6000 deck (corePlus deck has links to audio for words/sentences)
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=5110
JapanesePod101 - sign up for the free trial and download as much as you want (if that makes you feel guilty
then pay for 1 month and download everything). Has some pretty nice dialogues with transcripts (need "basic"
subscription or be in trial period for transcripts). Newest episodes are free through iTunes.
Japanese the Spoken Language audio exercises (Digital Language Lab, Ohio State University)

https://languagelab.it.ohio-state.edu/pu...me/View/90
Erin's Challenge! - Skits in Japanese about a girl named Erin. Has subtitles with options for kanji, hiragana,
romaji, and English translation. Made by the Japan Foundation. A bit cheesy, but good :-).
https://www.erin.ne.jp/en/
Let's Learn Japanese Basic 1 and 2 - Made in the 1980s by The Japan Foundation, so it's cheesy as heck, but
still a wonderful learning resource for beginners. Consists of short skits with grammar explanations. There are
also books available that you can probably download online. Check youtube for the videos.
particles, explanations, sentences with audio
http://www.colby.edu/personal/t/tkprindl...Index.html
Beginner to Intermediate Conversations with grammar points
http://www.japanese-nihongo.com/lesson/index.html
Japan Cast Podcasts
http://www.japancast.net/
NHK Audio Lessons
http://www.nhk.or.jp/lesson/english/index.html
Koebu - Thousands of audio clips with text (good for beginner and intermediates)
http://koebu.com/koe
Buonaparte's Audio and Text Links (Big list of useful stuff!)
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=6840&page=1
Intermediate+
The Last Wave audio drama with transcripts
http://rtkwiki.koohii.com/wiki/The_Last_Wave
Gunblaze Sci Fi Drama - has transcripts
http://nwstudio.org/gunblaze/
Nippon VoiceBlog - Native speakers read stories, has transcripts (grab the audio from iTunes podcasts, the
audio on the site isn't working for me)
http://www.voiceblog.jp/nippon/
Japanese Podcasts List
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=5572
Anime, jDramas

http://www.crunchyroll.com/
http://www.hulu.com/
Free Audio Books
http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=752
NHK Radio News (can choose speed too!)
http://www.nhk.or.jp/r-news/
TBS News (videos and articles)
http://news.tbs.co.jp/
Your favorite songs

------------------------------------------------------------------(10) Communicate
------------------------------------------------------------------Lang-8 - chatting, Skyping, journal entries
Mixxer - Skyping, blog entries (http://www.language-exchanges.org/)
Mixi
LiveMocha
ChatPad -- http://chatpad.jp/ (chat with people in Japanese)
Talk to the server at a Japanese restaurant
Talk to yourself
If you want even more materials, check out the "Lists of More Resources" part in section (2) Essential
Resources.