“Everything I do is inspired by Japan, but I’m deliberately not making it all Japanese,” explains Hobson. “There’s no koi pond or red bridges.” Not only does Hobson eschew any decorative Japanese elements, he avoids ornaments altogether. “For me, a Japanese garden is creating a sense of a landscape—an idealized landscape—within the plot. If you bring in ornaments, you ruin the magic of scale. Whereas, if all you’ve got is plants, you can create a sense (if you squint and after a couple of drinks) that maybe you’re looking out into a deep forest.”
Hobson has successfully created this illusion of landscape within his small space. Looking out the windows of the home he shares with his wife, Keiko, and their son, or gazing at photographs of Hobson’s green, layered garden, it’s hard to believe that it’s not much bigger than a tennis court.
When Hobson and his wife bought the house, the backyard had four sheds, a mismatched bunch of overgrown conifers, and a ton of concrete paths. They ripped it all out, leaving just the evergreen hedge that blocks the view from a neighboring building. Hobson commissioned a local carpenter to build a single new shed inspired by a Japanese “summer house” at the back of the plot. Then he planted dozens of evergreen and coniferous shrubs and trees that he has been training and pruning for the last fourteen years. The result is a garden that feels like its own miniature world, full of living sculptures.
Let’s take a tour of Hobson’s garden, which he photographed himself. (You can follow him on Instagram @niwakijake.)
Above: Every year Hobson lets the grass grow long and mows a new path through it. “Zigzagging through the garden is a really Japanese thing,” he notes. “You never just go straight into a house.” At right are some of Hobson’s undulating boxwood and a Phillyrea latifolia, which Hobson calls a “cloud-pruned tree.” (He had been growing it for years at his parents home before moving it to the garden.)
“When you get asked to be a part of the best of the best, you say yes,” the seemingly ageless Kidman says of her role of celebrity fav Clé de Peau Beauté
When my bestie, a longtime makeup artist, began to gush recently about the “dewy glow,” the “pure radiance,” of her new favorite foundation, I was a little perplexed. She is not a woman ordinarily given to exclaiming superlatives, nor is she someone who pushes trendy, expensive products, so I paid attention.
The foundation, she revealed, was from the uber luxury skincare line Clé de Peau Beauté, which has long been acclaimed for its scientific approach to radiance. The brand’s name translates from the French as “the key to skin’s beauty.” And this Japanese line from Shiseido has invested in the research and the ingredients to back up their claim since 1982, which is why it has become a sought-after item by Hollywood industry insiders.
So much so that Clé de Peau Beauté has announced a new global ambassador to represent the brand – and the foundation that everyone is talking about, the one with a tony nearly $300 price tag that we have learned is worth every penny – Nicole Kidman.
“I have dry skin that’s slightly reddish and can be sensitized easily,” Kidman explained at a recent event where she announced her partnership with Clé de Peau Beauté. Noriko Watanabe, Kidman’s Japanese makeup artist, turned the versatile actor onto the luxury line beloved in Japan, and with that, the seemingly ageless actor was a new devotee every bit as excited about the foundation as my friend back on the East Coast.
“It was kind of like kismet,” Kidman said of he beauty line. “I love that the quality is so high. You’re dealing with things that have been tested and scientifically proven – and they’re just exquisite. It’s the best of the best. When you get asked to be part of the best of the best, you say yes.”
Nicole Kidman is a devotee to La Crème by Clé de Peau Beauté, and has now become the Japanese luxury skincare and makeup line’s global ambassador Credit: Denise Kreft
The line has also been involved in philanthropy geared toward empowering women and girls through initiatives like the Clé de Peau Beauté Power of Radiance Awards and through its ongoing global partnership with UNICEF. In May, Clé de Peau Beauté concealer was chosen for a Los Angeles Best of Beauty Award.
A new plaque commemorates the former site of Ben’s Supermarket at the intersection of East 28th Ave. and York St., July 25, 2024.
Paolo Zialcita/CPR News
Urban preservation nonprofit Historic Denver installed two new plaques Thursday, highlighting a pair of sites that community members deemed historically significant.
For its 50th anniversary, Historic Denver whittled a pool of public submissions down to 50 locations. The group then began working with property owners to figure out an appropriate way to highlight their buildings’ stories. Strategies include helping the owner preserve the building, advocating for a landmark designation or documenting its history.
Historic Denver ultimately determined that installing plaques would be the best way to designate the histories of the two buildings it commemorated Thursday.
One plaque was installed at the site of a supermarket-turned-taproom.
Residents of Denver’s Skyland neighborhood, north of City Park, nominated Ben’s Supermarket, a corner store that used to sit at the intersection of East 28th Avenue and York Street.
The market was first opened by Toshimune “Ben” Okubo, a Japanese-American who moved to Denver after being released in 1945 from Camp Amache, a World War II-era internment camp in southeast Colorado officially known as the Granada Relocation Center.
Shannon Lavelle (center), co-owner of of Ephemeral Rotating Taproom, poses with Historic Denver’s John Deffenbaugh and Alison Salutz at the former site of Ben’s Supermarket, July 25, 2024.Paolo Zialcita/CPR News
“Going from Granada to Denver is a really common migration story,” Historic Denver Director of Community Programs Alison Salutz said. “And the story of this particular family here, they came to Denver, they lived nearby, and they started operating what was called Ben’s Supermarket right after the war and continued to operate it into 1961. It was a store, but it was also a community fixture.”
The Okubo family sold the store at 2301 E 28th Ave. in 1961, but it continued to operate under the Ben’s Supermarket name until 2020.
Salutz said Historic Denver heard from several residents who frequented the store with their families. The store was conveniently located along two streetcar lines, and it spent years as the only source of fresh food in a neighborhood without walkable grocery stores.
The old sign of Ben’s Super Market sits above Ephemeral Rotating Taproom, July 25, 2024.Paolo Zialcita/CPR News
After the market closed in 2020, the current property owners leased the building to Ephemeral Rotating Taproom. Visitors to the taproom can still see echoes of the past. On one wall, the original sign from Ben’s Supermarket hangs above shelves of common pantry items.
Ephemeral co-owner Shannon Lavelle said she and her business partners wanted to keep the spirit of the supermarket alive after hearing about the building’s history from longtime residents and their landlord.
“We have market staples like flour, sugar, baking soda, because that’s a lot of what people would come here for,” Lavelle said. “Just local snacks, penny candy. Whole dill pickles were a big thing that people in the neighborhood growing up said they would come in after school to grab, so we made sure to keep a lot of that kind of fun fare in it.”
Salutz said preserving the stories of the Okubo’s and other interned Japanese-Americans is important, as it forces Americans to reflect on a dark part of the nation’s shared history.
“This was a particular moment in the war where people were incredibly afraid, but a similar sentiment may happen again,” she said.
An undated archival photo shows the boarding house where Julia Greeley lived. Courtesy of Historic Denver
This former boarding house where Julia Greeley once lived is now home to a Denver photography company. Historic Denver installed a plaque describing Greeley’s life on July 25, 2024.Paolo Zialcita/CPR News
A second plaque was installed in RiNo.
Before Denver’s River North Arts District was a smorgasbord of expensive outdoor clothing retailers, brewpubs and food halls, it was the city’s industrial center. It was also home to Julia Greeley, an emancipated slave who became known as Denver’s “Angel of Charity” once lived.
Historic Denver has now installed a plaque at 2911 Walnut St., the site of a former boarding house where Greeley used to live.
After being freed from slavery in Missouri around the time of the Civil War, she moved to Denver to work for the family of William Gilpin, Colorado’s first territorial governor. There, Greeley converted to Catholicism and spent most of her time helping impoverished families with the wages she earned.
A new plaque at 2911 Walnut St commemorates the former home of Julia Greeley, July 25, 2024.Paolo Zialcita/CPR News
“She would’ve come out here in the 1860s,” Salutz said. “So this is really early in Denver’s past, and she had such an impact on so many individuals’ lives. And when she died, her funeral was attended by hundreds of people who lined the block to pay their respects.”
As business names go, it doesn’t get more on the nose than Puffy Cakes. Recently opened in West Town, the bakery and coffee shop specializes in Japanese cheesecake, which features a fluffy texture that’s a cross between a souffle and brioche French toast.
When Julian Coltea and his Puffy Cakes partners began delving into a dessert-focused business, they knew they had to do something different.
“There are so many places in Chicago that make great cookies, pies, and classic American desserts,” says Coltea. “We wanted to go beyond that and expand to something else.”
Hokkaido cheese tartsFluffy Cakes
A matcha drip.Fluffy Cakes
That something else turned out to be Japanese cheesecake, which is lighter and less sweet than its American counterpart. “We really wanted to make it our primary focus and bring the dessert, which I think is delicious, to the masses,” he adds.
Prior to opening in June, the Puffy Cakes baking team went through rounds of experiments to perfect the recipe and achieve the desired jiggly texture. (Turns out, folding in the egg white meringue by hand is crucial, says Coltea.) The airy cream cheese batter is placed in ramekins that are then baked low and slow in a water bath.
Available in three flavors — traditional, matcha, and ube — the 4-inch cheesecakes are designed for one to two people. Additionally, 6- and 8-inch versions are available via advance ordering. Housemade sauces are available for those who want to add a touch more sweetness. Signature sauces include caramel drizzle, dark chocolate, matcha, Nutella, and strawberry with additional flavors in the works. Look for candy toppings to be offered soon.
Japanese-style cheesecakeFluffy Cakes
Cakes in different flavors.Fluffy Cakes
Beyond the Japanese cheesecakes, which are baked fresh daily, Puffy Cakes also features a handful of other desserts. Petite Japanese cheese tarts include a mixture of three cheeses (cream cheese, mascarpone, and Parmesan), housemade seasonal fruit jams, and fresh fruit toppings. The menu also features traditional baked tarts, including a recent lemon blackberry meringue tart with a bruléed Italian meringue dome. A curated list of macarons will soon be joined by a selection of Asian-inspired cookies.
To ensure none of its leftover cheesecakes goes to waste, Puffy Cakes crafted a bread pudding. Cut-up pieces of a mix of their cakes are baked like a traditional bread pudding before being topped with different garnishes that might include pecans, white chocolate, and walnuts.
A partnership with La Colombe Coffee Roasters, Puffy Cakes offers specialty coffee drinks, including cold brew on tap.
The interior design of Puffy Cakes includes a few couches, round tables, and a banquette on one side of the cozy 950-square-foot space, accented with hues of red, yellow, and black. Lantern-like light fixtures hang overhead. A fireplace will keep things toasty when winter arrives.
“We’re a dessert shop first,” says Coltea, “but from the beginning, we knew we wanted to serve high-quality coffee and make this a really warm, inviting place for people to come and hang out or work.”
Puffy Cakes, 1651 W Chicago Avenue, open 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday to Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and closed Mondays.
Volunteers sculpt balls of mochi inside the Denver Buddhist Temple downtown, ahead of their annual Cherry Blossom Festival. June 21, 2024.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
On Friday, the kitchen stove at the downtown Denver Buddhist Temple was packed with stainless-steel pans brimming with soft, glistening dough.
A radio pumped pop songs into the air, where the music mixed with sweet rice flour and swirled around a group of women as they prepared an enormous amount of mochi manju for the 50th Annual Denver Cherry Blossom Festival this weekend.
“We’re trying to make 3,000,” said Gayle Goto, a longtime temple volunteer. “We make 1,500 with the azuki, or the red beans, and then 1,500 with the white ones.”
Gayle Goto (left) and DJ Ida pull hot dough out of a bowl as volunteers at downtown’s Denver Buddhist Temple make mochi manju, ahead of the annual Cherry Blossom Festival. June 21, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Mochi manju are bite-sized desserts, made from steamed, sweetened rice flour shaped around a filling. In this case, the mochi are being stuff with either a sweet red bean paste made from anko beans or a sweet white bean paste made from lima beans.
“If you go to Hawaii or some other places, they’ll put fruit paste, jam, peanut butter, chocolate, ice cream. They do all that,” Goto said. “We’ve tried it in different years, but it doesn’t sell well at our festival when we try different things. So we’ve just stayed with the sweet bean paste.”
This tradition began when the original Nisei, or children of Japanese immigrants, prepared for the city’ first Cherry Blossom Festival in the 1970s. As time passed, the responsibility was handed down from generation to generation. This year, the third generation is training the fourth.
“We’ve been doing this all our lives,” said DJ Ida, with a laugh. “Seriously. We grew up in this temple,” she said, gesturing to the others lining the large, flour-covered table.
“We used to look up to the elders,” Ida continued. “We are now the elders.”
Balls of red bean ready to be tucked into mochi dough.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Ruby Miyazawa wraps dough around a red bean core, making mochi manju.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
The Denver Cherry Blossom Festival is a celebration of Japanese heritage and culture.
This annual festival takes place in Sakura Square, a downtown city block nestled between Larimer and Lawrence streets from 19th Street to 20th Street.
The festival takes its name from its location — “Sakura” is the Japanese word for cherry blossom.
This year, celebrations will take place on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Volunteers sculpt balls of mochi.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Dr. Jane Kano carries a tray full of freshly finished mochi manju.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Arts and entertainment include taiko drumming, Japanese artwork and flower arranging, a marketplace offering jewelry, anime, pottery, fine art, apparel, and informational booths representing Japanese and Japanese American organizations.
The Denver Buddhist Temple will be providing food for sale, which includes teriyaki chicken bento, teriyaki beef bowl, tofu bowl, teriyaki burger, gyoza, SPAM musubi, onigirazu, inari sushi, mochi manju, yaki manju, and dorayaki manju, karma korn, rie crispy sushi, and matcha vanilla pretzels.
Volunteers sculpt balls of mochi inside the Denver Buddhist Temple downtown, ahead of their annual Cherry Blossom Festival. June 21, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Signs for Salvaje, a chain of clubby and upscale Japanese restaurants that originated in Panama, have been up in Fulton Market for more than a year. But in late February, construction finally began as workers began transforming the former Ballast Point Brewpub into a louder and brasher venue that would take better advantage of the rooftop deck.
The brewpub officially closed in May 2021 vacating a space that links Fulton Market with Randolph Restaurant Row at 212 N. Green Street. Salvaje World Restaurant Chief Project Officer Martina Maione says they’re hoping for an early June opening. They will occupy three levels, including the basement. Expect percussionists and live music to give diners a thrill. “Salvaje” uses a motto, “the wild side of Japanese cuisine.” They’ll have a sophisticated sound and light display to punctuate that point. This is dinner and a show.
“The DJ is an important element for Salvaje here because our concept is not like a traditional restaurant,” Maione says. “At Salvaje, the entertainment is very important, we aim to deliver a 360-degree experience.”
What was once a mostly industrial space, indicative of a typical brewery, will be remodeled to match Salvaje’s spirit. The chain has locations in Bógata, Barcelona, Dubai (the chain’s largest), and Ibiza. The only U.S. location opened in 2021 in Miami. Expect a whimsical space decorated with animal prints, murals, and fun lamps, and a signature element: a rhino. Maino says a rhino’s strength made it the ideal choice for a logo. Visitors will see the rhino pop up throughout the space. Maione says the target customer base ranges between 30 to 50.
There’s a sushi bar, wok-fried noodles, and a robata grill. Maione mentions truffle mushroom dumplings. The presentations are over the top with some sort of interactive element. The menu is pretty consistent across locations all over the world.
“The cuisine is Japanese fusion — the food is incredible,” Maione says. “In general, you are going to find people that come back exclusively for the food. I have some friends that are not for a place with [loud] music. You know, they’re more traditional. But they love Salvaje, they love the food of Salvaje.”
Dallas and Atlanta locations are also planned, as Maione says they’ll eventually move the Miami restaurant to a larger space.
In Chicago, Salvaje will also make better use of the rooftop space with a bar outside with all the sake and other cocktails. Maione promises a festive atmosphere. Come back for updates as work continues.
Salvaje, 212 N. Green Street, planned for an early June opening.
A new Wicker Park sandwich shop had such a big weekend that not only did it sell out of food on Saturday, but ownership has decided it will now close on Mondays to properly prepare for demand. Sando Street was packed on Saturday afternoon with diners wanting to try a menu of Korean beef, tonkatsu, and fruit sandwiches made with whipped ube cream and strawberries.
The restaurant opened on Friday, February 16 near the southeast corner of Ashland and North avenues, taking over the original home of Vietnamese American restaurant Phodega, 1547 N. Ashland Avenue (Phodega moved to a larger location at 1924 W. Division Street). Meanwhile, on Saturday night, Sando Street made an Instagram post saying they had sold out of food. On Sunday, they announced that they needed an extra day to prepare for customers and would no longer be open on Mondays. Co-owner Rich Letheby tells Eater they sold about 200 sandwiches in three hours on Saturday. Waits were 40 minutes to an hour, prompted after uninvited Instagram influencers began posting about the restaurant on opening weekend. With respect to Tom Skilling, Sando Street was the one making sandwich waves this last week in Chicago: “After day three, we went viral,” Letheby says.
OG Tomago (Kewpie egg salad, soft-boiled egg, furikake)
Sando Street is co-owned by cousins Letheby and Chris Yoo. Combined, the two have more than three decades of restaurant experience. Letheby’s career began at 17 when he worked at Asahi Sushi in suburban Palatine, a restaurant that was owned by Yoo’s father. Letheby says he’s worked at nearly every restaurant job, from dishwashing to management. He’s a former sushi chef at Sunda, Billy Dec’s pan-Asian restaurant in River North (coincidentally, Dec is opening a second location this week in Fulton Market). Letheby is also a former assistant manager at Roka Akor.
Letheby wanted to either be a director of a restaurant group or an owner by age 40. At 39, he felt he wasn’t close to reaching that goal and, alongside Yoo, the two felt stuck with their career trajectory. For the past 20 or so years, Letheby, whose family is Korean and Japanese, wanted to open an Asian sandwich shop, “where East meets West,” one that tapped into Asian American nostalgia. He had an idea for a tonkatsu sandwich on a brioche bun. Meanwhile, Yoo felt there was a lot of potential with sandos — Japanese-style sandwiches on milk bread. The two combined their ideas into what would become Sando Street. The two both take turns on the line and put together sandwiches that use special touches like kimchi aioli (made with a mix of Japanese Kewpie mayo and traditional American) or Buffalo hot sauce infused with shishito peppers. Beyond the sandwiches, there’s also rice bowls and crispy popcorn chicken. Letheby says he doesn’t anticipate the menu to change too much. At least not until they make more hires.
KFC (double-fried chicken thigh, gochujang sauce, pickled cucumbers with a choice of chili aioli slaw or pickled slaw).
The key to all sandwiches is the bread, and in this case, it’s the shokupan. Letheby and Yoo had a few tastings before picking a small operation, Crescent Bakery, out of suburban Arlington Heights, home to a sizable Japanese community. Letheby’s attitude is “if you have had something somewhere else, we’re trying to elevate it.” He calls their spam musubi as innovative. Traditional versions serve it with sushi rice. Instead Sando Street’s uses crispy rice noodles and a rice paper chip to provide a unique texture and flavor.
Chicago has developed a reputation for sandwiches. No, it’s not time to stir a debate on what category a hot dog fits into, it’s about celebrating the tremendous variety the city offers its patrons. Folks know about the lore behind Italian beef, and lately, the traditional Italian sub, full of spicy meats, has been getting some love. Of course, being in the Midwest, Chicago showcases many of the region’s ethos while packing ingredients between two breads.
But there’s more to the region as a new wave of sandwich makers using ingredients that traditionally don’t rest between buns. The previous tenant, Phodega, served a French dip sandwich in the style of a Vietnamese banh mi. Kasama puts a Filipino spin on Italian beef with shaved pork braised in adobo jus. Hermosa, which is one of two Cambodian restaurants in town, got its start with a lunch menu of sandwiches, like Thai moo ping and others, that blended a variety of influences. Chef and owner Ethan Lim has been focusing on family-style dinner service in recent years, but he’s hinted that he was to bring back the sandwiches. Before the pandemic, Kelly Ijichi had a stall inside Politan Row, the now-shuttered West Loop food hall. Mom’s also popped up at Marz Community Brewing with katsu sandwiches and more Japanese American comfort food. Fried foods seem like a popular vehicle as chef Margaret Pak has offered diners an Indian fried chicken sandwich at Thattu, her Keralan restaurant in Avondale. Zubair Mohajir serves a burger at Wazwan and Lilac Tiger in Wicker Park that’s both halal and has the texture and flavor of a South Asian cutlet.
Earlier in February, Henry Cai and the recently rebranded 3LP (Cai says there are too many “3 Little Pigs” around the country) have focused on crispy fried chicken sandwiches that are marinated in Chinese spices, breaded, and then often drenched in a sauce. Authorities like Jeff Mauro, Food Network’s “Sandwich King,” have hailed the sandwich for bridging American and Chinese tastes. Now Cai, almost simultaneously with Charles Wong of Umamicue in Logan Square, has dropped two different tributes to Italian beef, using Chinese hot pot for inspiration.
Sando Street is now part of this new sandwich flavor parade. Though they were slammed on opening weekend, Yoo and Letheby’s experience kept things calm. They had signage explaining the longer waits, and they were upfront with customers. Openings are hectic and exhausting, but they didn’t pass that feeling along to their guests. “That’s from experience,” Letheby says.
“We’re definitely proud of what’s come of the first week,” he says. “We’re looking for even more of that in the future.”
Sando Street, 1547 N. Ashland Avenue, open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
Embark on a journey to well-being with these four profound Japanese concepts: Ikigai for purpose, Moai for community, Hara Hachi Bu for mindful eating, and Kintsugi for resilience. Discover insights to a healthier and happier life in the modern world by embracing the ancient wisdom of Japanese culture.
Culture is a powerful force that influences the type of person we become. In the pursuit of well-being, different cultures can often teach us different lessons on what it means to live a good life.
First, what is culture? The American anthropologist Edward T. Hall created the “Cultural Iceberg” framework to help us analyze the many factors that determine what a culture is. The theory illustrates that only 10% of culture is what we see (language, diet, music, fashion), while 90% of culture is hidden from us (beliefs, values, norms, and expectations).
Here’s what the “Cultural Iceberg” looks like:
Generally we see the culture we grew up in as the default mode of being. This includes how people dress, what people eat, and what music they listen to, but also deeper aspects of life such as beliefs, values, morality, and how people approach life from a broader perspective.
Culture, tradition, and social norms shape our map of reality, the choices we make, and how we navigate our world. If you’re raised in a society that only values materialistic goals like money, fame, or popularity, you’re naturally going to live a life in accordance with those values, especially if they go unquestioned.
When we explore new cultures through traveling, reading, or meeting new people, we learn that there are many different ways we can approach life and the way we were raised isn’t necessarily the only way to live.
One simplified but general way we can categorize different types of culture is Western vs. Eastern ways of thinking. Western cultures tend to be more individualistic, rational, and materialistic, while Eastern cultures tend to be more collectivist, holistic, and spiritual.
Keep in mind, these are broad categorizations. Every country and culture is different. This also isn’t a judgment of “right” or “wrong” ways of thinking, but rather observing different personality types on a cultural scale.
My experience from a Western perspective is that learning about various aspects of Eastern culture and philosophy (such as Buddhism, Taoism, or Confucianism) gave me a taste for different ways to look at the world and different perspectives on life that I otherwise wouldn’t have been exposed to.
One popular country to look at is Japan which has a rich history, deep cultural roots, and long-held traditions that have been passed down over multiple generations. In this article, we’re going to cover four powerful Japanese concepts that provide universal lessons on how to live a healthier and happier life. Each concept reveals core values and beliefs that shape the way many Japanese people live.
These powerful ideas include: Ikigai (“a reason for being”), Moai (“meeting for a common purpose”), Hara Hachi Bu (“belly 80% full”), and Kintsugi (“golden repair”). Now let’s dive deeper into each one!
Ikigai
a reason for being
The Japanese concept of “Ikigai” is about finding a purpose in life. It directly translates to “a reason for being,” and it’s often described as the intersection between what you love, what you are good at, and what the world needs.
Ikigai is a combination between intrinsic motivation (an activity you enjoy doing) and extrinsic rewards (an activity that creates value in the world and improves people’s lives). Psychology research has shown that ikigai is associated with elevated feelings of dedication, accomplishment, meaning, and fulfillment.
This is in contrast to a lot of other cultures that just see work as a means to a paycheck or higher income, rather than reframing work as something that serves a higher purpose, both to yourself and society as a whole.
Ikigai has been shown to benefit both physical and mental health. It can reduce stress and anxiety, which contributes to longer lives and less risk of cardiovascular disease and other ailments. In addition, ikigai is associated with greater resilience in the face of negative events. One interesting study found that ikigai helped people better cope with stress after an earthquake or natural disaster.
Here’s a visual of what constitutes ikigai:
If you can find activities that meet all of these requirements, then you’ve found your ikigai.
Discovering your ikigai can take time and patience though. It involves careful introspection, understanding your strengths, passions, and talents, and finding ways to use those powers to fulfill the needs of the world.
Once you find your ikigai, it’s important to align your daily activities with it if you want to build a more purposeful and meaningful life.
Moai
meeting for a common purpose
Human connection is vital for our well-being, and the Japanese practice of “Moai” emphasizes the strength of communal bonds.
Moai refers to a group of people who come together for a shared purpose, providing emotional, social, and even financial support. Often a moai includes family, friends, and neighbors within a local community. They will see each other frequently, talk and catch up on each other’s lives, and organize group activities such as game nights, fitness groups, music performances, or dance parties.
This tight sense of community provides an important sense of belonging. It also comes with physical benefits like healthier lifestyles, exercise, social connection, and financial support if someone finds themselves in a tough situation.
In today’s world, many people are suffering from loneliness and depression. One major cause of this is hyper individualism and atomistic lifestyles that no longer promote community values. Many Americans report having zero close friends and only 38% say they have “5 friends or more.” This is in stark contrast to the moai way of life which can often include 10-12+ lifelong friends.
While there’s plenty of research showing the physical and mental benefits of social support, one of the most common examples of moai can be found in Okinawa, Japan, which has been identified as a “blue zone.”
Blue zones are places around the world that are associated with better health and longevity. Often there are high numbers of centenarians in them (or people who have lived over 100). The recent Netflix documentary Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones by public health researcher Dan Buettner has a great episode dedicated to Okinawa that shows how the moais work there.
Many health professionals and experts are now claiming we are in a “loneliness epidemic,” with over 1 in 4 adults saying they feel socially isolated. This can have serious health consequences such as increased risk of anxiety, depression, heart disease, stroke, dementia, and overall shorter lifespans. The negative effects of loneliness have been compared to the effects of daily cigarette smoking.
As communities continue to decline and feelings of social alienation increase, the moai mentality is needed now more than ever.
Hara Hachi Bu
belly 80% full
In a culture often associated with healthy living and longevity, the Japanese concept of “Hara Hachi Bu” teaches us the art of mindful eating. Translated as “belly 80% full,” this practice encourages moderation in our meals.
Obesity is a growing problem around the entire world. Recent reports show that 39% of the global population in 2023 is obese or overweight, and this is a sharp increase from 23.9% in 2008. If this trend continues, researchers predict that over half of the global population will have obesity by 2035.
One factor in this rise in obesity is having abundant access to ultraprocessed foods, including the convenience of fast food and junk food. The modern diet is filled with supernormal foods that hijack our natural instincts for sugar, salts, and rich flavor, which is why many people end up over-eating during meals or late night binging.
The lesson of Hara Hachi Bu is more relevant now than ever. By reminding ourselves to only eat until we are 80% full, we encourage slower and more mindful eating. This lets you enjoy your meal more by paying attention to each bite and savoring it, rather than quickly moving from one bite to the next without fully appreciating it.
Many people eat unconsciously. Often it’s eating while watching TV/movies, checking their phones, scrolling social media, or socializing with friends. Their main focus is on one thing, while eating is just something happening in the background. These distractions can lead you to eat more than you otherwise would.
Slowing down your eating will lead to less consumption, better digestion, and improved body awareness of how you respond to certain foods, the best times of the day to eat (or not), and what it feels like to be “50% full” → “80% full” → “100% full” → “110% full.”
Adopting Hara Hachi Bu not only contributes to physical well-being by maintaining a healthy weight but also cultivates a mindful approach to eating that can lead to a stronger connection with the food we consume.
Kintsugi
golden repair
Derived from the Japanese words “kin” (golden) and “tsugi” (repair), Kintsugi is the art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum.
Here’s what it looks like:
Instead of hiding the cracks and flaws, the practice of kintsugi embraces the broken parts by highlighting them in gold. It celebrates its imperfections, while at the same time making them stronger and more beautiful.
Many find inspiration when applying this concept to their personal lives. It helps them to accept the challenges and obstacles they’ve had to face over the years – the physical, mental, and emotional battle scars – and see them as jumping points for growth and improvement.
No one’s life is perfect. We all suffer from weaknesses, flaws, insecurities, and vulnerabilities. Our instinct is to hide them, ignore them, or deny them, but the paradox is that when we accept them is when we actually become stronger.
Kintsugi promotes resilience, growth, and grit. It shows that no matter how many times you get broken, you can always repair yourself in gold.
Conclusion
Each of these Japanese concepts – Ikigai, Moai, Hara Hachi Bu, and Kintsugi – offers a kernel of wisdom that we can all apply to our daily lives.
While these ideas are ancient, they are more relevant to modern living than ever before. Ikigai teaches us meaning and purpose, Moai teaches us social connection, Hara Hachi Bu teaches us mindful eating, and Kintsugi teaches us growth and resilience.
Which concept do you need to embrace the most right now?
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Remove the salmon from the oven. Turn on the broiler. Brush the salmon with sauce again. Return the baking sheet to the oven and broil until the salmon is just cooked through and flakes easily in the thickest part, and the top is browned in spots, 3 to 7 minutes more. For medium-rare salmon, cook to an internal temperature of 120ºF; for medium salmon, cook to 125ºF. Watch carefully during broiling for burning. Discard any remaining sauce left in the saucepan.
Learning kanji is tough. The unfamiliar shapes. All the different ways to read a single kanji. And what’s more — there are over 2,000 of them to learn?!
Unfortunately, there’s no shortcut around these hurdles. And I’m not gonna lie, learning kanji does take time and energy no matter what method you choose. But if you’re making the investment, you want to do it in the most efficient and effective way possible.
If you’re scrolling this page with a hand that’s hurting from writing kanji on paper a gazillion times — you came to the right place.
Luckily, there are learning programs you can just follow along to make the kanji learning experience less of a pain (literally, and figuratively). With the right program, kanji can be manageable. It doesn’t have to be this big hairy goal for Japanese learners.
In this article, I’ll introduce you to the best kanji learning programs available. They come in various formats like textbooks and apps, but regardless of the format, I’ll use the word “program” for a structure that guides you through your kanji studies and helps you build a foundation for Japanese literacy.
How To Choose A Kanji Learning Program
There are many kanji learning programs out there, so what are the differences between them, and how do you pick one? Well, there are some things to consider…
1. What Aspect(s) of Kanji Does It Teach?
The first thing to consider is what kanji-related skill you’re looking to improve. Like when you say “I want to learn kanji,” what do you mean by that?
Do you want to be able to tell the meaning of a kanji when you see one? Do you want to remember how to pronounce it too?
I recommend you pay attention to a couple aspects: kanji readings and kanji vocabulary.
Almost all kanji learning programs teach the meaning(s) of each kanji, but not all of them teach kanji readings. So this is definitely something to consider.
So what about kanji vocabulary? By this, I mean vocabulary that uses the kanji characters the program teaches. Kanji and kanji vocabulary go hand in hand. Even though kanji are semantic (that is, each kanji has at least one meaning), they’re characters rather than standalone words. Sure, some single kanji characters can be words on their own, but they’re more commonly used as components to make vocabulary. It’s important to learn them together.
Learning vocabulary along with kanji is not just about seeing how the kanji is used in real life. It also helps you remember the kanji readings. Many kanji have multiple readings and are pronounced differently depending on the word they’re used in. By learning kanji vocabulary, you can reinforce various kanji readings. It can be overwhelming to think about having to learn multiple readings per kanji, but learning the readings along with vocabulary makes it a lot more doable.
2. How Does It Teach Kanji?
With a photographic memory, learning kanji would be so easy — all you’d need is a kanji dictionary. But in reality, that’s not the case for most people, and remembering kanji is hard without help.
So, it’s important to check: Does the program help you actually remember kanji?
Some programs may only introduce information as opposed to giving you a meaningful way to remember it. One of the most common approaches for this is called mnemonics. Mnemonics are basically a memory technique to help you remember things.
For kanji learning, mnemonics come in different formats. Some programs tell you the history of how the kanji were created, whereas other teach you components of kanji and what they mean, then what the kanji means from those broken-down parts (which is what we like to call Radical + Mnemonic method).
And pay attention to what aspect of kanji they offer mnemonics to help you remember, too. For example, many provide mnemonics to help you remember the meanings, but what about mnemonics for readings or vocabulary? Not all programs offer these.
Another consideration is: Does the program help you retain the knowledge in any way?
As time passes, you’ll likely forget what you’ve learned. So reviewing or refreshing what you’ve learned is important for turning that knowledge into something concrete and stable in your mind. One of the most popular solutions is to use an SRS (Spaced Repetition System), which repeatedly prompts you to recall an item you’ve learned over time. Depending on how well the item sticks in your memory, it aims to optimize the intervals and number of times an item appears in your review queue to improve your recall and strengthen each item in your memory.
3. How Many Kanji Does It Teach (& Does It Teach Useful Kanji)?
While the total number of kanji in existence is debatable, luckily, you don’t have to study them all to be able to read most of the things you need to get by on a day-to-day basis.
“So, how many kanji should I learn?” Just to give you an idea, the ultimate goal for serious learners is around 2,000 kanji. You should be able to read most things comfortably with that level of literacy. But the number of kanji isn’t the only thing you should care about when choosing a kanji learning program. It’s also important to pay attention to whether they’re trying to teach you useful kanji, too.
Many programs focus on introducing jōyō kanji, a set of kanji selected by the Japanese government that are commonly used in daily life. These kanji are also taught in Japanese schools, and there are roughly 2,000 of them (2,136 to be exact).
However, you should keep in mind that the jōyō kanji list doesn’t cover all the useful kanji you should know. After all, the list is meant to be a foundational guideline. It’s not an exhaustive list for those who are learning Japanese as a foreign language.
Some common and useful kanji like 嬉 (glad) and 嘘 (lie), are not on the jōyō kanji list, while some of the kanji included may not be useful or commonly used in real-life communication.
4. What Format/Media Type Is It?
Like I said earlier, kanji learning programs come in various formats — textbooks, apps, video lessons, etc. You might have a strong preference for a specific format over others, but try to keep an open mind.
For example, reviewing kanji can be so much easier and more effective when you use digital tools that use SRS, which automate the entire reviewing process. You can still use textbooks or video lessons, but you might also consider pairing it with an SRS flashcard app for reviews.
The Best Kanji Learning Programs
Ok, now let’s talk about actual options.
I picked four of the finest and most popular kanji learning programs for an in-depth comparison. Two of these are textbooks, Remembering The Kanji 1 and Kodansha Kanji Learners’ Course, and the other two are the online programs WaniKani, and Kanji Damage.
For full transparency before getting into more details, I want to let you know one of the programs, WaniKani, is our own product we created here at Tofugu. I tried my best to research each resource in detail and write up all the pros and cons from a neutral position, but I’m probably somewhat biased. It’s because I’ve been witnessing what our users have achieved over the past years with WaniKani (and I’m proud of them), but I just wanted to make sure you know WaniKani is our own.
Anyway, getting back to the actual options…
First of all, they all share some similar qualities that make them effective for learning kanji:
They all have good coverage of kanji (at least 1,700, not just a few hundred).
They all use mnemonics (at least to help you remember the meanings).
Despite the similarities, they’re all very different programs designed and created with various intentions in mind. There are several factors that make the learning experience unique, ranging from small to large features. Here’s a quick chart for easier comparison.
If you’re on a budget (and don’t mind an overall-inappropriate use of language), Kanji Damage can be a great option. You might even find the humor hilarious.
If you want to cram for only the meanings of kanji very quickly, consider Remembering The Kanji 1, but be aware of what you will NOT get out of it. For actual Japanese literacy, you’ll have to make up for your kanji reading and vocabulary knowledge outside of this book. I will talk about this textbook first because it’s one of the most well-known methods, but I personally don’t recommend this option as much as the others.
Now, let’s explore each option.
Remembering The Kanji 1 (RTK 1)
The quickest resource that helps you remember how to ‘recognize the meanings’ of 2,200 kanji. Warning: You won’t learn kanji readings or vocabulary.
Remembering The Kanji 1: A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters is the first volume of the Remembering The Kanji series, often referred to as “RTK.”
It was first published in 1977, and is probably one of the oldest resources that uses the now somewhat common approach of breaking down kanji into components and providing “stories,” aka mnemonics, to help you remember those kanji.
The first volume of the RTK series is the most well-known. It has a reputation for being the quickest method of learning 2,200 kanji, with learners who have completed the first volume and learned all 2,200 kanji in only a couple of months or less, which is an exceptional speed.
But there’s a catch — it teaches you kanji meanings exclusively, so you won’t know how to read the kanji. While it’s an effective resource for recognizing the meanings of kanji quickly, you won’t be exposed to kanji readings at all. The second volume of the series is dedicated to teaching the readings of the kanji you learned in the first volume. However, it doesn’t offer as much guidance as the first volume. Unfortunately, no mnemonics are provided to help you remember the readings, even though that’s what the readers of the first volume might have expected to see in the second volume as well.
In addition to the ability to recognize the kanji meanings, the goal of the first volume is to familiarize you with the shapes of kanji to help you handwrite the characters. Although it’s still a popular kanji learning series today, keep in mind that this book was first published in 1977. Learners’ needs have changed since then. Typing is far more common and practical than handwriting skills, and you won’t be able to type if you don’t know how to read.
Another big downside is that it teaches you kanji in isolation from vocabulary. That means you won’t be learning kanji in any sort of context. In real-life, kanji are basically components of words. It’s important to know how and in what kind of words they will be used. This is why many RTK users move on to other resources for vocabulary learning once they finish the first volume.
RTK 1 is probably the quickest way to get through and get familiar with a huge amount of kanji. If you’re the kind of person who wants to cram and drill down kanji meanings in a short amount of time, it is worth checking out. Knowing the meanings of kanji isn’t completely useless after all — that’s absolutely better than having zero kanji knowledge. You can use that to guess the meaning of Japanese words that they make up. Well, kind of…
However, with its strict focus on meaning-only, what you actually get out of it may be limited and superficial — You won’t be able to read, type kanji, or gain vocabulary knowledge from this book.
Overall, RTK 1 is not designed to give you practical knowledge or skills for reading Japanese texts. It covers all the jōyō kanji, which includes uncommon kanji, and some non-jōyō kanji as well. These are mainly kanji used in proper names or added with the intention of using them as components of other kanji, rather than for their usefulness. This also means that you’ll be missing some extremely common non-jōyō kanji too.
Also, note that the first volume expects you to learn how to create mnemonics on your own, so the mnemonics gradually fade out and aren’t provided later in the book. Coming up with your own mnemonics could help you strengthen your memory, but it’s also time-consuming. Especially if you’re considering RTK for its speed, use Koohii, a database of user-generated mnemonics for RTK.
Finally, this is a textbook. Using it alone won’t help you retain your kanji knowledge. If you decide to go with RTK, definitely pair it with Anki or another SRS.
Kanji Coverage
2,200 kanji
What You’ll Learn
Kanji meanings
Stroke orders
Teaching Methods
Breaking kanji down into parts
Mnemonics
SRS Feature
No, but there are user-generated premade decks.
Format
Paperback, E-Book
Pros
Quick way to study meanings of 2,200 kanji
Cons
Teaches you kanji in isolation from vocabulary
Some mnemonics can be religious and hard to relate to
Mnemonics gradually fade out
Doesn’t teach you kanji readings
The kanji coverage is heavily based on the jōyō list (it covers uncommon jōyō kanji, but doesn’t cover useful non-jōyō kanji.)
A well-thought-out textbook to help you remember 2,300 kanji with mnemonics and carefully picked kanji vocabulary.
The Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Course, also known as the “KLC,” is a textbook designed to help Japanese learners remember 2,300 kanji. Since it was published in 2013, it’s built up a reputation as one of the best textbooks for learning kanji.
While it can be compared to the other very popular kanji textbook, James Heisig’s Remembering the Kanji, the KLC offers a more updated and thorough approach as well as features that RTK was missing. Their fundamental methods are similar — they both teach kanji with component parts (they call them “graphemes”) and provide mnemonics to remember the core meanings of kanji. While RTK is most known for being the quickest kanji learning method while sacrificing some of the important aspects for Japanese learners (such as kanji readings and vocabulary), KLC is designed as a practical resource to help learners gain genuine literacy.
One of the biggest differences is that while RTK teaches you kanji in isolation from vocabulary or any sort of context, KLC teaches you kanji in context. KLC offers a few sample vocabulary words per kanji to represent the use of kanji as well as common readings. And, the vocabulary only uses kanji that you’ve learned previously, so you’ll be able to reinforce your kanji knowledge in subsequent vocabulary. Although this approach may not be as hand-holding as WaniKani (I’ll be talking about this next), which provides you with mnemonics to help you remember the kanji readings as well as vocabulary, the intentional teaching order and carefully selected vocabulary definitely makes KLC valuable.
KLC also takes into account the frequency of usage of each kanji, meaning that you’ll learn the most commonly used kanji first, which will help you to start reading real-world Japanese materials more quickly. The selection of kanji has given a lot of thought to it too. The only downside is that it includes all the jōyō kanji, including some uncommon ones. The full coverage of jōyō kanji makes the total number 2,300, which is definitely on the heavier side of most kanji learning programs. It also covers non-jōyō kanji based on how useful they are and how easy they are to learn, but just be aware that not every kanji from this book will be useful (especially uncommon kanji kept for the sake of being jōyō kanji).
The KLC textbook is quite simple — once you open the book and flip the pages, you’ll realize it looks almost like a kanji dictionary or a reference, rather than a course to go through. And because it is a book after all, it doesn’t come with an integrated system to review what you’ve learned like a built-in SRS. So to further review and practice the kanji you learn, there are supplemental resources like graded readers, or handwriting worksheets available. While potentially helpful, it can end up costing quite a bit if you’re purchasing all the recommended materials.
Overall, KLC is a well-designed resource for learners of Japanese to help you not only familiarize yourself with kanji, but also be able to read Japanese text in real-life. If you decide to give KLC a go, start at the beginning to understand how the program is designed and its recommended use to maximize the benefits. Make sure to check out the appendix, too — you’ll pick up some fundamental kanji knowledge that will definitely be useful!
Kanji Coverage
2,300 kanji
What You’ll Learn
Meanings
Readings
Stroke orders
Vocabulary
Teaching Methods
Breaking down into parts
Mnemonics for meaning
SRS Feature
No. KLC recommends using the graded readers for review, but there are user-generated premade decks
Format
Paperback and Kindle
Pros
Focuses on practical kanji skills and genuine literacy
Helps you differentiate between similar-looking kanji
Set of accompanying graded readers available for reviews
Cons
A lot of cross-references inside the book
Can be expensive with supplemental materials
Some of the mnemonics are not-so-intuitive
Includes uncommon kanji (as it fully covers jōyō kanji)
A complete package for kanji and Japanese vocabulary learning, using built-in SRS and mnemonics to help you remember and not forget kanji meanings, readings, and vocabulary.
WaniKani is a kanji and Japanese vocabulary learning platform created here at Tofugu. It’s an online program that teaches you 2,074 kanji and 6,528 vocabulary words (as of March, 2023) over a total of 60 levels. WaniKani’s aim is to teach you the most useful kanji based on factors like frequency and native speaker intuition, in addition to whether a kanji is jōyō or not. And the list is continuously updated and improved.
What sets WaniKani apart from other kanji learning resources is that it’s an all-in-one interactive tool to learn and remember kanji and vocabulary. There are kanji textbooks that have great content, but many users have to pair it with a separate SRS like Anki in order to review what they learned in these books. WaniKani streamlines this process, offering lessons to introduce you to new items (radicals, kanji, and vocabulary), and a built-in SRS to review what you’ve learned.
WaniKani also takes the approach of slowly building on what you’ve learned. Like many other effective kanji learning resources, it breaks down kanji into component parts or what we call “radicals.” You’ll be introduced to radicals first, then kanji that use those radicals. And what’s more — you’ll learn vocabulary words that use the kanji with WaniKani. Because its SRS keeps a record of your correct and incorrect answers, WaniKani knows how familiar (and how not yet familiar) you are with the items you’ve learned. This way, WaniKani makes sure you’re already familiar with the prerequisite items first, then unlocks new items only when you’re ready.
Another thing that differentiates WaniKani from other resources is that it offers mnemonics for kanji readings in addition to kanji meanings. Many resources offer kanji meaning mnemonics, but only a few provide mnemonics to help you remember kanji readings. WaniKani also prioritizes kanji readings according to how useful they are so you don’t have to worry about which reading(s) you should be putting more effort into remembering.
And don’t forget — WaniKani teaches you vocabulary that uses the kanji you previously learned. It’s designed in a way that you’ll be reinforcing various readings of kanji through learning Japanese words, not only seeing kanji as a part of vocabulary. While other kanji learning resources only show vocabulary alongside kanji, WaniKani helps you remember the vocabulary with mnemonics and SRS, too.
As a bonus, you might like WaniKani’s fun and friendly voice. (Users have described our personalities as silly or quirky.) Traditional textbook-based kanji programs like RTK or KLC often use more formal academic language, but WaniKani keeps things approachable and engaging (at least, we try). WaniKani also has a large community of fellow learners offering advice, support, and activities like book clubs. Knowing that you’re in it with other people can be reassuring and motivating, especially if you are a self-learner.
However, despite all the nice things that I’ve said about WaniKani, like any other resource, WaniKani is not for everyone.
One of the benefits of using a kanji learning program is that there’s structure. You can jump right in and just follow the program without worrying about what to do next. However, it also means programs restrain flexibility for effectiveness, and WaniKani’s program is fairly rigid.
For example, if you’re learning from textbooks, you can skip pages and certain kanji (even though they usually recommend not to, there’s nothing to stop you). With WaniKani, you can’t skip items or levels. This could be potentially frustrating for learners not to be able to skip the kanji that they already know. However, there are also many successful users who started WaniKani with months or years of kanji study under their belts who can attest that they could learn kanji more efficiently with WaniKani than ever before.
Also WaniKani might feel slow for users who’ve just started because the built-in SRS makes you wait. But that’s just in the beginning — you should enjoy it while it lasts. The number of reviews can also be quickly overwhelming as you progress. One of the most common pieces of advice that fellow WaniKani users are giving out is to make sure to pace yourself. Even when new lessons are available, you might hold off on doing them so that you won’t get overwhelmed by reviews. If you’re trying to complete WaniKani, you’re in it for the long haul — it takes at least a year to complete the program. It’s important not to burn yourself out.
Finally, WaniKani is not the cheapest program. There’s a team of us continuously working hard to support our users, improve and update the program (content-wise as well as feature-wise). Having said that, the first three levels are free and should give you an idea of how it works and whether or not it’s for you.
Kanji Coverage
2,000 kanji
What You’ll Learn
Meanings
Readings
Vocabulary
Teaching Methods
Breaking down kanji into parts (radicals)
Mnemonics for meanings, readings and vocabulary
SRS Feature
✅
Format
Web app
Pros
A complete program that you can follow from start to finish
Provides mnemonics for kanji reading as well as kanji meanings
Prioritizes more important readings and meanings
Reinforces various kanji readings through teaching vocabulary that use them
Helpful (and very active) community
Continuously updated and improved
Covers the most useful kanji
Cons
Slow at the start
Reviews can be overwhelming if you aim to get through all lessons in every session
More expensive than other programs
Doesn’t teach stroke orders (though the mnemonics aim to follow the writing order)
A free kanji learning program using the NSFW mnemonics in the form of ‘Yo Mama jokes’ (as they call it).
So far, I’ve only introduced you to programs that cost some money. While I personally believe a quality program is a worthy investment considering how much time you can save, I also wanted to introduce you to an option that you can use for free.
Kanji Damage is a website where you can learn 1,700 kanji using the method of breaking down kanji into components and offering mnemonics for both meanings and readings. And, it’s free!
What makes Kanji Damage different from other kanji learning programs is its unique voice and writing style. Like I mentioned earlier, textbook-based kanji programs tend to use professional and academic language. Kanji Damage goes in the total opposite direction and keeps things unapologetically casual. Maybe a little too casual (and slightly offensive) for some people. But let’s be honest — traditional textbooks can sound too uptight sometimes. Kanji Damage is maybe extreme by comparison, but you might find it more entertaining or approachable.
Overall, the content is definitely NSFW, and not something to let your kids use for their kanji studies, but if you don’t mind that kind of language, Kanji Damage is a decent option you can try for free.
The language may be inappropriate overall, but don’t just judge it by how they speak. The program is designed from a learner’s perspective. There are hints to help users tell lookalike kanji apart kanji and each kanji page has a list of vocabulary that uses the kanji as well, so you can see the kanji in context. Each kanji compound word (jukugo) shows how it is made out of different kanji components and how the meanings are derived, making it easy for you to piece them together and remember.
Although Kanji Damage is a website, note that it is NOT an interactive tool. It is a collection of static web pages, and in fact, the author actually calls it a “book.” So, it won’t save your progress, and you won’t be able to review or practice with built-in digital flashcards like WaniKani. However, you should note that Kanji Damage has an official Anki deck, so even though it’s not built-in, you can use that as a tool to review what you learned on Kanji Damage.
Also, be aware that the total number of kanji is 1,700, a few hundred fewer than what similar kanji learning programs cover. The author used a list of kanji from JLPT and jōyō kanji, then “threw out all the bullshit ones,” using their judgment of what’s useful and what’s not. While most of the excluded jōyō kanji are indeed obscure, there are some that you would run into in daily life. As a native speaker of Japanese, I would say the list may be a little too pared down for learners looking to achieve a decent level of literacy, and familiarize themselves with most of the kanji they’d encounter on a daily basis.
We hope this article helped introduce you to one or two kanji learning programs you want to check out.
In case you couldn’t find what you were looking for, there are a few other resources that didn’t quite make the shortlist you might be interested in. They are all quality resources, but they were excluded for various reasons; less kanji coverage, focus on one particular kanji-related skill (such as handwriting), etc.
Video Program
Outlier Linguistics Kanji Masterclass: If you’re the kind of person who wants to learn from actual speaking human beings, there’s even an online video course. It only covers 300 kanji, but it teaches you how to learn more kanji on your own with that foundational knowledge.
Popular Textbooks
Kanji Look and Learn: If you’re a Genki textbook fan, Kanji Look and Learn might be a good option that comes with illustrations for mnemonics for each kanji. It also has a separate workbook full of activities, including practice handwriting. Just note it only covers 512 beginner to intermediate-level kanji.
Kanji from Zero!: The “from Zero!” series has textbooks to study kanji too. While the textbooks include a bunch of activities, including handwriting, they come in separate volumes, each only covering a couple hundred kanji.
Tools To Practice Handwriting
Skritter: If you learn kanji best through handwriting (or tracing) the characters, or you want to master writing kanji by hand, the Skritter app may be a perfect option. It’s pretty pricey though, so if you simply want to practice handwriting, consider using an alternative like Japanese Kanji Study, which I talk about next, and pair it with your main kanji learning program.
Japanese Kanji Study: An Android app with a lot of features and flexibility to study kanji. It comes with plenty of options — information related to each kanji as well as how to study them, including a feature to practice handwriting. Since the structure is compromised for its customizability, I’d recommend using it as a secondary resource to pair with a kanji learning program of your choice.
Regardless of what you pick, make sure to take advantage of the trial or preview of the product if it’s available. Everyone learns differently, and you won’t know what works best for you until you actually try it out. Hopefully, we can help you point you toward resources that will be right for you, but it’s also important to stick with something once you’ve started; no need to stress about finding the absolute perfect method, just the one that suits you where you’re at in your language journey right now.
Now, go do some kanji learning, and hopefully you’ll enjoy it!
Kanae Nakamine, David Honeycutt, and Ian J. Battaglia
Hiragana and katakana are literally the ABCs of Japanese. They’re the most basic types of Japanese characters and essential parts of the Japanese language. Learning these two types of characters is often the very first step to learning Japanese, too.
Being able to read hiragana and katakana is amazing because it’s such an immediately practical skill. You see them everywhere in Japan. The scenery of Japan, or even your neighborhood Asian grocery store may start to look different once you know hiragana and katakana.
Luckily, they’re fairly easy to master, too. No, you don’t need a photographic memory or superpower to memorize all of them. All you need is the right method and tools to study effectively and efficiently.
There are 46 hiragana characters for hiragana and katakana respectively. Memorizing 92 characters with unfamiliar shapes might sound intimidating now, but trust me. People have learned them in a couple weeks, a few days, or even a few hours with these effective methods.
If you want to study hiragana and katakana fairly quickly, and never forget them, you’ve come to the right place. I’ll talk about how you can do it, and introduce some of the best kana learning resources you can use for a successful kana learning experience.
How To Learn Hiragana & Katakana
First, let me go through the three key points for successful kana learning.
1. Use memory hints aka “mnemonics”
Memory hints, aka mnemonics, are honestly the game changer in remembering foreign characters like hiragana, katakana, and even kanji. Using mnemonics, you can easily associate the shape of kana with the reading.
Curious how mnemonics actually work? Here’s an example to remember hiragana “ki” (き). This one is pretty simple. Just think of a key! 🔑
Remembering a bunch of unfamiliar shapes suddenly sounds doable, right? Mnemonics make things easy to remember, recall, and not forget. It really is a powerful tool for kana learning.
2. Prioritize “reading” over “writing”
Focus on reading first. Not writing. I know, it’s not the traditional way children learn their characters. But, learning to read is more important as the most common form of “writing” nowadays is typing. (If you can read kana, you can type them.)
Being able to handwrite hiragana from memory is a great skill to have too, but it takes a lot more time to master and has fewer real-life benefits. I recommend you save it for later. Handwriting or tracing over the characters with your fingers can be a great way to spend time observing the shapes closely, but always keep in mind the “reading” priority rather than being able to handwrite from your memory. At least, for now.
3. Practice recalling
Once you become familiar with the kana, practice reading repeatedly. Make sure to review items you’ve learned and keep it up. And when you review, focus on your recall. The more effort you put into recalling something, the stronger memory your brain will end up building.
The Best Resources for Learning Hiragana/Katakana
So now that we’ve talked about the three key points for successful kana learning, you may be thinking, “What tools can I use to learn hiragana and katakana?”
I got you — I put together a list of some of the best kana learning resources. They, of course, have small differences, but they all feature mnemonics and reading practice, which are the key points for successful kana learning.
Resource
Format
Pros & Cons
Tofugu’s Learn Hiragana/Katakana Books
PDF books
👍 Free! 👍 Quality mnemonics 👍 Bonus handwriting exercises to help you associate the shape with the reading 👍 Other Tofugu kana learning resources are available 👎 No audio (though the web page versions do have audio)
HIRAGANA/KATAKANA Memory Hint
iOS/Android Apps
👍 Free! 👎 Only offers multiple choice quizzes 👎 Glitchy — some features (like audio play) may not work
Learn Languages with Dr. Moku
iOS/Android Apps
👍 Animated mnemonic illustrations and audio reading aloud mnemonics 👎 In-app purchase is required for the full coverage of kana
Hiragana/Katakana in 1 Hour – How to Write and Read Japanese
YouTube Video Lessons
👍 Free! 👎 Being a video lesson, it’s hard to navigate and reference a specific kana
Now, let’s take a closer look at each resource.
Tofugu’s Learn Hiragana/Katakana Books
Before anything, let me talk about Tofugu’s own products — our Learn Hiragana/Katakana Book series. This is a shameless plug as I am very proud of all the learners who successfully learned kana with our books and proved them to be effective. They’re also available for free, so nothing to lose if you give them a try.
Tofugu’s Learn Hiragana/Katakana Book series consists of two PDF workbooks, so you can print or use them on your device offline. The workbooks cover everything you need to know about hiragana and katakana. You’ll learn how to pronounce, and how to remember each character with mnemonics and writing practice sheets. There are also reading practice exercises to help you review what you’ve just learned by filling in romaji. The quiz uses actual words made from the characters you’ve learned, creating a rewarding moment that hopefully makes you go “Woah, I can read Japanese words!” and motivates you to keep going.
More than anything, the ultimate focus of our content is the quality of mnemonics. We’ve been updating and improving our mnemonics ever since we first published them, and that’s what makes our kana content special. For example, to explain the pronunciation of each kana, we use an English word that uses the same or very similar sound so that you know exactly how to pronounce it. And, when possible, we use the English keyword for mnemonics too. For example, the hiragana い sounds just like “e” as in “eel.” And to help you associate the sound and the shape of the characters, we use the same keyword “eel,” and say い looks like two eels hanging out. Another common mnemonic for い is that it looks like the number eleven as in 11 (which, it totally does!) but we choose “eels” for the more accurate pronunciation. We believe that learning kana is also about learning the sounds of the Japanese language and the basics of Japanese pronunciation, so we hope those keywords help you remember the correct pronunciation.
We also keep our mnemonic art simple in a way that makes it easy to see the original shape of the character. Not many mnemonics out there have this quality, and it’s sometimes hard to recognize the original shape in the mnemonic art.
If you are looking for a one-stop solution for kana learning, you won’t be disappointed with Tofugu’s Learn Hiragana/Katakana Books.
Format
PDF Workbooks
Pros
Free!
Most of the mnemonics use English keywords that are close to the Japanese sound of the character
Mnemonic art doesn’t interfere with the original shape of the character
Comes with writing sheets to help you associate the shape with the reading
More kana learning tools available to mix and match at Tofugu
Cons
Product Link
For those who want to be able to listen to the pronunciation of each kana…
So there you have it. We actually have more kana learning tools in various formats and for different purposes, so check out the list below to find something that suits your preference and needs. You can mix and match too — they’re all free!
Web Pages They come with audio so you can hear how each character is pronounced.
YouTube Video Lessons
Mnemonic Charts A quick reference chart of our mnemonics.
Quiz/Review
HIRAGANA/KATAKANA Memory Hint
Learn Languages with Dr. Moku (Hiragana & Katakana)
Format
Mobile Apps (iOS/Android)
Pros
Mnemonics and quizzes in one app
Seamless app experience to learn and review kana
Visually appealing with quality illustrations and animations
Cons
Not free to learn all kana, so pretty much, you’re expected to pay
Quiz results don’t tell you what specific character you had a hard time with
The paid “Practice” feature won’t consider what kana you may already know
Learn ALL Hiragana/Katakana in 1 Hour – How to Write and Read Japanese (JapanesePod101.com)
Format
Mobile Apps (iOS/Android)
Pros
Quality videos
A short explanation about where you might see the kana in Japanese grammar
A thorough, yet easy-to-understand overview of kana
Tips to tell similar-looking kana apart
Free!
Cons
English keywords for mnemonics often not matching the actual kana reading
The lack of timestamp makes it hard to navigate and reference a specific kana
It might not be easy for everyone to sit through the entire video, as suggested by the title
Product Link
For Extra Quiz Practice and Reviews
The resources that I’ve talked about so far are all one-stop solutions that help you remember kana with mnemonics and review and practice through quizzes. As I’ve mentioned, kana is everywhere. Once you start studying other aspects of the Japanese language, you’ll see them constantly. So in a way, you’ll be naturally reinforcing your kana knowledge moving forward. That said, you’ll want to first practice a lot and make sure you solidify your kana knowledge.
You can get some practice in with the resources above, but I also wanted to introduce you to a couple other tools specifically designed to quiz your kana knowledge for extra practice. One standout feature is that they let you actually type in romaji for the kana readings instead of just offering you multiple choice answers. This means they are a better assessment of your true kana knowledge, and can help you identify what kana you might be struggling to remember.
Tofugu’s Learn Kana Quiz
This is another shameless plug (okay okay, I promise this will be the last).
Tofugu’s Learn Kana Quiz is a web app originally designed to be a quiz tool to help you solidify the kana knowledge from our kana products, such as the workbooks and web pages I introduced earlier. However, it would be a great companion for really any kind of kana-learning resource as what it does is allow you to practice whatever kana you want, as many times as you want. It also helps you to identify the characters you still have a hard time with.
The way it works is simple. On the main page, you get to choose the kana you want to practice by column (a set of three to five characters). You can check all hiragana or all katakana with a single button too, if you’re already familiar with all the kana listed.
During the quiz, you’ll be prompted with a set of the selected hiragana characters and asked to type in the readings for each one. You can choose to skip items so you can save the ones you have a hard time recalling and circle back on those later. We believe the act of recalling is important, so unlike any other quiz tools, we actually won’t tell you the correct answer even when you get things wrong. (We intentionally make it hard to cheat, and it’s all for you!) However, you can try answering the same item until you type in the right answer so you can test your recall over and over.
Then, when you finish a session, the results show you how many failed attempts you had with the characters you couldn’t answer correctly at the first go. This will help you identify what kana characters are not still sticking in your memory so you can do something about them — revisiting the mnemonics, inventing new mnemonics, or tracing the characters — whatever you gotta do to finally remember them!
Format
Web App
Pros
You can select what kana columns you want to practice
Doesn’t show the correct answer
Results show the number of failed attempts for each character
So this is it! Hope you found something that you want to give a try in this article. Again, being able to read kana is a big first step, and it’s not as hard as you think. I hope the methods and resources that I talked about will give you a great head start on your Japanese learning journey! Happy Kana Learning!
Even in situations when Japanese people are quite positive that something is true, they typically hold back on expressing claims. Similar to how one might use a layer of wrapping paper to hide what is really within a package, when speaking Japanese, Japanese speakers regularly encase their assertions in language that implies they aren’t sure about it. To suit this social tradition, Japanese offers a variety of grammatical terms for different degrees of certainty.
For example, consider a scenario where you arrive at work in the morning, and a coworker asks you whether you left a document on her desk last night. You did not do that, but you believe another coworker, Tanaka-san, may have. This is what you can say:
田中さん[かな / かも / な気がする / だと思う]。
It might be Tanaka-san.
These four terms are presented in order of degree of certainty: from least certain to most certain. Although four might seem like enough, that’s merely the tip of the iceberg. Japanese has a lot more similar expressions, and understanding them is crucial for speaking the language in a more Japanese-like manner.
To assist you in using Japanese in a way that possibly sounds more Japanese, this article discusses those terms in order of degree of certainty. Are you ready to learn them? Maybe? Perhaps? Well, it seems you are ready, I suppose. So, let’s get the ball rolling!
Notes:This article concentrates more on the subtleties of each term, particularly in ordinary speaking or writing. Some expressions might not be appropriate in formal writing, such as academic writing, as formal writing tends to require a rigid and assertive style in general.
A Big Picture Look at Degree of Certainty Words
As mentioned in the introduction, there are plenty of ways to convey your assumptions in Japanese. All of these expressions are for “judgments” made in light of the available information. The certainty of the judgment, however, can be different depending on how much information the speaker knows, and how much they rely on it to make judgments, as well as whether or not they reached their assumption subjectively or objectively.
To help your understanding, here’s a chart to show you a rough idea of the certainty level and how subjectivity or objectivity each term sounds:
“Certain” and “uncertain” should be pretty self-explanatory, but what do I mean by “subjective” or “objective”? Basically, the more “subjective” a term is, the more heavily it’s based on your own assumptions and intuition, whereas more “objective” terms rely a bit more on outside information or past experiences in conjunction with your own thoughts.
Don’t worry if you aren’t familiar with these exact expressions yet, though — we’re going to go over them one by one. Also, if you feel like this table is missing some other words you already know, such as 多分 (perhaps) or きっと (surely), rest assured that I’ll be covering them in this article as well, but in a separate section at the bottom!
Expressions For Conveying a Low Level of Certainty
To start, let’s introduce expressions for conveying the lowest level of certainty.
〜かな for “I Wonder…”
To express your feeling of uncertainty, you can use 〜かな. 〜かな is the equivalent of the English phrase “I wonder…” It’s often used with a notion or a hypothetical scenario that has come to mind, and implies that you should take it with a pinch of salt.
For example, if you sneeze and you wonder if you have a cold, you can stick 〜かな onto 風邪 (cold) and say:
風邪かな。
I wonder if I have a cold.
Here, 〜かな expresses that while you think you might have a cold, you are still unsure and are wondering about it.
You can also attach かな to a longer sentence. For instance, if you wonder you may develop a fever, you could say:
熱が出るかな。
I wonder if I’m getting a fever.
In a way, 〜かな is sort of like asking yourself a question, and thus it’s considered an informal expression.
Again, in this example, 〜かな indicates that even though you’re afraid of getting a fever, you are still unsure and wondering about it.
Due to its nature, 〜かな lacks the polite form. To express this sort of speculation when speaking to someone in a polite manner, you can instead use 〜ですかね or 〜ますかね, or the more formal 〜でしょうか(ね).
風邪[ですかね / でしょうか(ね)]。
I wonder if I have a cold.
(Literally: Do you think I have a cold?)
熱[出ますかね / 出るでしょうか(ね)]。
I wonder if I’m developing a fever.
(Literally: Do you think I will develop a fever?)
Here, です and ます are the marker for the politeness, か is the question particle, and ね is the confirmation-seeking particle. And, でしょう is one of the grammar points used to express speculation. If you aren’t familiar with them, check out the linked pages!
〜かもしれない for “May” or “Might”
〜かもしれない is the Japanese equivalent of “may” or “might.” It communicates the implication that something may be true, but you’re not completely sure. In other words, it refers to your guess when there is no concrete proof to support it.
Let’s use the same scenario of you sneezing. Instead of “you wonder,” you think you might have a cold. In this case, you can use 〜かもしれない and say:
風邪かもしれない。
I might have a cold.
Here, 〜かもしれない shows that even if you suspect that you might have a cold, you aren’t so sure. If you’re very certain that your sneeze is being caused by a cold, you shouldn’t use 〜かもしれない.
Note that 〜かもしれない is often shortened to just 〜かも in casual conversation, or in self-directed speech. So if you now have some chills and are telling your family member that you might develop a fever, it’s common to drop しれない and say:
熱が出るかも。
I may develop a fever.
Although it is grammatically incorrect, some people use 〜かも with です to lend a sense of casual politeness. So if you’re telling one of your superiors at work that you’re friendly with that you might get a fever, you could say:
熱が出るかもです。
I may develop a fever.
However, you would use the proper polite form, 〜かもしれません, if you were speaking to another senior employee with whom you have a stiff, square relationship.
熱が出るかもしれません。
I may develop a fever.
Alright, you’ve probably had enough of 〜かもしれない expressions, so let’s move onto the next expression!
〜気がする for “I Have A Feeling…”
〜気がする literally translates to “have a feeling,” and it’s used to express that you aren’t certain but “you have a feeling that something might be the case.”
Since 〜気がする indicates that you have a hunch about something, it sounds slightly more certain than 〜かな (I wonder) or 〜かもしれない (maybe/might). However, the certainty level of this expression is still low, because it only conveys a feeling or guess based on intuition, rather than known facts.
Let’s reuse the sneezing example to see how it works. After a big achoo, if you intuitively think “Oh, I may have a cold,” then you can use 〜気がする and say:
風邪引いた気がする。
I have a feeling that I have a cold.
Here, 〜気がする expresses that while you get the feeling that you have a cold, there isn’t any solid evidence to support this.
What if you’ve been experiencing chills and want to inform your boss that you sense a fever is coming next? In this circumstance, you can use the polite 〜気がします and say:
熱が出そうな気がします。
I have a feeling that I may develop a fever.
Once more, 〜気がします demonstrates that while you do have a sneaking suspicion that you may get a fever, there isn’t any concrete proof to back this up.
Alright, now that we’ve covered all the low certainty expressions (with the exception of adverbs, which we’ll learn later), let’s move on to the expressions for conveying a medium level of certainty!
Expressions For Conveying a Medium Level of Certainty
In this section, we’ll discuss expressions that convey a medium level of certainty. You might use these when you think you have some evidence to support your argument, but it remains a matter of conjecture, and you don’t want to assert thoughts too strongly.
〜っぽい for “Like…,” “-ish,” or “It Seems…”
〜っぽい is a slang-ish suffix that expresses similarity, as in “(feel) like…,” or “-ish” in English. For example, if you feel like you have a cold, you can say:
風邪っぽい。
I feel like that I have a cold.
And if you’re feverish, and you want to report that to your boss, you can add the polite です and say:
熱っぽいです。
I feel feverish.
In these examples, 〜っぽい casually indicates that you have some symptoms of a cold or fever, but you don’t necessarily know if you have an actual cold or fever.
〜っぽい can also follow the situation in which you think it’s likely true based on your observation, like:
風邪引いたっぽいです。
It seems like I have a cold.
In this case, 〜っぽい adds a sense of ambiguity, like “Given the symptoms, it’s likely I have a cold, but it’s not a 100% sure thing.”
〜みたい for “Like…” or “It Seems…”
Similar to 〜っぽい, 〜みたい is a suffix that expresses similarity or resemblance to something else. For instance, if you find a yellow tomato that tastes like or looks like a banana, you can say:
バナナみたい。
This is like a banana.
Depending on the situation, the use of 〜みたい here suggests that the yellow tomato has a flavor or appearance that is similar to a banana.
In case you’re curious, 〜みたい and 〜っぽい are comparable but distinct terms. バナナみたい means that you think the tomato somehow resembles or is similar to a banana, while バナナっぽい describes the tomato as having characteristics that are kind of like a banana.
Now, let’s switch 〜っぽい with 〜みたい in the earlier example 風邪引いたっぽい。(It seems like I have a cold.), as in:
風邪引いたみたいです。
It seems like I have a cold.
〜みたい and 〜っぽい are indeed very similar, and have the same translation when used in this way. If I were to be picky, there are very small differences between the two, though.
That is, 〜みたい demonstrates your assessment that your condition is comparable to, if not the same as having a cold, whereas 〜っぽい shows that, given your current circumstance, you get a feeling that you have a cold.
Since 〜みたい indicates your assessment, 風邪引いたみたいです is slightly more certain than 風邪引いたっぽいです. However, due to the ambivalence added by 〜みたい, 風邪引いたみたいです still presents the message that you’re aware that you probably have a cold, but are coming to terms with it.
〜だろう/〜でしょう for “I Guess Probably…”
If your hypothesis about something is based on opinions and perspectives with some justifications, you can use the expression 〜だろう, or its polite form 〜でしょう, as in:
風邪だろうね。
I guess that’s probably a cold.
熱も出るでしょうね。
I guess that they’ll probably develop a fever, too.
Here, 〜だろう/でしょう suggests that you are making a personal guess that you believe is probably true, while also suggesting that it is supported by some form of evidence.
These terms are typically used while making an observation and drawing your own conclusions. Although it is possible to use them to talk about yourself, talking about somebody or something else is far more typical.
Another thing to keep in mind is that だろう, or its abbreviation だろ, has an unrefined and rugged tone as-is. This rough-hewn aspect works well when you’re making an affirmative statement about your guess in writing or in a formal speech. In ordinary speaking, however, it sounds tough and is often considered masculine.
To soften the sound, the final particle ね is commonly used with it, just as in the examples above 〜だろうね. On the other hand, 〜でしょう is a very polite expression and is favored in formal situations. Adding ね to it, as in 〜でしょうね, can make it sound feminine, though it’s used across the gender spectrum in formal settings.
For these nuances, both 〜だろう and 〜でしょう might not always be the preferred choices in ordinary conversations. Instead, many people choose 〜と思う (I think…) instead to convey their assertion in general situations. Speaking of which, you can just scroll down to see how 〜と思う is used!
〜と思う for “I Think/Believe…”
When you draw a conclusion based on some evidence, and actually believe it’s likely to be true, you can use the expression 〜と思う (I think/believe…), which is the combination of the quotation marker と and the verb 思う (to think).
For example, if you not only sneezed but have chills and fatigue, you may say:
風邪引いたと思う。
I think that I have a cold.
Here, 〜と思う expresses that you have some reason to back up your claim, and you naturally came to think that’s probably the case.
When you say 〜と思う, you are merely expressing a thought, idea, or notion that just occurred to you.
If you’re wondering why the word “naturally” was inserted there, good eye! Japanese has two verbs for “think,” 思う and 考える. Between the two, 思う refers to more spontaneous thinking that bubbles up naturally “in your heart,” while 考える is a more methodical kind of active thinking, which we might say happens “in your head.”
Now, let’s take a look at the above example 風邪引いたと思う again. Here, the claim 風邪引いた (I caught/have a cold) is a highly convinced sentence in and of itself (we’ll talk about this later too!), and what 〜と思う is doing is actually softening the assertion by stating that it’s the notion that naturally came to you.
For this reason, the certainty of 〜と思う changes depending on the sentence you attach it to. For example, you can decrease the level of certainty by adding 〜かな (I wonder) or 〜かも(しれない) (may/might) to the claim, like:
風邪引いた[かな / かも(しれない)]と思う。
I think that I may have a cold.
In this case, 〜と思う softens the already vague かな/かもしれない statements and makes them even less certain. On the other hand, if you add an adverb like 絶対 (definitely), it becomes a strong conviction:
絶対風邪引いたと思う。
I think that I definitely have a cold.
But again, just saying 絶対 風邪引いた without 〜と思う is stronger, and what 〜と思う is essentially softening the strong statement.
This happens in English too, but as was mentioned in the beginning, Japanese people typically reserve making assertions about something unless they are fully certain that it is accurate. As a result, you hear 〜と思う, or 〜気がする (I have a feeling…), used with many Japanese remarks to help the speaker feel at ease.
There was a lot in this section to take in, huh? One final point: the polite form of 思う is 思います. So, use 思います when telling your thoughts to someone with whom you need to speak to in a courteous manner.
〜そう for “It Looks/Seems Like…”
You can also use 〜そう when you believe that something is about to happen, someone is going to do something, or some condition might be the case. For example, if you feel like you might develop a fever, you can combine it with the verb 出る and say:
As mentioned earlier, 〜そう basically translates to “it looks/seems like” in English. To put it another way, you can use this to simply describe what you think is going to happen, based on your observation of the present situation.
Since 〜そう is basically your report on what something “looks/seems like” based on your observation, its certainly level is slightly higher than other expressions we’ve learned so far. However, it still implies that you aren’t certain, so when talking about what’s seemingly about to happen, it often goes well with 〜気がする, as in:
熱が出そうな気がする。
I have a feeling that I will seemingly develop a fever.
Note that since 〜そう is an expression that’s dependent on what you are observing at the time you’re speaking, you cannot use it to explain an event that happened in the past.
Expressions For Conveying a High Level of Certainty
Now you’ve learned all the expressions for low and medium certainty, let’s move onto the high-certainty expressions.
〜はず for “Supposed To Be” or “Should Be”
If you think that something is “supposed” to be or “should” be the case, foreseeably based on objective, logical inference, the phrase 〜はず comes in play.
So if you have sneezed, get some chills, and foresee that a fever is about to develop, you can say:
熱が出るはず。
I should have a fever soon.
Here, 〜はず indicates that you believe that it’s highly likely that a fever is coming soon, and that belief is based on plausible information.
And if your assistant at work has some memory of having acetaminophen in the office cabinet, they could politely say:
薬があったはずです。
There should be some medication, if I remember correctly.
In this example, 〜はず suggests that they have a memory of having some medicine, if their memory is accurate.
In other words, 〜はず indicates a great degree of certainty, but not 100%. It conveys that you assume or believe that something is the case, but that you’re aware that it’s not necessarily so.
〜に違いない for “Must”
Like 〜はず, 〜に 違いない also denotes a high degree of certainty, but it implies that your own subjective judgment is involved to reach the conclusion.
It’s easier to grasp the nuance of 〜に 違いない while comparing it with 〜はず, so let’s bring back the earlier example of you foreseeing an upcoming fever for comparison:
熱が出る[はず / に違いない]。
I should have a fever soon.
The implication here is very similar, as both imply that you’ve reached the assumption that you are highly likely to have a fever soon, given that you currently have sneezes and chills.
〜に違いない sounds more confident and strong than 〜はず, because it conveys your personal conviction on the conclusion.
The literal meaning of 違いない is “no difference” or “not a mistake.” It indicates that something is exactly what you think without any difference or inaccuracy.
Thus, the literal meaning of the word 〜に違いない is “I affirm that XYZ is accurate and correct in every aspect,” which of course conveys a very high degree of certainty.
As you can see, what 〜に違いない implies is quite rigid. Hence, it’s more of a literary expression than colloquial.
Although 〜はず and 〜に違いない were interchangeable in the above example, because of the slight difference in nuance, they can’t always be swapped. For instance, due to its strong confidence, 〜に違いない cannot be used in the situation where you remember something and it’s highly likely, but you aren’t 100% sure, like:
薬があった[はず(です) / ❌に違いない(です) / ❌に違いありません]。
There should be some medication, if I remember correctly.
If you use 〜に違いない, or its polite forms 〜に違いないです or 〜に違いありません, in the above sentence, it would sound as if you’re a detective or a some sort investigator — it’s as if you’re drawing conclusions about the crime scene and asserting that some sort of medication must have been present at a specific location in the past.
The base of your claim can be either facts, knowledge, or even just your instinct, but with all the information at your disposal, 〜に違いない expresses that you cannot be certain that that will be the case.
For this connotation, detective characters in fiction may frequently employ 〜に違いない in speech. Howenver, few people want to sound like detectives in real life, so to say the same thing, people typically use 〜と思う, or its polite 〜と思うんです or 〜と思います, with an adverb, such as 絶対 (definitely):
絶対薬があった[と思う / と思うんです / と思います]。
I surely think that there was some medication.
We’ll soon go through all the adverbs for varying levels of certainty. Before moving on, however, we have one last expression for high certainty to discuss: the plain form.
Plain Form for “Realization” or “Conviction”
The majority of textbooks don’t mention this, but when Japanese people have just realized something or are finally convinced that something is the case, they typically just state it using the word in its most basic “plain form.”
For example, if you sneeze and become convinced that you have a cold, you might simply use the plain form and say:
あ、風邪引いた(わ/な)。
Oh, I have/got a cold.
Then, if you feel a chill coming on and are certain a fever will start, you can say:
うん、熱も出る(わ/な)。
Yep, I’m gonna have a fever.
Now suppose you genuinely start feeling sick and have a high fever, and believe it’s a flu. You might say:
インフルエンザだ(わ/な)。
This must be the flu.
These examples all have a plain form ending, either in the present or the past tense. They can still take sentence-final particles that are directed at yourself, such as わ (a judgment/sentiment marker) or な (a discovery marker). But even without them, ending a sentence in a plain form sufficiently communicates your judgment or your discovery that something is true and that you are confident in it.
You don’t typically see the polite form in this use because it’s essentially used for a self-directed realization or conviction. However, you may use the polite form if you are talking to the audience and speaking in a polite manner in general.
For instance, if you’re live-streaming your life and you think you have a fever the moment you’ve sneezed, you could say:
あ、風邪引きました(ね)。
Oh, I have/got a cold.
Then, if you feel a chill and anticipate a fever coming on, you can say:
うん、熱も出ます(ね)。
Yep, I’m gonna have a fever.
And then, you actually get really sick and have become to think you have the flu, you could say:
インフルエンザです(ね)。
This must be the flu.
As you can see in the examples, it’s customary to use the particle ね in this situation to solicit audience agreement, as in “do you agree with my realization?”
Okay, now that we’ve gone through every expression for certainty, all that’s left is to look at adverbs! Don’t be alarmed; since you’ve already learned so much, I’ll only briefly go through each adverb. So, let’s keep on and get to the finish line of this article together!
Adverbs For Different Levels of Uncertainty
In addition to the expressions learned above, there are adverbs that denote various degrees of uncertainty. These adverbs frequently go together with other expressions you previously learned, particularly with 思う, but the frequency of collocations depends on the word.
As promised, we won’t go into great detail about each adverb in this part; instead, I’ll list the basic adverbs for different levels of uncertainty (yes, there are actually more than our list!😅), explain the basic definition, and the most frequent collocation.
なんだか or なんか for “Somewhat” or “Somehow”
なんだか, or its more colloquial casual version なんか, is an adverb for “somewhat” or somehow.” This expression frequently goes with 〜気がする, as in:
なん(だ)か熱が出そうな気がする。
Somehow I have a feeling that I may develop a fever.
By adding なん(だ)か to the sentence with 〜気がする, it can muddy up your already-murky intuitive guess and make it sound more ambiguous.
もしかしたら for “Maybe” or “Perhaps”
もしかしたら is an adverb for “maybe” or “perhaps,” and it’s used when presuming something with a degree of doubt. This expression is often used with 〜かも(しれない), as in:
もしかしたら風邪引いたかもしれない。
Maybe I might have a cold.
Other adverbs like もしかすると, ひょっとしたら, or ひょっとすると express a similar nuance, but もしかしたら is the most common.
多分 for “Maybe,” “Perhaps,” or “Probably”
多分 is another word for “maybe” or “perhaps,” but its certainty level is higher than もしかしたら and thus it most commonly translates as “probably.”
Hence, it’s typically used with 〜だろう/でしょう or 〜と思う, as in:
多分風邪だろう。
I assume it’s probably a cold.
多分風邪引いたと思う。
I think I probably have a cold.
But it can also be used other expressions such as 〜かな, 〜かも(しれない), or 〜はず.
恐らく for “Probably”
恐らく also usually translates to “probably”, but its certainty level is higher than 多分, and it’s often used to predict a bad outcome in the future. Also, the tone is more formal and literary, so it’s best suited for formal conversations or in writing.
Because of this nuance, 恐らく is generally used with a very affirmative claim, accompanied by an inferring expression, such as 〜だろう/でしょう or 〜と思う.
恐らく風邪だろう。
I assume it’s probably a cold.
恐らく風邪を引いたんだと思います。
I think I probably have a cold.
In the above examples, the first one sounds like a written sentence or a blunt, self-directed thought, while the latter sounds like a formal and polite speech.
きっと for “Probably,” “Surely,” or “Certainly”
きっと is another adverb that could translate to “probably,” but its certainty level is much higher than 多分 or 恐らく and thus it most commonly translates to “surely” or “certainly.”
Hence, it can be used with an inferring expression, such as 〜だろう/でしょう or 〜と思う, but it can also go well with the expressions like 〜はず or 〜に 違いない.
きっと熱が出る[だろう / と思う]。
I assume I’ll surely develop a fever.
きっと熱が出る[はず / に違いない]。
I’m sure I’ll should develop a fever.
Note that きっと also has other implications depending on the context. For example, the following sentence can have two readings depending on the context.
きっと元気になるよ！
I’m sure [I’ll / you’ll / they’ll] should be better soon.
Here, if you’re talking about yourself, it expresses determination — you’re determined to be better soon. When talking about someone else, on the other hand, it can express a strong desire — you really hope they want to be better soon.
確実に or 絶対に for “Surely,” “Certainly,” or “Absolutely”
確実に and 絶対に are the words for “surely,” “certainly,” or “absolutely,” and they express a very high degree of certainty.
Hence, they can be used with an inferring expression, such as such as 〜だろう/でしょう or 〜と思う, but also go well with expressions like 〜はず, 〜に 違いない.
[確実に / 絶対に]熱が出る[だろう / と思う]。
I assume I’ll certainly develop a fever.
[確実に / 絶対に]熱が出る[はず / に違いない]。
I’m sure I’ll certainly develop a fever.
And they also go well with the plain form when expressing “realization” or “conviction.”
これ[確実に / 絶対に]インフルエンザだ。
I’m certain this is the flu.
Between the two, 確実に centers on “certainty” based on the objective fact that there are no mistakes, changes, etc., wheras 絶対に simply means “absolutely” and indicates being uncontested by anything.
間違いなく for “Unmistakably” or “Definitely”
Another adverb with a very high level of certainty is 間違いなく, which indicate your unambiguous conviction and can translate “unmistakably” or “definitely.”
It goes well with an inferring expression, such as such as 〜だろう/でしょう or 〜と思う or the plain form of a word that expresses “realization” or “conviction.”
間違いなく熱が出る[だろう / と思う]。
I assume I’ll definitely develop a fever.
間違いなく熱が出る(わ)。
I’m sure I’ll definitely develop a fever.
Note that 間違いなく suggests that you have given your judgment that something is undeniably true based on some information you have. As a result, it carries a more formal tone when compared to 確実に and 絶対に, though it can still be used in everyday speech.
Quite Possibly the Conclusion
Whew! I know that’s a lot of information to cover, but don’t worry if you haven’t memorized it all yet. This page can be a reference for you to revisit again and again until you’ve got it all down.
Keep in mind that the level of certainty described in this article is just an approximation, as the certainty conveyed can change depending on the context of the sentence, the person who uses the expression, and more.
Finally, like I mentioned, note that this article is just the tip of the iceberg; Japanese has tons of different ways for making statements less certain or more vague, including layering some of the above expressions, using double negatives, or more. Still, hopefully this is a good starting point for adding more nuance to your own Japanese, or helping you understand the level of certainty that someone is trying to express. Try and observe what sorts of statements Japanese people are making in real life and the context in which they’re making these statements, and hopefully this sort of nuance will become second nature to you.
Footnotes:
Japanese words that even the most proficient learners of the language find the hardest to pronounce can be, ironically, the ones borrowed from their own native tongue.
My wife, who’s originally from the United States and now is a fluent speaker of Japanese after living in Japan for 15 years, still struggles to pronounce one of her home country’s most well-known brands — “McDonald’s,” which in Japanese is マクドナルド (makudonarudo).
Knowing how katakanization works is an important practical skill for native English speakers who study Japanese.
Words of English origin, when they get converted to katakana, often throw off native speakers of English. This is because it’s hard to unlearn their native tongue’s phonology — the sound system with a set of rules that they subconsciously follow since their early childhood — and then modify the original sound to match the Japanese phonology. I call this process katakanization because foreign words adapted into Japanese are typically spelled with katakana characters and are commonly called katakana-go (katakana words).
In my opinion as a native speaker of Japanese and a language lover, knowing how katakanization works is an important practical skill for native English speakers who study Japanese. Not only can the ability to pronounce these words help you to be more easily understood by Japanese speakers, it also has the added benefit of expanding your vocabulary, and almost instantaneously, without as much effort as you might think. And as you might already know, we use a lot of katakanized loanwords of English origin. Like, a lot.
So I am writing this article with the hope of helping native-English-speaking Japanese learners who struggle with one of the biggest quirks of the Japanese language — katakana words. Later in this article, you will learn three basic rules for how to katakanaize English words. I am hoping they will help you to be able to katakanize words on your own so that you can pronounce words of English origin in a way that Japanese speakers can easily understand.
Prerequisites: To get the most out of this article, you should already know katakana (especially how to pronounce them). If you need to brush up, have a look at our Ultimate Katakana Guide.
Why Katakanize?
Before getting into the basic katakanization rules, first, let me explain a little more about why I think you should learn them.
Nobody Wants That “Oh-No-This-Person-Is-Talking-to-Me-in-English Look,” Right?
One of the most common reasons I hear some learners (even when their Japanese is pretty advanced) avoid katakanizing English words is, “Why can’t I just pronounce English words correctly?”
The answer is pretty simple. Many Japanese speakers wouldn’t be able to understand it unless they know the original English pronunciation of the word. Isn’t “being able to communicate with Japanese people” the whole point of studying Japanese (at least, for many of you), anyway?
Code-switching to your native tongue compromises intelligibility.
While code-switching to your native tongue may give you some authenticity as the speaker of the original language, it compromises intelligibility. You could try asking “McDonald’s-tte doko desu ka?” (Where is McDonald’s?) with perfectly-pronounced McDonald’s on the street in Japan. You could also try asking where “Seven-Eleven” is without katakanizing it to sebun irebun (セブンイレブン). In either case, you would most likely get that horrified, oh-no-this-person-is-talking-to-me-in-English look.
Note that for katakanized words that are particularly long and can be a little bit trippy, you can usually shorten them — in fact, many Japanese people do! Take the previous example of マクドナルド; this can be shortened to マック or マクド. Similarly, セブンイレブン becomes セブン. So don’t worry if you don’t have full confidence of pronunciation just at the start.
Japanese Speakers Use English Loanwords, Like A Lot
Japanese people use 3,000 – 5,000 loanwords in daily conversations, and 94% of them are of English origin.
Names of restaurant and store chains are not the only English words borrowed into the Japanese language. English-derived loanwords have been deeply woven into Japanese, both written and spoken. A study from the 1990s showed that over 35% of all vocabulary printed in 70 Japanese magazines were foreign loanwords, most of them being of English origin. A 2010 book about wasei eigo (Japan-made English) also indicated that Japanese people use 3,000 – 5,000 loanwords in daily conversations, and 94% of them are of English origin. Of course, these studies are from years ago, so we probably use even more katakana words in Japanese today. The point is, it’s so hard to carry on conversations in Japanese without Western loanwords that Japan even has a drinking game where you have to take a shot every time you use one!
The portion of English loanwords in Japanese is increasing with the influx of new technologies and concepts are evident in software manuals like: アイコンをダブルクリックしてアプリケーションをインストールします icon-o doubleclick-shite application-o install-shimasu “Doubleclick the icon to install the application.” With this, it’s becoming all the more beneficial to know how katakanization works. While having to Japanize your native tongue can be a challenge, it may help you become more approachable for people who grew up speaking Japanese.
Unpronounceable English Sounds
You may also want to ask why Japanese speakers katakanize English words in the first place. It’s simply because many sound patterns in English are not permitted in the Japanese phonology, just like the French guttural /r/ isn’t in English. One of the (many) reasons why English pronunciation is a pure nightmare for Japanese high school kids is that Japanese does not allow any syllables ending with a consonant with the exception of /n/ (ン). English has thousands of words ending with consonants like cat, look and ship but they are simply unpronounceable in the Japanese phonological universe.
There is no choice other than to katakanize loanwords to make them pronounceable within the Japanese phonology.
Complex syllables like strength, sixth and clothes are even more unpronounceable for Japanese speakers because the Japanese phonology doesn’t permit two or more consonants to be squeezed together. The English /th/ sound is totally impermissible in Japanese — in fact, in most human languages — and therefore needs to be replaced with the closest Japanese sound /s/ as in surī (スリー) “three.” Simply put, there is no choice other than to katakanize them to make them pronounceable within the Japanese phonology.
So katakanization doesn’t exactly happen because of the writing system. It’s precisely because of the Japanese phonology that governs how words are pronounced in the language.
Basic Conversion Rules
So how exactly does katakanization work? Although we have some exceptions, there are three basic conversion rules that native Japanese speakers subconsciously apply.
Note: IPA symbols we use in this article are based on American English pronunciations.
Rule #1: Add Vowels
When a consonant is not immediately followed by a vowel, you add a vowel.
This is because each sound usually involves a vowel in Japanese. The ン (/n/, or /m/) sound is an exception, but besides that, a unit of Japanese sounds is either a single vowel like ア /a/ – イ /i/ – ウ /u/ – エ /e/ – オ /o/, or a set of consonant and a vowel like カ /ka/ – キ /ki/ – ク /ku/ – ケ /ke/ – コ /ko/. If you know how katakana works, this probably makes sense to you.
Now, what vowel should I be adding, right? That is:
/o/ after /t/ or /d/
/i/ after /ch/ or /j/
Nothing after /n/ and /r/
/u/ elsewhere.
Let’s use the word “risk” as an example. First, r is followed by a vowel i, so you just leave it alone. But the rest, s and k are not followed by a vowel. For s, you add u. For k, add u. And you’ll get ri-su-ku — リスク.
Take a look at another example — the word “size.” When you try to parse it, you see two pairs of a consonant and a vowel — si and ze. So it would be… シゼ…? No, not that. Be careful not to get confused with the spelling and the sound. The word “size” sounds like “saiz,” right? In case you can’t think of the phonetic spelling off the top of your head, there are converters like this that might come handy for katakanization. Now, going back to the “size (saiz)”, z is the only sound that’s not followed by a vowel. So you add a u there, and now you’ve got sa-i-zu — サイズ. That’s how you write and say “size” in Japanese.
Rule #2: Replace Sounds
Replace illegitimate sounds with similar legitimate Japanese sounds.
You might already know this, but the Japanese language has fewer sounds than the sounds English has. Like I mentioned earlier, the th/θ/ sound doesn’t really exist in Japanese, and the closest sound is the s sound. This is why “three” becomes surii (スリー) and “thank you” becomes sankyū (サンキュー) in Japanese. Just like that, for sounds that the Japanese language doesn’t have, you’ll be replacing sounds with the Japanese equivalents. Now let’s take a deeper look.
Vowels
As you may know, Japanese has only five vowel sounds ア, イ, ウ, エ, and オ. That’s obviously more limited compared to English — for example, English has three “a” sounds (/æ/, /ʌ/, /ə/), but ア replaces them all.
IPA
Examples
US English
Japanese
ア
æ
apple /ˈæpəl/
アップル
ʌ
umbrella /ʌmˈbɹɛlə/
アンブレラ
ə
account /əˈkaʊnt/
アカウント
イ
ɪ
east /iːst/
イースト
ウ
ʊ
oops /ʊps/
ウップス
エ
ɛ
every day /ˈɛvɹiˌdeɪ/
エブリデイ
オ
ɔ
on /ɔn/
オン
All examples above start with vowels for the sake of example, but of course, this replacement rule applies to a combination of vowels and consonants.
hat /ˈhæt/
ハット
hut /hʌt/
Words “hat” and “hut” — they have the different “a” sounds, but in Japanese, they both get converted to ハット because the /æ/ and /ʌ/ sounds both replace to ア. This means “cowboy hat” (カウボーイハット) and “Pizza Hut” (ピザハット) — they both use ハット despite the difference in the English sounds.
Also, when it comes to vowels, pay attention to the length of the vowel in question. Long, extended vowel sounds are represented as “ー,” the hyphen-looking symbol in Japanese. For example, “pull” is プル (puru), but “pool” is プール (pūru). An /r/ after a vowel as in car, four and earth becomes the extension of the vowel as well. So, much like in British English, car is カー (kā), four is フォー (fō) and earth is アース (āsu).
Consonants
Now, onto consonants! Just like some of the vowels, there are several English consonant sounds that don’t really exist in Japanese, and thus get replaced with the closest sound instead. Here are some examples.
IPA
Examples
US English
Japanese
s-sounds サシスセソ
s
mouse /ˈmaʊs/
マウス
θ
mouth /ˈmaʊθ/
b-sounds バビブべボ
b
berry /ˈbɛri/
ベリー
v
very /ˈvɛri/
r-sounds ラリルレロ
l
lease /ˈliːs/
リース
r
wreath /ˈriːθ/
jy-sounds ジャジュジョ
dʒ
legion /ˈliʤən/
リージョン
ʒ
lesion /ˈliʒən/
z-sounds ザジズゼゾ
ð
then /ðɛn/
ゼン
z
zen /zɛn/
Now, looking at this list, can you guess what the word “belly” would look like in katakana?
Belly would be ベリー, just like “berry” and “very.” That’s because there’s no difference in sound between “b” and “v” nor “r” and “l” in Japanese. ベリー interesting (…and potentially ベリー confusing), right?
There are also a few consonant + vowel pairs that we pronounce differently in English yet get represented with the same katakana character in Japanese. These differences might be more subtle than the ones shown above, but for example, si and shi both become シ. So “sea” and “she” both become シー in katakana. Similarly, the voiced versions of these sounds, “zi” and “ji” both become ジ.
Rule #3: Duplicate Consonants
Duplicate the “stop” consonant at the end of the word if it occurs after a short vowel.
Bit, dip, look… What makes these words sound so skippy? It is the quick “pause” between sounds. In romaji to represent this kind of sound, we use duplicated consonants like bitto, right? In katakana, we use ッ (the small tsu) as in ビット to represent these quick pauses. You’ll be duplicating the “stop” consonants, which are /p/, /b/, /ch/, /j/, /t/, /d/, /k/ and /g/ — sounds you make by blocking the air flow.
Now, let’s practice katakanizing “dip” and “look” — “dip” becomes ディップ (dippu) and “look” becomes ルック(rukku). Are you getting the gist?
Bear in mind this rule generally applies to the last syllable only. For example, picnic becomes pikunikku (ピクニック) instead of pikkunikku (ピックニック). Also don’t forget this only happens to the consonant after a short vowel as opposed to long vowels, like beat, deep, or Luke.
Congrats, you’ve just learned the three basic rules of katakanization! Although these three rules account for most katakanization processes, they won’t simply make you a master of katakanization. You’ll still encounter curve balls and some tricky ones — for these, you still need to make small adjustments here and there.
Combination Katakana
If you’re hoping to take your katakanization to the next level, it would be a good idea to review combination katakana. Combination katakana are katakana characters made of a combination with a small character like フォ, ティ, or ジュ.
For example, you might expect “cat” to become katto (カット), but it actually has to be kyatto (キャット) because the vowel of cat makes the c sound more like the Japanese /kya/ sound than the /ka/ sound. Similarly, “gap” becomes gyappu (ギャップ) instead of gappu (ガップ). That’s too easy? These might be relatively common katakana combinations, but there are some curveballs you might not be so familiar with — like トゥ as in トゥモロー (tomorrow), or デュ as in デュエット (duet).
These combination katakana are the unsung heroes of katakana. They allow us to represent sounds that we didn’t have in Japanese — the sounds are even closer to the original English pronunciations.
Today, loanwords have a tendency to apply combination katakana to better represent the original sounds.
However, combination katakana can be less familiar and not-so-easy-to-pronounce for Japanese speakers, especially older folks. Today, loanwords have a tendency to apply combination katakana to better represent the original sounds, but this wasn’t always the case. For example, “idea” used to be commonly written as アイデア in katakana, but these days, アイディア is far more common. And, this leads to the next note: watch out for older loanwords!
Watch Out for Older Loanwords
Some of you may have already noticed common English loanwords don’t really follow the basic rules. Like, kēki (ケーキ) “cake” not being kēku (ケーク), rajio (ラジオ) “radio” not being reidio (レイディオ) and kariforunia (カリフォルニア) “California” nor being kyarifōnia (キャリフォーニア). That is because these words are relatively old borrowings that came to Japan before the conversion rules became consistent.
Older loanwords are often the way they are for customary reasons — you’ll need to remember how to spell them in katakana.
As you might’ve noticed, a part of this reason is the no-use of combination katakana. Sounds that we traditionally didn’t have or uncommon sounds in Japanese were replaced with ones easier to pronounce and recognize for Japanese speakers. So if they were borrowed today, they would be katakanized differently — like レイディオ. However, many of them remain the same despite the change as we are already used to the way they are! That means, older loanwords are often the way they are for customary reasons — you’ll need to remember how to spell them in katakana.
Katakanize Like a Pro
Katakanization can be a challenge for native-English-speaking learners, even those who are already fluent in Japanese. However, don’t forget learning how to katakanize will not only help you better acclimate to Japanese phonology and improve your overall pronunciation, but also make your spoken Japanese more comprehensible and approachable. And if you look at it from a different perspective — being an English speaker can also be an advantage in Japanese learning if you know how katakanization works. When you start being able to convert English words to katakana smoothly, and recognize more katakana words that Japanese speakers use, you would be surprised how many words you know already!
I hope the three basic rules and extra tips help you build a good foundation for katakana conversion. It is a highly practical skill and potentially a game changer to bring your Japanese to the next level. So, keep katakanizing and keep learning — Guddo rakku!
How do you describe what you just did in Japanese? Maybe you just brushed your teeth, or you just bought a car. How can you describe those past activities that have just happened?
Well, you’ve got two great options: ばかり and ところ. Say you want to tell someone that you just bought a car in Japanese. To simply say you “bought a car,” it’s 車を買った. However, if you want to say it just happened, you can use either ばかり or ところ and say:
車を買ったばかり。 車を買ったところ。
I just bought a car.
Both are translated as “I just bought a car” in this case. So do they mean the same thing? The answer is no, and that’s why we’re writing this article! Beyond what you see in the English translation, there are differences in nuance, and one works better than the other depending on the situation or what you’re really trying to say. Which one would you use, for example, if you’re keeping someone updated on your whereabouts and you want to let them know you’ve just finished the errand at the car dealership? How about if someone scratches your new car and you want to scream at them that it’s a car you only just bought?
If you’re curious, keep reading! In this article, we’ll cordially introduce you to each one, explain the personality differences between ばかり and ところ, and help you decide which one to whip out depending on the situation. You just plopped yourself down to read this article anyway, so might as well keep going!
Before going deeper on the subject, we also want to clarify that this article will focus exclusively on using ばかり and ところ when they follow verbs in their past tense to talk about recent happenings, as in 〜たばかり or 〜たところ.
You may have also heard ばっか or ばっかし used instead of ばかり, or とこ instead ところ. These are just casual versions of ばかり and ところ. Examples you see in this article primarily use ばかり and ところ, but know that they’re all interchangeable.
Prerequisites: This article assumes you already know hiragana and katakana. If you need a refresher, take a look at our Ultimate Hiragana Guide and Ultimate Katakana Guide. To get the most out of this article, make sure you’re already familiar with tense in general, especially past tense forms. Bonus points if you’re already a little familiar with ところ and ばかり, but don’t worry if you don’t know too much yet. That’s what you’re here for!
What Are ばかり and ところ?
First things first: what is ばかり and what is ところ? Before jumping into the differences between them, let’s first get to know more about what each does, and what each means.
ばかり
ばかり originates from the Japanese words for measurement or amount — 計り, 測り, and 量り, all pronounced はかり — and has a few different meanings today. One of those meanings is “just” or “only.”
In case you’ve never seen how ばかり means “just” or “only,” here’s a quick example. If you want to describe that all someone does is sleep, you can say that they 寝るばかり (only sleeping) and not doing anything else. In the same manner, you can complain that your kid’s doing ゲームばかり (only games) all the time. And when it gets used with past tense verbs (which this article is all about), it basically means “this thing happened, and only just a little time has passed since then.”
When you think about it, “only” or “just” is subjective. You might think of a glass of water as half empty — there’s only this much water — or as half full. It just depends on your point of view.
When ばかり is used to describe a past event, it expresses how something feels like it happened recently to you, the speaker, probably in order to make some kind of point. In that sense, ばかり is pretty subjective in that the actual amount of time that has passed doesn’t really matter. You can even use it to describe something you did a while ago — as long as it feels recent to you in that context.
Here’s an example. You got your nails done a few days ago, and someone asks you to dig a hole for their pet alligator’s funeral. You might indignantly exclaim:
でもネイルしに行ったばっかりだよ！
But I just got my nails done!
Technically it’s not something you just did if it happened a few days ago. However, you can use ばかり here because it still feels recent to you, especially considering this situation where someone’s asked you to help them dig a hole in the ground. With these fresh nails? No way!
ところ
Actually, you may know what ところ means already. It’s the same as 所, a Japanese word for “place” or “location.” An important thing to keep in mind here is that ところ doesn’t only mean a “place” in the physical sense — it can also mean a “place” in time.
When ところ is used to say what you just did, it’s like you’re saying, “This thing just happened, and this is where I’m at now.” For example, if you just finished drinking some water, you could say this:
飲んだところです。
I just finished drinking.
By saying ところ in this sentence, you’re simply pointing to the moment shortly after gulping down water and saying, “Here’s where I’m at.”
You can actually use other verb tenses with ところ too. It just depends on which stage of the activity you’re at, and which one you want to point to!
飲むところ is when you are about to start drinking. 飲む is in the so-called present tense, but it can be used for a future action as well. 飲んでいるところ is when you are in the process of drinking, because as you might know, 飲んでいる is the present continuous form. Then, 飲んだところ is when you have just finished drinking, as 飲んだ is past tense. Using ところ, you are simply reporting where you are in the process: “I’m about to do this,” “I’m in the middle of doing this,” “I just did this,” etc.
Using ところ, you are simply trying to state the fact of where you are on a timeline.
Did you notice how ところ is objective compared to ばかり, which depends on the subjective feeling of recency?
Now, let’s take a look at one of the most common examples of how this is used for something that just happened. If you’re on your way to meet up with a friend and they ask you where you are, you might say this:
家を出たところ。
Just left the house. (Literally: I’m at the point where I just left the house.)
In this scenario, you’re either literally standing outside your front door, you’ve only taken a few steps away from it, or maybe you’ve made it down the street, but not much farther. It’s definitely only been a few short seconds/minutes since you ventured into the outside world. And unlike ばかり, it can’t only be your feeling that you’ve just left the house. It’s an indisputable fact! They’ve got security camera footage to prove it and everything.
Now that you get the basic gist of ところ, wanna try making a full sentence with it? Oh yeah, I know you do. So, what if someone wants to know your progress on that report you’ve been working on?
今レポートを書き終わったところです。
I just finished writing the report. (Literally: I am at the point where I just finished writing the report.)
That’s it — nothing more to say, just that the report is done, and you done did it just now. This sentence sounds so neutral and indifferent, you could whip it out to your boss and they wouldn’t bat an eyelash. If you wanted to, you could add some emotional color to this statement with extra words or phrases, or even the tone of your voice. But unlike ばかり, ところ is pretty straightforward on its own.
ばかり vs ところ: What’s the Difference?
Alright, we’ve met the subjective ばかり and shaken hands with the more objective ところ. Now, let’s review what each one is about before we move onto the nuances of each.
To reemphasize, ばかり is more subjective and can be linked to the speaker’s feelings, while ところ is more objective and reports where you’re at in “time.”
When you want to make a statement about how recent something feels to you, you may want to use ばかり. It doesn’t matter when it actually was. Its focus is rather on how little time seems to have passed since, so it adds a subjective feel.
However, when you simply want to specify a point in time to describe what you’ve just done, you might want to use ところ. You’re reporting your status or stage of progress objectively by telling “where you are at” in time. These things have probably literally just happened or you’ve just done them, and there’s not necessarily much feeling involved. Not too hard to grasp, huh?
But just to delve a little deeper, we’ll show you examples so that you can compare the two side by side and really see the differences between them.
Comparing the Nuances Between ばかり and ところ
For comparison’s sake, let’s start with conjuring up some situations where it might be more natural to use one over the other.
Situation #1: “I Just Bought a Car”
Hey, remember the example situation of buying a car we provided at the beginning of this article? It’s time to finally find out what the difference is when you use ばかり vs ところ in this scenario.
You now know that ばかり is used when you want to make a slightly stronger statement of how you feel like something “just” happened, whether or not it was particularly recent. You’re probably making a point about how you feel about a certain situation. People often use ばかり to say that it’s inconvenient/nonsensical for [second thing] to happen, because they feel like [first thing] just recently occurred.
For example, look at this sentence about buying a car.
車を買ったばかり。
I just bought a car.
By saying ばかり, you’re putting emphasis on the completed action and how little time you feel has passed since then. You just bought a new car! Maybe someone’s pressuring you to buy a new car, but you feel like it’s way too soon for that since you just bought your current car a few months ago. Or you scratched the car you bought last year, and it’s a shame because you’d hoped to keep it in good condition for much longer. Or perhaps you have to scrap your car, even though you bought it brand new three years ago. Oof!
See how the actual amount of time that’s passed doesn’t matter? Sort of like how people say “it feels like only yesterday!” Tossing ばかり into your sentences can have these layered implications about how you feel about the situation, so make sure you’re using it intentionally.
On the other hand, you also know that ところ is used when you simply want to state the fact of where you are on a timeline. Unlike ばかり, you’re not really putting emphasis on your feelings about the situation or subjectively commenting on the recentness of the event. Instead, you’re pinpointing a specific moment in time.
For instance, you could objectively report this about where you are in the car-buying process:
車を買ったところ。
I just bought a car.
Pretty matter-of-fact! You just bought a car, and that’s where you are at. Maybe you bought a car literally just now, and your mom is wondering where you are in the progress of your errands. She texts you 「今どこ？」 (“Where are you?”), and you’re reporting, “I’m at a point where I just bought a car.” Do you notice how the tone and implication of the sentence varies depending on which one you use?
Here’s another slight difference: Because ところ describes a specific point on a timeline, it carries a nuance that following the completed action, there will be another action. For example, saying 車を買ったところ brings up a timeline in the listener’s mind – maybe going grocery shopping will be the “next thing” you do after buying the car, which you’ll probably tell them in the next breath. But saying 車を買ったばかり doesn’t have quite the same effect.
Situation #2: “I Just Got in the Taxi”
Now let’s look at a situation where either one would be okay, but they carry different nuances. Imagine you’re texting someone you’re meeting up with.
タクシーに乗ったところ。
I just got in the taxi.
This sentence is simply reporting that you just got in a taxi. It could be a way to tell your friend that you’re on your way and give an idea of when you’ll arrive. ところ is perfect for keeping someone updated about your whereabouts like this.
タクシーに乗ったばかり。
I just got in the taxi.
Whether you should throw out a ところ or ばかり really depends on the context and what tone you’re trying to convey.
On the other hand, if you used ばかり, it sounds like someone (probably the person you’re texting) is rushing you to get to the destination. Maybe they’re texting you things like まだ着かないの？ (“Are you not here yet?”) and you’re saying you won’t be able to get there as quickly as expected, because it’s barely been a minute since you got in the taxi.
See? Technically both mean “I just got in the taxi,” but they carry different nuances. While ところ simply reports your progress, ばかり emphasizes how little time has passed based on your feelings.
Situation #3: “I Just Finished My Homework”
Here’s our final scenario. Your friend’s calling to see what you’re up to and ask if you want to grab dinner together. You just finished your homework, so you’re down to go out for dinner. Which one do you think works better — ところ or ばかり? Depending on your choice, you’ll come off differently. Let’s first take a look at an example using ところ.
いいよ！今宿題が終わったとこ。
Sounds good! I just finished my homework (and I’m ready to go out).
ところ works well here as it just simply reports where you’re at on a timeline. “But can’t you then use ところ when you can’t go out for dinner too?” you might ask. Well, you’re right. You could use ところ even if you can’t go out for dinner — using it to explain that you’ve just finished your homework and that there’s something coming up next in your agenda, for example:
今宿題が終わったところで、これから映画に行くんだ。ごめんね。
I just finished my homework, and I’m going to a movie now. Sorry.
See how you can use ところ to lay out your timeline like this? Now, let’s look into how ばかり works in this situation.
❓ いいよ！今宿題が終わったばかり。
Sounds good! I just finished my homework (and I need to take a breather first).
Using ばかり comes off as unnatural in this situation where you’re trying to say “yes” to the invitation. ばかり makes it sound like you need a minute to chill out first or something, because the focus is on how little time you feel has passed since you finished your homework. And if you need some time to relax, you probably wouldn’t say “sounds good,” right?
But is it okay to use ばかり if the answer was “maybe a little later,” you wonder? That’s a great guess, because ばかり could actually work in that case. Since the problem with ばかり earlier was that it sounded like you needed a minute for whatever reason, it works great in a sentence like:
今宿題が終わったばかりだから、ちょっと後でもいい？
I just finished my homework (and I need to take a breather first), so is it okay if we go a little later?
ばかり and ところ For Things That Actually Happened A While Ago
Up until now, we’ve said a lot about how ばかり and ところ are used to describe things that have just happened. You just dropped your graphing calculator in the toilet (oops). But time to unleash the whole truth: Both can be used for events that actually happened a while ago, too. Like maybe that poor calculator took the ultimate plunge in 10th grade, and now you’re retelling that story. Stay with me! It’ll make sense in a minute.
For ばかり, this works when the speaker subjectively feels that it hasn’t been much time since the thing happened, but that amount of time is weeks, months, years, etc. And for ところ, this applies when you’re telling a story about the past, and you’re pointing to where you were on that timeline in the story — often using the past tense ところだった.
Want to learn more? Alright, let’s crack open our good friend ばかり first.
Think about this example situation. If a kid begged their mom to buy them a new phone, the ママ (mama) might retort:
半年前に買ったばっかなのに？
Even though I just bought (you a new phone) half a year ago?
This sentence carries a strong emotional tone of “I just bought you a new phone recently, so don’t push your luck, squirt!” If this sentence were an emoji, it would be the incredulous one with the raised eyebrow. 🤨
Whether something can be considered “recent” depends on the situation and people’s feelings about it.
But back to the main point here — see how the thing that happened wasn’t actually that recent, it just feels that way to the speaker? Mama is expressing her opinion that six months is not that long ago to have bought a new phone for the little scamp.
But even so, you probably wouldn’t say something like this if the kid’s asking for a new sponge, right?
半年前に買ったばっかなのに？
Even though I just bought (you a new sponge) half a year ago?
You see how this doesn’t make much sense, right? Hopefully you’re buying new sponges more often than every six months! So even though ばかり has quite a bit of leeway for subjectivity, there are still some boundaries and contexts where it’s just nonsensical to consider an event recent.
But you know what offers a lot less wiggle room? ばかり’s counterpart ところ, because only facts matter to ところ. Let’s shuffle back to the car dealership and revisit the car-buying example, shall we? Compare these two sentences:
数年前に車を買ったばかりだ
I just bought a car a few years ago.
❓数年前に車を買ったところだ
I (am currently at the point where I) just bought a car a few years ago.
See how ところ doesn’t really make sense in this context? Conceivably, someone could feel that a few years ago is recent, so ばかり can be used. But ところ? Sorry buddy, it just won’t fly. Unless you’re time traveling, you did not literally “just now” buy a car “a few years ago.” That would be pointing to two different points on the timeline at the same time, which is bending the laws of spacetime in a way that the Japanese language doesn’t allow!
However, there is a way you can use ところ to talk about things that happened a while ago, and it’s when telling a story about the past — pointing to a past moment of where you “were” on the timeline. Try sticking a past tense だった after ところ instead of present tense だ. In this case, maybe someone invited you to join them on a trip a few years ago, but you didn’t go. And now, you’re explaining what you were up to back when you were invited. You might say…
ちょうど車を買ったところだったので、お金がなかった。
I had just bought a car, so I was broke. (Literally: It was right at the point when I had just bought a car, so I was broke.)
As long as you’re describing a specific point in the past and not the present, you can use ところ for things that happened a while ago. It’s not recent anymore, but it was recent at some point, and that point is what you’re shoving your index finger at when you use ところ this way.
Got it? Good! Let’s move on to just one more grammatical difference between ばかり and ところ.
ばかり for Modifying Nouns
We’ve only talked about when we use ばかり and ところ to describe recent happenings, like “I just bought a dress.” But what if you want to talk about “a dress you just bought,” modifying a noun?
ワンピースを買ったばかり。 ワンピースを買ったところ。
I just bought a dress.
You probably recognize this grammatical pattern from previous examples. When the noun comes first like this, either ばかり or ところ is fine, depending on what vibe you’re going for. But if you want to flip the sentence around and start it by saying “The dress I just bought…,” ばかり tends to work better most of the time.
買ったばかりのワンピース ❓ 買ったところのワンピース
a dress I just bought
Because ばかり focuses on how little time has passed since something happened, it’s often used to express how new something feels. Maybe you’re saying “The dress I just bought has a hole in it already!” See? It makes sense, since how recently you bought the dress is relevant to the feelings you’re expressing about the situation, which is why ばかり is there.
ばかり is often used like this to describe things you’ve just bought, cleaned, repaired, etc.
On the other hand, ところ simply points to a moment in time. You rarely see ところ being used this way, because the intention to modify nouns is usually to draw attention to how new or fresh something is to you and make a point about that.
People also often use ばかり to describe events that just happened, or someone who just took a particular action, like so:
結婚したばかりのカップル ❓結婚したところのカップル
a couple who just got married
Again, this is where ばかり shines — ところ is rarely used this way. You might be about to express feelings about this couple, or at least mention something relevant to how they just got married. Maybe how seeing newlyweds makes you feel happy, or how you’re planning to buy a gift for the couple who just got married. So remember, if you’re modifying nouns, you’re probably going to want to use ばかり.
If you could understand (at least most of) the two sentences above and the different vibes they express, congratulations! You’re smarter than you were “just” a few minutes ago.
To sum it up, you can use both ばかり and ところ to describe recent events or actions. But remember, ばかり expresses more subjectivity and feeling about how recently something happened, while ところ gives a more neutral, objective report of where you’re at on a timeline. And you can use them to talk about past events too, in some cases.
Hopefully after reading this article, you’ve found yourself in a slightly smarter ところ in life than you were before!
Emily Suvannasankha, Kanae Nakamine, and Sarah Bush
Learning to differentiate the subtle nuances between 〜ている, 〜てある, and 〜ておく might be one of the biggest headaches for Japanese learners. Not only do they look similar, but they can all serve a similar purpose, too: these grammar patterns describe a situation created by some intentional action done in the past. Despite their similarities, each pattern emphasizes or implies something different, such as an action being done in preparation of something, or remaining in the state the action created.
Let’s say you usually leave the window open at night to let in some cool air. To tell someone about this habit, you can use either 〜ている, 〜てある, or 〜ておく and say:
いつも夜は窓を開け [ている・てある・ておく] 。
I usually keep the window open at night.
See how they all describe the state of the open window, which was created by the action of you opening the window? In that way, the three expressions can work very similarly.
But what exactly is the difference between these expressions, and how would you choose which one to use? The extra nuance that’s implied by each is reflected in the translations below, so check them out to see what each sentence sounds like to a native speaker.
いつも夜は窓を開けている。
I usually keep the window open at night.
いつも夜は窓を開けてある。
I usually keep the window open at night (so it won’t get too hot).
いつも夜は窓を開けておく。
I usually keep the window open at night (so that I won’t have to worry about getting too hot and waking up in the middle of the night).
So you can see there are some subtle differences in the nuance here. But don’t worry if the distinction is still a bit hazy. The good news is that 〜ている, 〜てある, and 〜ておく aren’t always interchangeable. (At least, we hope that’s good news.) Like the previous example sentences, each pattern has its own set of implications, making it better suited to certain situations than the others. This article will help you learn more about these basic distinctions, so you’ll be able to understand the subtle differences in nuance in the uses that overlap one another.
Prerequisites: This article assumes you already know hiragana and katakana. If you need to brush up, have a look at our Ultimate Hiragana Guide and Ultimate Katakana Guide. Although this article starts with a basic explanation of each grammatical pattern, you may also want to check out our grammar pages on 〜ている, 〜てある, and 〜ておく for a more detailed background explanation on each expression, as this article focuses more on deeper nuances. Additionally, knowledge about transitive and intransitive verbs is a plus, since we’ll also be discussing transitivity in order to explain the differences between 〜ている, 〜てある, and 〜ておく.
The Basic Concepts of 〜ている, 〜てある, and 〜ておく
Let’s begin by comparing the basic concepts of 〜ている, 〜てある, and 〜ておく. We’ll get to some examples later on, but here are the fundamental concepts behind each pattern:
〜ている: When connected to a verb, this expresses an ongoing action or a continuous state initiated by an action in the past.
〜てある: When connected to a verb, this describes the current state of something while often hinting that the situation was previously devised intentionally.
〜ておく: When attached to a verb, this implies the action is taken to complete a task in preparation for something, in order to “put” (the verb 置くmeans “to put”) it out of your mind. Depending on the tense, it can refer to an action you’re going to take or have already taken. It can also denote the state of things after completing a task.
The key differences between the three are the nuance, the level of intention, and whether the focus is on the action itself, or a situation that is the result of that action. We’ll be discussing all these key differences throughout the article, so don’t worry if you are not getting it just yet.
Next, let’s take a closer look at how each pattern works while applying the concepts noted above.
ている
〜ている is the plainest and most neutral of the three patterns. It has two functions: it can describe a continuous action, or a state which is the result of a previous action. One way to think of it is as expressing a sort of “activation mode.” What 〜ている does is express an ongoing situation that’s “activated” by something that happened or that has started happening. Let’s take a look at some examples of ～ている to see how it works.
Describing Things That are Currently Happening
First, let’s quickly go over how to use 〜ている to talk about something that’s currently happening. For example, say you’re working in the kitchen and your kid comes in to ask what you’re doing. In this scenario, you might say:
今、お弁当を作っている。
I’m making bento right now.
This expression works similarly to the present continuous ( -ing ) in English, which shows that an action is happening at the same time as it’s being spoken about.
Here, 〜ている is used to indicate that you are in the process of “making a bento.” The implication is that it’s still underway, but you’ve already started the process. You started cooking, and so the act of cooking has been activated.
Also be aware that particle を is often omitted in conversation, but we’ll keep it in this article so that the sentence structure is easier to understand.
This is the most common function of 〜ている, but when used like this it can’t be replaced with 〜てある or 〜ておく.
Describing the Resulting State Activated by a Past Action
In addition to describing something that’s currently happening, 〜ている can also be used to describe a situation or condition that is the product of a past action or event. In this use, 〜ている often functions like an adjective because it’s used to describe the way something is.
Let’s say your kid finds a bento box that’s been left on the kitchen counter with the lid open. They tell you:
お弁当のフタが開いているよ。
The bento lid is open.
Notice that 〜ている is used differently from the previous example. 開く is an intransitive verb that means “to open,” but in this sentence the 〜ている form it means “to be open,” rather than “opening.”
〜ている often functions like an adjective because it’s used to describe the way something is.
This is because the verb 開く usually indicates an instantaneous change. Once the lid has begun to be opened, the “opened state” of the lid is “activated.” With verbs that change the state of something instantaneously like 開く, using the 〜ている form allows you to describe the state of something that resulted from the change instead of an ongoing action.
Why? Because with an intransitive verb like 開く, there’s no implication beyond the bento lid being open. It only describes the bento lid being open, while not focusing on who performed the action. Remember, 〜てある and 〜ておく always imply that there is intention or purpose behind the action being described. So without this implication, you can’t swap 〜てある or 〜ておく for 〜ている in this example.
Describing the Resulting State Activated by an “Intentional” Action
In the previous section we covered that when used with an intransitive verb, 〜ている isn’t necessarily interchangeable with 〜てある/〜ておく. This is because with intransitive verbs there’s no indication of the action being described as intentional. But how about a transitive verb? Let’s take a look at another example, continuing the bento scenario.
Suppose you’re leaving the bento lid open on purpose. But since your kid is commenting on it being open, you want to tell them that it was intentionally left open so that they don’t close it. So you say:
フタ、開けてるんだよ！
I’m leaving the lid open!
Here, notice the verb is 開ける, which means “to open something” — the transitive version of 開く that you saw earlier. With 〜ている, this sentence could mean you’re “opening the lid” if that’s what you are currently doing — i.e. your hand is on the lid and about to remove it — but it’s clearly not the situation here. Rather, this is a response to the question about the lid that’s already been opened, so it describes the bento box being left open, which resulted from your past intentional action of opening the bento and leaving it that way.
You might have also noticed looking closely at the example that the expression used is てる instead of 〜ている. It’s not a typo — both forms are grammatically correct. 〜ている is usually shortened in casual conversations.
Out of the three uses of 〜ている, this is the only one that can be used interchangeably with 〜てある or 〜ておく (or rather 〜ておいた, the past tense). That means you could also use 〜てある or 〜ておく to explain that you intentionally opened the lid and left it that way, like this:
フタ、開け [てある・ておいた] んだよ！
Why? The short answer is that this use of 〜ている implies an “intention” and you can tell that by the context. We’ll get into a deeper comparison of ～ている, ～てある, and ～ておく in a bit, so for now, just keep in mind that this very specific use of ～ている is the only one that can be interchangeable with the other two.
てある
〜てある indicates that the situation was caused intentionally, often for a particular purpose.
Now on to 〜てある. First of all, 〜てある describes the current state of something with the implication that someone did something to it earlier and left it that way. That “someone” can either be yourself or someone else, depending on the particle that precedes it.
It’s also important to note that 〜てある is always used with a transitive verb, because a transitive verb is a type of verb that indicates an intentional action.
〜を〜てある for a Situation Caused by Yourself
As I briefly mentioned, 〜てある can be used when describing a situation that resulted from either your own or someone else’s action. And there’s an easy way to differentiate between the two: each uses a different particle.
Before we really get into the mechanics of things, let’s circle back to using 〜てある to describe a situation that’s the result of your own action. Remember the bento example from earlier? We mentioned that you can use 〜てある to explain that you opened the bento box and are leaving it open, like this:
お弁当のフタを開けてある。
I’m leaving the lid of the bento box open.
Although を can often be omitted in spoken Japanese, this 〜を〜てある pattern is the structure used when talking about a situation caused by yourself.
In this example, を marks the lid as the object of the sentence. This means that the likely subject, although not clearly stated, is the speaker, or 私 meaning “I,” which can be understood from the context.
Let’s carry on the bento-making scenario for another example. Trying to think of something that will pair nicely with the bento for dessert, you remember that you bought some yogurt to have on hand for an occasion like this. In this case, you can use 〜てある and say to yourself:
ヨーグルトを買ってある。
There’s some yogurt (because I bought some).
Remember that you can also use 〜ている or 〜ておく to express something similar. We’ll talk about this in more detail later on.
〜が〜てある For a Situation Caused by Someone Else
One unique aspect of 〜てある is how it can be used to describe a situation that’s caused by someone else.
Take for example a situation that’s slightly different from the previous one — you come across some yogurt in the fridge when looking for a dessert for the bento. But in this case, you are not the one who bought it. You might say something like:
ヨーグルトが買ってある！
There’s some yogurt (that someone must have bought)!
What 〜てある is doing here is describing that the yogurt is in the fridge, while also implying that someone (not you) bought it earlier. While the sentences are nearly identical, the difference is in the use of particles.
This might feel tricky, but here’s a tip. Think about ある at the end as the verb used for non-living things’ existence. The verb ある pairs up with が and indicates “there is…” right? So ヨーグルトがある means “there’s some yogurt,” and this is just describing what’s there objectively. ヨーグルトが買ってある is similar to this, but it just adds the implication that the action (“yogurt was bought,” in this case) was performed by someone besides you.
Just like 〜がある, you are describing the situation sort of objectively because you were not involved in the action — someone else was. And just like ある often expresses the sense of realization when it’s paired with the subject marker が, 〜てある carries the nuance that you came to a realization, too. So ヨーグルトが買ってある hints that it was a surprise to you (and it was a nice one).
And just like ある often expresses the sense of realization when it’s paired with the subject marker が, 〜てある carries the nuance that you came to a realization, too.
To summarize, 〜てある can take the particle が to mark something that’s seemingly an object (“yogurt,” in this case) even though it is used with a transitive verb. And when it does that, it implies that someone other than you performed the action that resulted in the state it describes. This is something unique to 〜てある, and what makes it different from 〜ている and 〜ておく. In other words, ヨーグルトが買っている or ヨーグルトが買っておく are not valid sentences — actually, these sound like yogurt is the subject who’s buying (something). It’d be super weird unless the person’s name was Yogurt (which would certainly be a twist).
ておく
〜ておく can serve two functions depending on the tense. In the present tense, it sounds as if you are completing a task for future convenience so that you can “put” it out of your mind. On the other hand, in the past tense, 〜ておいた denotes the state of a completed task.
ておく For Future Actions To Complete Tasks
Especially used in the present tense, 〜ておく is a little different from the other two patterns discussed so far. While 〜ている and 〜てある can be used to describe the current state of things, 〜ておく indicates a future action. Specifically, the future completion of a task so you can “put” it out of your mind.
For example, if you’re currently in the process of making a bento and decide to leave the lid off to let some steam out, you can use 〜ておく and say:
お弁当のフタを開けておく。
I’ll leave the lid of the bento box open (to let the steam out so I won’t have to worry about it getting musty and spoiling).
It’s a slight difference that’s important to note here between using 〜ておく in the present tense and the previous examples with 〜ていく and 〜てある. Where they were used to describe a situation where a bento box is left open intentionally, here 〜ておく is indicating your (very near) future plan of leaving the lid open.
You’re using 〜ておく because you want to express that you’re doing this for your future convenience.
In this case, you want to let the steam out to prevent it from getting musty inside the bento box.
You might be wondering “Why does 〜ておく indicate a future action, not the current state of something like 〜ている and 〜てある?” Well, it might help if you think of it like this. 〜ておく comes from the verb 置く meaning “to put.” Just like any other action verb, when used in the present tense, it can indicate a future action, in addition to a general act or a habit.
In comparison, think about 〜ている and 〜てある, and their roots — the verbs いる and ある. These verbs are a bit special, differing slightly from regular action verbs in that they indicate the existence of things, or describe the way things are rather than something that needs “doing.” Hopefully, that helps you better understand how 〜ておく works in the present tense.
Now, let’s take a look at another example. Say you’re at the grocery store to buy yogurt for your bento. You can use 〜ておく and say:
ヨーグルトを買っておく。
I’ll buy some yogurt (to add to my bento).
Here, 〜ておく carries the nuance that you’re going to do something in order to “get it done,” or out of the way. And again, note that it’s the future action or plan that you are using 〜ておく to describe.
ておいた For Completed Tasks
So far, we’ve discussed the differences in the nuance of 〜ておく in the present tense to talk about a future action. Now let’s take a look at how it’s used in the past tense (〜ておいた) to talk about a current situation that is the direct result of an action performed in the past, i.e. something you took care of in the past that resulted in the present state of things.
Let’s bring back the previous example of leaving the bento box lid open. To say you left it open, you need to conjugate 〜ておく to the past tense and say :
お弁当のフタを開けておいた。
I left the lid of the bento box open (to let the steam out so I won’t have to worry about it getting musty and spoiling).
In this case, the focus is more on your past action (opening the lid), but it can also indicate the current state resulting from the action (the lid is left open), depending on the context.
Now, remember that yogurt from before? If you want to mention that there’s some yogurt for the bento because you bought it earlier for that purpose, you can use 〜ておいた and say:
ヨーグルトを買っておいた。
I’ve bought some yogurt (for bento making).
Although these situations can be described in a similar manner using 〜ている or 〜てある, let’s not forget the special nuance of 〜ておいた — it always implies that you performed an action with the intention of causing the current situation because you wanted to get something out of the way. In this case, maybe you felt you needed to have a backup bento filler and to serve the purpose you bought some yogurt. So this stresses that you bought the yogurt in preparation for the future. As a result, out of the three patterns 〜ておいた most strongly implies your intention behind the action.
ておく For Habitual Actions To Complete Tasks
Earlier, we talked about how 〜ておく can be used to describe a future action, but that’s not the only thing 〜ておく can express in the present tense. In fact, depending on the context it can also be used to express a habitual action. Remember, the root of 〜ておく is the action verb 置く (“to put”), and action verbs when used in the present tense can express a general act or habit of doing something, not only a future action. Let’s take a look at one more example of ～ておく in the present tense, bringing back the first example in this article, the window:
いつも夜は窓を開けておく。
I usually keep the window open at night.
As you saw previously in this example, ～ている, ～てある, and ～ておく can be used interchangeably in the present tense to describe a habitual action or something you do regularly for a reason. However, there are subtle differences in nuance between them.
Of the three, 〜ておく is actually the most nuanced — it implies that you did something for your future convenience. In this case, maybe you keep the window open so you won’t have to worry about getting too hot and waking up in the middle of the night. Or, maybe because your kids fantasize about Peter Pan coming through the window and taking them to Neverland.
Whatever the reason, 〜ておく implies that whatever you’re describing is something you want to get out of the way.
After all, you don’t want your kids waking you up in the middle of the night and complaining that you didn’t leave the window open for Peter Pan, you know?
Now that we’ve covered all the basics, in the next section we’ll take a deeper look at how the nuance changes with each pattern depending on the situation.
So…What’s the Difference In Situations When They’re All Interchangeable?
Now let’s finally get into the comparisons of the three patterns: 〜ている, 〜てある, and 〜ておく. As a quick review, they are essentially interchangeable when used to describe the current state of something that resulted from a past action (usually something intentional).
So, what exactly is the difference in those situations when they can be used interchangeably? Let’s find out by going through a few examples and comparing the nuances.
Different Levels of Intention
expresses intention less < expresses intention more
ている
てある
ておく
One of the main differences in nuance between 〜ている (or rather, its shortened version てる), 〜てある, and 〜ておく is the level of intention.
For the first example, let’s go back to bento again. Say that you’re cooking (or have cooked) rice because it’s an essential element of bento.
ご飯を 炊い [てる・てある・ておいた] 。
Broken down, ご飯 is “rice,” and the verb paired with it meaning “to cook” is 炊く. So what exactly is the difference in nuance when we use each different pattern?
〜ている
Let’s take a look at ご飯を 炊いてる. This sentence can actually be interpreted in a couple of ways. The first is:
ご飯を炊いてる。
I’m cooking rice.
This is one of the possible translations — the present continuous use of 〜ている to explain what you’re currently doing — means you are in the middle of cooking rice. (Note that 〜てある and 〜ておく cannot be used to express an action that is currently underway.)
The other possible meaning of this sentence is:
ご飯を炊いてる。
The rice is cooked.
Remember that 〜ている can also denote the resulting state of an action, i.e. the state of the rice that is already cooked. So how do you know when it means what? That will depend on the context of the conversation. Say your kid requested a sandwich for lunch, and you say this to tell them that you already made rice. (Too late, kiddo!) This is when 〜ている is interchangeable with 〜てある or 〜ておいた.
In terms of intention, 炊く is a transitive verb, and “rice being cooked” won’t happen on its own (someone’s gotta cook rice, you know?) so technically speaking there is some implication of this here. However, compared to the other two patterns, 〜ている doesn’t emphasize the intentional nuance as much. So this version with 〜ている sounds like you’re just simply stating that you cooked the rice and the rice is ready.
〜てある
Now, what about 炊いてある? As a quick reminder, 〜てある describes a situation where you did something and you left it that way for a reason.
ご飯を炊いてある。
The rice is cooked (for a reason).
Compared to 〜ている, the 〜てある version has a stronger and clearer indication of the intention behind the situation being described, as if you are saying, “I cooked rice for a reason.” This version is commonly used when you want to draw attention to something you’ve done and specifically left that way. In other words, this almost sounds like a heads-up or the reason for things being the way they are.
The reason could be for making onigiri, or whatever other reason you might cook rice. Implying that there’s a reason for it naturally adds a more intentional nuance, especially compared to 〜ている. In that sense, this could make an even stronger statement to your kid who requested a sandwich at the last minute.
〜ておく
Lastly, 〜ておいた carries the strongest level of intention. To remind you, 〜ておく basically indicates the act of doing something for future convenience.
ご飯を炊いておいた。
I cooked the rice (for future convenience).
So this sentence sounds like you cooked the rice to make things easy later. Now, don’t forget, 〜ておく also gives off the vibe of doing something in advance so you can put it out of your mind — like you’re going ahead and marking a task off of your to-do list. It’s a very nuanced expression!
〜ておく also gives off the vibe of doing something in advance so you can put it out of your mind — like you’re going ahead and marking a task off of your to-do list.
Maybe you started cooking the rice first thing in the morning. It takes some time for rice to cook, and it will take some time for it to cool down so you can pack it in the bento. Once your kids wake up, you might not get a chance to rinse the rice and start the rice cooker. So, thinking about the actual process, it makes sense to cook it sooner rather than later so you won’t have to worry about it not being ready in time.
You may never have given that much thought to the logistics of cooking rice, or maybe it’s already a solid routine of yours, but in this sense 〜ておく implies that you had a thought process and there was some sort of planning involved. This adds more of the “intention” nuance compared to the other two patterns.
What’s more, with 〜ておく the focus is actually on your action rather than the resulting situation — we’ll talk more about this in the following section. This pattern stresses your contribution, whereas the other two highlight the fact that rice is cooked. So using 〜ておく emphasizes your intention slightly more than 〜てある and can even sound a little more braggy, like you’re implying, “I did this for your convenience, okay?”
Situation-Focused vs Action-Focused
Another point of difference is whether the emphasis is on the action, or the resulting state or situation caused by that action. You might have noticed the slight difference in the previous example translations — “the rice is cooked” and “I cooked the rice.” Technically speaking, this ultimately depends on the context, but knowing where the emphasis lies for each pattern should help you get the gist of the differences in nuance a little better.
Basically, the main difference is that 〜てある focuses on the result of the action (“the rice is cooked”) whereas 〜ておく focuses on the action itself (“I cooked the rice”), and 〜ている is sort of neutral and could focus on either depending on the context.
situation-focused⇔action-focused
てある
ている
ておく
Here’s an example to elaborate on what this means. Let’s say you put strawberries in the bento because that’s your kid’s favorite fruit. To deliver this good news, you can use any of the three: 〜ている (or its shortened, more natural-sounding version 〜てる), 〜てある, or 〜ておく:
お弁当にいちごを入れ [てる・てある・ておいた] よ！
Now let’s take a look at how each of these patterns can have a slightly different nuanced meaning.
〜てある (Situation-Focused)
お弁当にいちごを入れあるよ！
There are strawberries in the bento (because you like strawberries)!
The root verb ある means “to exist,” so it’s used to describe the way things are rather than the action that caused the situation.
Here, 〜てある is describing the situation, rather than the action that caused it. In other words, it describes the state of the strawberries being in the bento. It’s calling particular attention to the strawberries, so the implication of you putting them there takes a back seat to the strawberries themselves in this case.
Now, you might be wondering about 〜ている because its root verb also means “to exist.” It can certainly be situation-focused, but we also need to think about how 〜ている is also used to refer to an action, especially continuous action. We’ll talk more about this in the following section.
〜ている (Action-Focused/Situation-Focused)
お弁当にいちごを入れてるよ！
I am putting strawberries in the bento! There are strawberries in the bento!
〜ている can be both situation-focused and action-focused, and the focus varies depending on the context. This is because 〜ている has two major functions — one that emphasizes the action itself (continuous action), and one that focuses on the situation caused by the action (resulting state). In this particular example, 〜ている can indicate the “action,” such as what you’re currently doing (“I’m putting strawberries in as we speak”), or the state where “strawberries are in the bento.”
〜ておく (Action-Focused)
We mentioned that the focus of 〜ておく is on the action itself, which in this case is “putting strawberries in the bento.”
お弁当にいちごを入れておいたよ！
I put strawberries in the bento (because I know you’ll enjoy them)!
This means that 〜ておく is used to talk about an action taken with the intention of creating a certain situation, whereas 〜ている and 〜てある describe the situation that’s caused by the action.
〜ておく is used to talk about an action taken with the intention of creating a certain situation
It might be good to think of this from the point of view of the root verb 置く(to put) as well. 置く is an action verb, or a verb that indicates an action — “putting.” By contrast, the verbs いる and ある are stative verbs meaning “to exist.” There’s no express action involved; they simply indicate the state of something. This might help you remember that 〜ておく is more “action-focused” whereas the other two are “situation-focused,” describing how things are as the result of the action.
Talking About Your Habits
Like we mentioned earlier in the example about keeping the window open at night, 〜ている, 〜てある, and 〜ておく can be used interchangeably to talk about your habits. So let’s take a look at the final nuance, comparing the three patterns when talking about habits, and then review what you’ve learned so far.
Say you’re at the park talking to another parent while your kids are playing. But it’s awkward. You need some excuse to leave so you casually drop in something about your daily schedule and say:
いつも、６時にはお風呂をわかし [てる・てある・ておく] んだ。
I usually have the bath ready by 6 p.m.
Again, all three patterns are interchangeable here, but with a very slight difference in nuance between 〜ておく and 〜てある. Oh, and notice that 〜ておく is not in the past tense here but it works fine because you’re talking about a general habit. Now, let’s take a closer look at how each one works.
〜ている
いつも、６時にはお風呂をわかしてるんだ。
I usually have the bath ready by 6 p.m. I usually run a hot bath by 6 p.m.
In the same vein as describing what you’re currently doing, 〜ている can also be used to describe your habits, because a habit is something you do in general (not just an action taking place in the current moment). In this case, it’s also describing the resulting state of the bath being ready by 6 p.m., so it’s interchangeable with 〜てある and 〜ておく.
〜ている can also be used to describe your habits, because a habit is something you do in general
Remember how 〜ている can be situation-focused and action-focused? This particular example actually feels a bit vague in terms of the focus because it’s a combination of both: 〜ている describing a habitual action as well as the resulting situation. In that sense, this sentence leaves it unclear whether you start running hot water by 6 p.m. or you have it ready by 6 p.m. — It could be interpreted in both ways.
And, how else is this use of 〜ている different from the other two? This 〜ている version is simply explaining your habit of getting the bath ready by 6 p.m. Descriptive and straightforward, there’s not much extra nuance to it compared to the other two.
〜てある
いつも、６時にはお風呂をわかしてあるんだ。
I usually have the bath ready by 6 p.m. (for a reason).
Here, 〜てある is describing the daily situation that you usually have the bath ready and filled by 6 p.m. Because 〜てある is situation-focused, rather than action-focused, the emphasis in this example is on the bath and it being ready and hot. It also implies that there’s a particular reason, which might be kind of obvious in this case — for you or your family to take a bath. Maybe you have it ready by 6 p.m. because you like to take a bath after dinner. Or maybe to let your pet capybaras soak and swim in it. Who knows, but 〜てある implies you did it for a reason.
〜ておく
いつも、６時にはお風呂をわかしておくんだ。
I usually have the bath ready by 6 p.m. (so I won’t have to worry about the bath not being ready by the time someone needs it).
〜ておく here is describing your habitual action of running the bath and having it ready by 6 p.m., emphasizing that you do so for your future convenience. Remember, 〜ておく is action-focused so it puts an emphasis on the action you perform.
The nuance of 〜ておく is that you perform the action so that you are done with the task and you can put it out of your mind. Maybe your partner comes home at 6:01 and takes a bath at 6:02 every day. You’d want to mark off this task of your to-dos so that you don’t worry about messing up their daily schedule by any chance.
Starting a New Habit
We could probably prepare 100 more examples to help you master the nuanced differences between 〜ている, 〜てある, and 〜ておく, but for now let’s leave it here so you can put it aside and process what you learned.
Hopefully, you have a good idea of how all three forms differ, and the implications behind using them to talk about something you’re currently doing or do regularly, the current state of things, or something you prepared in advance for your future convenience.
Like many phrases in Japanese, a lot can depend on the context. But the more you practice, the more progress you’ll make in mastering these forms!
Hey you! Do you want to read more Japanese books but don’t fancy paying international shipping fees? Or maybe you don’t want to wait for them to come in the mail, or would simply rather not acquire tons of dead trees you’ll have to lug around next time you move. Lucky for you, we have technology, which means you can get your hands on all that literature in a less ancient manner.
E-books give you immediate access to Japanese reading material, are often cheaper, and sometimes even offer handy tools like highlighting and built-in dictionaries — pretty convenient for Japanese learners! The best e-reader and service for you will depend on your preferences, device, and Japanese learning needs — not to mention how hard you want to work to acquire your electronic tomes. So we tried to save you some precious time by doing the research for you.
In this article, writers at Tofugu looked into multiple e-book marketplaces, apps, and readers and picked ones that work well for Japanese learners, including those who live outside Japan.
You’ll also learn tips for how to choose an e-book retailer/reader, and how to take advantage of their features to improve your Japanese. Hopefully, after reading, you’ll feel good about downloading some Japanese words into your eyeballs through one of these services!
How to Choose an E-book Retailer
Okay, you’re hooked on digital phonics and ready to dive into the tantalizing world of Japanese e-books. But where to begin?
Well, first you’ll have to decide where you want to get your e-books. There’s no shortage of 電子書籍ストア (denshishoseki sutoa) — literally “e-book stores,” or services that sell Japanese e-books. There’s nothing wrong with dipping your toes into multiple services, but you’ll probably want to stick with one or two to start. Having all your e-books in one place tends to make the reading experience smoother anyway.
So, how should you choose your e-book platform/reader? Here are some criteria we used to puzzle out whether a service was any good or not:
1. Can you buy books from outside Japan?
Buying e-books sounds like a great idea, especially if you aren’t living in Japan, right? Not so fast. E-books could be as hard to get a hold of as physical books depending on the e-book retailer — some require a Japanese VPN , a Japan-issued credit card, and so on. And even if you are located in Japan, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have access to all these resources. So make sure you choose a store that is foreign-resident friendly.
Check to see if they require:
a Japanese address,
a Japanese VPN,
and/or a Japanese credit card.
Having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a Japanese credit card, but what if you don’t?
We’ve included several e-book retailers that don’t require a Japanese address, VPN, method of payment, etc. so you can join in the fun no matter what!
2. Do they have books you want to read?
Available selections and genres can vary depending on the retailer. You can check to see if the service offers:
manga (漫画),
novels (小説),
light novels (ライトノベル or ラノベ),
literature (文学),
lifestyle/practical use (暮らし・実用), etc.
Some stores focus on certain genres, so if you have a specific preference, that’s something to consider. You certainly don’t have to limit yourself to just one store, but using multiple platforms means you’ll have your books in different places, which could be a nuisance.
3. What usability features does the service have?
Reading in your non-native language can be tough, so for Japanese learners, having certain e-book tools and features might be a priority. Does the service have:
a built-in dictionary,
bookmarks,
a highlighting tool,
zoom in/zoom out,
a way to leave notes,
search capabilities,
or text settings (font, size, vertical/horizontal display)?
For Japanese learners, a built-in dictionary feature can be a game changer. Simply by selecting text on your e-reader, you’ll get the option to look up words using your device’s built-in dictionaries. For example, with iOS devices, you can download and use any of the built-in dictionaries, so you can use a Japanese-Japanese dictionary (like スーパー大辞林) and a Japanese-English dictionary (like ウィズダム和英・英和辞典) to conveniently look up Japanese words and see the definitions in both Japanese and English. If your native language is not English, you can add other languages as well. On top of that, many e-reader apps come with features to look up selected text on Google or Wikipedia, too.
Unfortunately, manga (and some other forms of visual-based content) generally don’t work with features such as highlighting or dictionary search. This won’t be a problem if you’ll be reading novels or other text-centric content, but it’s just something to keep in mind if you’re going to be reading manga, primarily.
4. Is your device compatible?
You don’t want to go to all the trouble of buying books through a service just to have your spit out an error message. Popular Japanese e-book stores usually offer dedicated apps for reading their books on mobile devices and specific e-readers. However, make sure to check whether these apps work with your particular device. Also, be aware that those apps are usually only available in Japanese app stores, so you may need to create a new account and/or change the region settings in order to download them. (You should be able to find tips to work around this online!)
Some retailers also offer a ブラウザビューア, or “browser viewer,” which allows you to read in a web browser without needing to download an app. Not all books have this feature available though, so look for the 🌐 icon or browser ブラウザ, which means that the content is compatible with a browser viewer. However, the features you can use in the browser viewer are pretty limited compared to the app versions in general. So if you want to use features like a built-in dictionary, it’ll be worth downloading the app.
Many e-book retailers also list free titles, or 試し読み tameshiyomi (previews), available. This is a great option, not only for sampling a book before you buy it, but also for device compatibility test purposes before handing over your money!
5. Is the service reliable?
In the unfortunate event that the service ends, will your books be gone forever? There’s a lower chance of literary tragedies like this happening if you use a more reliable, stable service. Major e-book retailers tend to be owned by big publishers, printing companies, or physical bookstore chains, which are still thriving businesses in Japan compared to overseas. This stability might be a good sign in terms of reliability, so hopefully you won’t be losing your books any time soon.
Recommended Japanese E-book Retailers / 電子書籍ストア
With all those questions swimming in our minds and keeping us up at night, we writers at Tofugu tried out multiple Japanese e-book services so you don’t have to. We used websites with browser-based readers/apps, like BookLive, BookWalker, and Honto, as well as e-book devices that support Japanese text, such as the Amazon Kindle and Kobo. There’s even a special mention at the end for all-you-can-read subscription services, if you’re so inclined.
So without further ado, here are the literary fruits of our labor!
Book☆Walker
BookWalker is an online e-book retailer featuring a wide range of manga, novels, and magazines. It’s run by the Kadokawa corporation, which started as a bookstore and is now one of the leading publishing companies in Japan. While it’s not quite as straightforward as some websites, BookWalker does a pretty good job of being easy to understand, even for Japanese learners. There’s also a subscription service, which gives readers access to a large library of either novels and light novels, or manga and magazines, with both subscriptions costing ¥836 or around $6 per month.
Compared to other comparable Japanese e-book services, BookWalker is more accessible to English speakers.
You can access the BookWalker online store to browse and purchase Japanese books without the hassle of connecting to a VPN, or entering a Japanese address. Additionally, a number of payment methods are accepted, from Paypal to Amazon Pay, making it even easier to purchase books abroad. Finally, BookWalker offers a large selection of free titles, particularly the first volumes in a series (presumably, to keep you coming back for more). This is a great way to get a lot of varied reading practice in, without paying a dime…or yen!
Although the site is not fully supported in English, compared to other comparable Japanese e-book services, BookWalker is more accessible to English speakers. For example, once you’ve found a book you want to purchase, the checkout process features an English language setting. BookWalker also provides a short English guide on how to purchase Japanese books through their FAQ page.
In addition to these features, there is also a “Global” version of the service which offers only English versions of Japanese manga and light novels. So if you are looking to purchase both the original and the translated versions, BookWalker might be the right choice for you.
If you want to read on a computer or your phone, it’s hard to beat BookWalker.
When it comes to the actual reading experience, BookWalker’s app is smooth, too, allowing you to look up selected words using your device’s built-in dictionaries, or on Wikipedia or Google. Like we said before, this feature isn’t available for manga, but that’s normal for an e-reader app like this. Additionally, you can purchase new books directly through the e-reader app, without having to visit the website first.
If you want to read on a computer or your phone, it’s hard to beat BookWalker. With its friendliness for international customers, large library, ease of use, and helpful subscription services, BookWalker is a great option for Japanese learners to practice reading.
Ian’s Review8/10
BookWalker is definitely the most convenient option I found for Japanese learners to purchase and read e-books. Since you don’t need a VPN, Japanese address, or payment method, it’s by far the quickest way to dive in. I wish the highlighter option was a bit more robust for learning new words, but with the large free library, and the incredible value offered by the subscription services, Japanese learners who don’t mind reading on their phones or computers can’t go wrong here.
Easy to use outside Japan?
✅ Japanese VPN: Not Required ✅ Japanese home address: Not Required ✅ Japanese payment method: Not Required ✅ Website partially supported in English
Title Selection
Over a million books.
BookWalker primarily focuses on novels and light novels, manga and magazines. There are separate subscription services for these two groups, as well.
Compatible Devices/OS
iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, 🌐Browser Viewer
Reader App Features
ToC
Bookmark
Highlighter
Built-in dictionary
Google search
Wikipedia search
Text setting (font and size)
White space setting (between lines, etc.)
Background color setting (white, black, sepia, and cream)
BookLive is an online e-book retailer affiliated with Culture Convenience Club Co., Ltd, the corporation that runs a popular Japanese video/bookstore chain called Tsutaya. It offers a huge variety of published materials, from manga to novels and business books. There’s even a library of over 10,000 free books on BookLive, and they usually have some kind of discount campaign running for certain titles.
The website is streamlined and easy to use, as long as you can read Japanese.
Good news for those who live outside Japan — you don’t need to jump through any hoops to use BookLive. No Japanese VPN or credit card/home address are required to use the service. On top of that, the website is streamlined and easy to use, as long as you can read Japanese. There’s currently no English version of the site, but a browser extension like Rikai-kun should be able to assist you.
BookLive also has the added bonus of offering multiple discount coupons to use toward your first purchase when you sign up for a free account. Beyond this, they also run regular coupon campaigns discounting titles from a designated genre, or genres, which you can find on the homepage. Some coupons remain valid for a few months, or until you use them, but BookLive also offers a daily gacha that dispenses one small discount coupon a day valid only until midnight of the same day. They’re linked to your account, so they’re not shareable, but the coupon system is still a neat feature of BookLive that might put it ahead of other e-book services if you fancy a good discount.
BookLive is also known for providing previews you can flip through for virtually all of the books they sell.
BookLive is also known for providing previews you can flip through, called 試し読み (tameshiyomi), for virtually all of the books they sell. This can help you decide whether you want to buy a book or keep browsing for something else. And if you want to receive notifications when certain titles go on sale, there’s a handy フォローする (“follow”) button that will give you those updates.
The BookLive app also offers all kinds of useful features. You can look up words using your device’s built-in dictionaries, Google, Wikipedia, and the web-based goo dictionary. Again, these text-based features generally aren’t available for use with manga, but they come in pretty handy for other titles.
Overall, BookLive is an enticing option for those looking for a wide range of e-books and a pared-down, straightforward way to read them — not to mention, a bunch of nifty coupons.
Emily’s Review8/10
I’ve been reading a manga series called ひだまりが聴こえる on BookLive, and the experience has been simple and problem-free. I initially started using it for the sweet, sweet discounts they give you upon creating an account. But I’ve stayed because everything I personally need for reading in Japanese is easily available here without a VPN or Japanese address/credit card.
Easy to use outside Japan?
✅ Japanese VPN: Not Required ✅ Japanese home address: Not Required ✅ Japanese payment method: Not Required
Title Selection
About 1.4 million books.
Although BookLive is best known for its manga selection, a wide variety of genres are available. They also offer over 10,000 titles for free.
Honto is a popular multi-platform book reader and seller run by Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd., one of the biggest printing companies in Japan. What makes Honto unique is that it is a “hybrid” of e-book and physical bookstores. You can also shop for both print and e-books on the same website, making the shopping experience seamless.
They also have a page called ブックツリー “Book Tree” where professional book curators pick a theme like 心が落ち着く (calming) or イマジネーションが刺激される (inspiring) — and share a list of their recommendations accordingly. Going through these curated lists is reminiscent of exploring the “staff picks” at a physical bookstore, reading the handwritten commentary and posters full of book-related punchlines.
Honto’s selection is truly well-rounded, with titles organized into a number of different categories.
Generally, Japanese e-book retailers have a specific focus in terms of genres, such as manga or light novels, but Honto’s selection is truly well-rounded. Titles are organized into a number of different categories including but not limited to: men’s comics, women’s comics, economics/business books, light novels, literature, and lifestyle.
Like many other digital providers out there, Honto offers free trial reading. There are also daily sales that make finding cheap selections a breeze. Additionally, if you favorite certain titles, Honto will send you an email if they get discounted.
If you find the design of other Japanese e-book platforms “too busy” (often with too many eye-catching ads) — try Honto. It has a relatively clean, simple interface and the overall user-friendliness of the website and partner apps is very intuitive. One thing you should be aware of is that Honto is only operable in Japanese. If you are not confident in your Japanese abilities, then it might be an intimidating experience. On the other hand, it can serve as an excellent challenge to hone your Japanese skills!
Honto has a relatively clean, simple interface but it is only operable in Japanese.
The Honto app comes with features that are very useful for language learners as well. In addition to highlighting and commenting, it allows you to look up selected text through built-in dictionaries, web browsers, and Wikipedia. You can also search the selected text to see where the same word or expression appears in other parts of the book. Note that these nifty features generally aren’t available for manga, but if you’re reading novels or other text-based books, you’ll definitely want to take advantage of them.
One downside of the service is that you can’t browse and shop for books directly from the app. You always need to go to the website and download your purchases (or free titles) on the app.
David’s Review9/10
I have used Honto both in the U.S. and in Japan to read manga. It is fairly intuitive, has a great selection, and I can use my 図書カード (tosho cards) — gift cards for books — to get new selections! I also love using their desktop app on my Mac. Its simple design and seamless synchronization with my Honto account allow me to easily read books right on my laptop. The only minus for me is the lack of English support that may scare beginner learners away from using their platforms.
Kanae’s Review9/10
I’ve been using Honto in the U.S. and Japan for the last few years. What I like about it is the simple user interface (Japanese sites can be visually overwhelming) and its wide range of content (I can usually find books that I want to read on Honto, though my interests can be random, ranging from recipes to books about Buddhist statues). If you decide to use Honto, make sure to take advantage of the “favorite” (ほしい本に追加) feature. You’ll get a notification email whenever there’s a price reduction for one of the titles on your list. Some e-books get huge discounts like 80+% off, so I recommend browsing the Honto selections once in a while to favorite whatever books pique your interest. That way, you won’t miss these awesome deals.
Easy to use outside Japan?
✅ Japanese VPN: Not Required ✅ Japanese home address: Not Required ✅ Japanese payment method: Not Required
Title Selection
Over 700k books.
Honto offers a truly wide variety of titles not limited to manga or light novels.
You probably know that Amazon launched its empire selling books, and since making one of the most popular e-reader devices, the Kindle, they’ve been a major player in the e-book market as well. Of course, Amazon is international, so it makes sense that they also have a large and thriving e-book store for Japanese-language books. The Japanese Amazon Kindle store has a huge selection of titles, including novels, light novels, manga, magazines, and more.
For learners outside Japan, purchasing these e-books is a little more complicated than simply ordering something from amazon.co.jp.
Amazon hosts frequent sales, offers a selection of free titles, and there’s also a Japanese version of the Kindle Unlimited subscription service, for ¥980/month. Unfortunately, for Japanese learners living outside of Japan, purchasing these e-books is a little more complicated than simply ordering something from amazon.co.jp. However, it can be done!
First, to avoid any issues, it’s best to create a new email account for Japanese purchases, even if you’ve ordered something from Amazon.co.jp before.
Next, you’ll need to connect your VPN to a server in Japan to purchase e-books from Amazon Japan.
Even with that, there’s still one final piece of information they ask for before you can purchase: a Japanese address. Consider looking up and entering the address of a hostel, hotel, or museum. With all three of these pieces in place (email address, VPN, and physical address), you’re finally ready to purchase.
Now, why might you want to go through all that hassle?
For one, the selection of books on the Japanese Amazon Kindle Store is huge, really huge — over seven million books to be exact, including 700k Japanese books. And they’re not confined to one medium or genre like some retailers which might only offer manga, for example. Additionally, getting the books you purchased onto a Kindle device or into a Kindle app — either iOS, Android, Desktop, or Web app — is really convenient. You can also set the Amazon Kindle Store JP to English, making it among the most user-friendly options for English-speaking Japanese learners to browse.
The selection of books on the Japanese Amazon Kindle Store is huge, really huge.
It’s hard to beat Amazon’s library, but if you’re already a Kindle user who has purchased e-books on Amazon.com, you should know there’s a big flaw; you can’t log into two Amazon accounts at once. For example, if you want to use a Kindle device, you have to log into the Kindle with your Amazon JP account, which won’t load any of the books you’ve purchased on Amazon.com; until you sign back in with your Amazon.com account, which removes all your books from Amazon JP. It’s a bit of a hassle, and disappointing that Amazon still doesn’t allow you to consolidate two accounts.
Ian’s Review7/10
It’s definitely a bit of a process to purchase e-books from Amazon Japan, but once you’ve got that sorted out, it all basically works as expected. I’ve been ordering physical books from Amazon Japan for years but finding a way to save on shipping costs by downloading e-books has really been a life-saver.
Kanae’s Review1/10
If you’re hoping to have your English books (from Amazon.com) and Japanese books (from Amazon.co.jp) all in one place on Kindle, you’ll be disappointed to know that it’ll come with a lot of pain. I decided to keep everything separate and use my Kindle app only for reading English books, and Honto for my Japanese e-books.
Easy to use outside Japan?
❌ Japanese VPN: Required ❌ Japanese home address: Required ✅ Japanese payment method: Not Required
Title Selection
7 million books, including 700k Japanese titles. Amazon.co.jp has a bit of everything, comparable to what you can find on Amazon.com.
Compatible Devices/OS
iOS, Android, MacOS, Windows, 🌐Browser Viewer, and Kindle
Can’t Get Enough? Consider Subscribing to a Yomihōdai (読み放題) Service
But what if you just want to read all the Japanese words your heart desires? Well, you could look into something called yomihōdai (読み放題), or an “all-you-can-read” subscription. Some places offer different kinds of subscriptions, like a manga-and-magazine yomihōdai, light novel/assorted yomihōdai, etc. For example, BookWalker has a service like this for ¥836/month. And some websites we didn’t review in this article, like Cmoa (シーモア) and Manga Oukoku (まんが王国), also have yomihōdai subscriptions that would be perfect for reading a wide variety of materials to learn Japanese.
And remember all those mentions of free books offered by many of these services? Places like BookLive, BookWalker, the Kindle store, Rakuten, and Manga Oukoku actually let you download books and/or manga from their “free” (無料) libraries without paying a single yen. You’re limited to what each retailer wants to give away for free, of course. But still, the freebies are similar enough to yomihōdai to deserve an honorable mention within the honorable mention. So if you’re looking to wolf down as much content as possible, sidling up to the yomihōdai buffet might be a good move.
How to Take Advantage of E-books to Learn Japanese
Alright, now we’ve hopefully gotten a Japanese e-book or two in your digital cyborg hands. But how do you use them to learn Japanese?
Don’t beat yourself up for however long it takes you to get through one chapter, page, or even sentence.
Well, first off, you’ve got to read them. Yea, it’s a big ask. Reading in a language you’re learning can be a rough time, as it’s usually slower and more pain-staking than reading in your native language. Our advice? Accept this fact early on and don’t beat yourself up for however long it takes you to get through one chapter, page, or even sentence. Treat yourself like a little kid learning to read for the first time. You wouldn’t beat up a kid, would you? (I hope not!)
Take note of any words you don’t know as you read.
Secondly, take note of any words you don’t know as you read. If your e-book service has a highlighter tool, this is its time to shine. You can look up any unfamiliar vocabulary in a dictionary immediately if you want. But if you’re not a total beginner and can grasp the gist of the book without it, another option is to just make note of them, bulldoze past them, and look them up later, focusing on enjoying the story for now without having your flow interrupted too often. It just depends on your level and style of studying. Either way, you can stick those new words in a flashcard service like Anki later to burn them into your brain forever!
Once you’ve mined for vocabulary, you might want to read over some sections again and take note of how your understanding of the book has improved. Fully feel that improvement, and pat yourself on the back — you deserve it, and it’s good motivation to keep going.
On the other hand, be aware that if the book you picked is too hard for you (right now), you’ll probably give up, and that’s no good. An angry reader is a soon-to-be non-reader. Don’t be afraid to take a step back and pick something easier, or more challenging, if you need it.
That brings us to the next question: how much should you read at a time?
A little reading every day goes a long way, so do your best to set yourself up to succeed without burning out.
Depending on how suitable the material is for your current Japanese level, you might want to set the bar low, like five pages a day, if that feels doable to you. A little every day goes a long way, so do your best to set yourself up to succeed without burning out. Luckily, e-books are easier to carry on the go and whip out whenever you have some free time. It probably won’t even look like you’re doing anything out of the ordinary, especially if you’re just using your phone.
But most of all, try to actually enjoy what you’re reading! If you don’t find it interesting you might just chuck your device out the nearest window, and that’s the opposite of learning. A bit of frustration is totally normal (and good — it means you’re on the right track!), but once you find the right book, it should also feel like a rewarding growth opportunity.
Welcome to the World of Japanese E-books!
Now that you’ve read our expert-ish impressions of these Japanese e-book services, which one will you try out first? Will you read manga, light novels, cookbooks, fiction, or self-help books? The world is your literary oyster now that you’ve got these tools at your disposal.
Reading regularly is a super effective way to practice Japanese, so hopefully the relative affordability and convenience of e-books will help you avoid shipping fees and get e-reading more often. So glue your eyes to those pixels and enjoy the robo-literature!
Emily Suvannasankha, David Honeycutt, Kanae Nakamine, and Ian J. Battaglia
Have you ever started to feel confident about your Japanese ability, only to try and turn on a Japanese movie or TV show and not understand more than a smattering of words? Don’t worry, this is totally normal. Listening can be one of the most difficult skills to improve, but luckily, like any skill you just need more practice.
Podcasts are great for this. There’s a huge selection of free podcasts, comprising hours and hours of listening material, across a wide range of topics and styles. Because of all this, it’s never been easier to improve your listening ability, no matter where you are.
Previously, I rounded up a handful of what I felt were some of the best beginner-level Japanese podcasts around. This time, I’m back with another group, for intermediate Japanese learners. If you’re ready to take your listening practice up a notch, take a look below at some of the best options available!
What Makes a Good Podcast?
It’s better to have very high comprehension than something you have to struggle with to parse a single sentence.
Similar to last time, let’s talk about what makes a podcast good. For our purposes, I specifically mean what makes a podcast good practice. I think there’s sort of a sweet-spot for almost all practice materials. They should be at or only slightly above your current ability level, so that your comprehension remains high — it’s better to have very high comprehension than something you have to struggle with to parse a single sentence. Additionally, it needs to be interesting enough that you remain engaged and want to listen. If you’re bored to tears, you’ll probably stop actively listening, which defeats the point of the practice in the first place. Of course, the sort of content that you’re going to find interesting is different for everyone, which is one of the reasons I’ve collected a list: that way, everyone can find something they want to listen to.
It needs to be interesting enough that you remain engaged and want to listen.
Beyond that, all the same sorts of general podcast criteria apply. How long are episodes usually? Are the host or hosts ‘ voices clear and easy to understand? How is the release schedule? While these are the same sorts of considerations you might think about when looking for a new podcast in your native language, they’re only more important when looking for podcasts in a language you’re learning. After all, how can you hope to study if you have a hard time making out the dialogue?
Of course, I tried to pick podcasts that I felt already matched this criteria. Additionally, I looked for series with a large catalog of episodes, frequent release schedules, or both. That way, you can be sure you won’t run out of episodes to listen to too quickly, allowing you the time you need to get accustomed to something so that it’s as good a practice as it can be.
When writing about beginner podcasts, most tended to follow the same sorts of guidelines. Most series were hosted by a single person, who spoke relatively slowly, on a variety of topics for only a few minutes at a time. While this makes for an easy transition into listening practice, in most cases, it’s something I expect learners to progress beyond fairly quickly.
Intermediate podcasts can feature multiple hosts, more focused topics, and longer episodes.
Thankfully, once you move up to intermediate podcasts, they become much broader. From podcasts with multiple hosts, a more focused topic, and longer episodes, I find these to be much more engaging.
Still the focus is on immersion. And with that in mind, be gentle with yourself. Listening is hard! Like reading a book in another language, I find it takes time to settle into the speech patterns and rhythms of anyone new you’re listening to, even in a relatively controlled environment like a podcast. You might feel out of your depth with some of these at first, but stick with it, and see if it gets easier a few episodes in. Hopefully you’ll just adjust as you’re able to hear more, and can go back through those early episodes later, or if not, feel free to jump back down to the beginner recommendations for the time being. Language learning is a process, and one with many different domains, and a journey that isn’t always linear. Just be diligent, and you’ll get there.
Compared to the beginners podcasts, these intermediate podcasts have a wider range of difficulty, topics, style, and more. I’ve done my best to group them roughly by difficulty, but know that this isn’t an exact science. What’s easier for one person might be more difficult for another, and that’s totally normal.
In this first group, the podcasts still tend to offer some sort of help to Japanese learners, be it in the form of slowed speech, easier topics, and shorter episodes, they represent the first step up in difficulty from the beginner tier.
Easy Japanese
Easy Japanese is a podcast YouTube channel that’s also available on a wide range of podcast services, aimed at providing practice for Japanese learners around the N3 level. The intro promises no script, no editing, just natural, simple Japanese, and that’s what’s provided. Started in January of 2021, hosts Masa and Asami have now logged hundreds of podcasts between then and now, covering a wide range of topics. There’s no English used, but instead the hosts try to stick to simple words, or explain concepts in simple terms when necessary. Since launching, the podcast has become a video podcast on YouTube, and every episode from the very beginning has worked well with the closed-captioning provided on YouTube if you’d like to look at subtitles while you listen. Additionally, the pair livestreams twice-weekly, adding even more content to an already rich archive.
Among a crowded and ever-growing podcast pool for Japanese language learners, Easy Japanese manages to stand out as an extremely high-quality and useful resource for Japanese learners. By catering to Intermediate learners rather than absolute beginners, they’ve created a resource with a much longer shelf life, while still being fairly accessible. Easy Japanese sort of strides the perfect balance between natural, unscripted speech, while still being clear, articulate, and simple enough to be comprehensible to a large number of students. This is a great offering for anyone looking for a bit more practice, and really, who isn’t?
Monologue in the early episodes, conversation in the later episodes
Is there a transcript or accompanying material?
Transcript (Free), but only in the YouTube Closed Captioning
What’s the average length of an episode?
~10 minutes
Ian’s Review8/10
Easy Japanese is a great podcast for intermediate learners looking for some high-quality listening practice. It’s clear how much the hosts Masa and Asami care about the show, with a strong emphasis placed on production value. I find they’re both very easy to listen to (as the name implies!) while still remaining engaging and thoughtful. Especially for learners looking to get into conversation-style podcasts, Easy Japanese is an easy recommendation.
Learn Japanese with Noriko
Following the mold of great podcasts hosted by Japanese teachers, Learn Japanese with Noriko is no exception. Updated almost every-other day, Learn Japanese with Noriko has grown to over a hundred episodes, and has a second season.
Noriko-sensei’s podcast is another monologue-style series, but her speech is only slightly slowed. For the most part, her speech is not limited by grammar, vocabulary, or speed, making it good practice for intermediate learners. Additionally, since the episodes are closer to 10 minutes each, it allows you to settle into the study a bit more, and forces you to stay engaged.
Additionally, there is a Patreon where members are given access to a wider range of transcripts and episodes.
Learn Japanese with Noriko is another great entry into the world of Japanese language learning podcasts. As a Japanese teacher, she’s able to remain considerate of learners’ abilities, while not restricting her own speech so much to make the podcast stale. I wish the production quality was a little higher, as Noriko’s voice sounds a bit tinny, but it’s not too difficult to get used to it.
Thinking in Japanese
Thinking in Japanese, a podcast by Iisaku, deviates from the standard Japanese language learning podcast in a few key ways. For one, while Iisaku speaks slowly, they do so by pausing more between words and phrases, rather than slowing down their entire speech like some other podcasts do, which is more natural and makes it easier to understand. Secondly, rather than some of the generic sorts of topics discussed in other Japanese language learning podcasts, or simply chatting, Iisaku covers both topics in Japanese language learning, such as Japanese pronunciation and tips on specific types of practice, and philosophical discussions from their perspective. Because of this, it’s sort of like a language learning multiplier: you’re practicing by listening, and by listening, you might learn something new about Japanese practice too!
While the production quality is nothing to write home about, Iisaku also offers a patreon for $5/month to give listeners access to vocabulary lists and bonus articles. Thinking in Japanese is a unique podcast, pairing beginner-friendly pacing and vocabulary with interesting concepts meant to expand your language ability through the content in itself. For language learners who love the process of learning, Thinking in Japanese is a great option.
Ian’s Review8/10
I really like Thinking in Japanese. While the speech is definitely slowed, the advanced and interesting topics and vocabulary more than make up for it. If you find this sort of dialogue interesting, you’ll certainly find Thinking in Japanese to be worth your time. After all, the best listening practice is the one you want to do!
In this group, the name of the game is speed. Not “fast,” of course, but these podcasts are the first in the intermediate tier to get closer to native speed. Additionally, many of the episodes tend to be longer, so they require you to hold your attention for a longer period of time.
I think you can think of listening practice sort of like music practice. You might start really slow, just making sure you’re not going to make any mistakes, and then slowly increase the speed as your abilities increase. And with these podcasts that expect you to do that for longer, or are conversations, or use more complicated grammar and vocabulary, that makes it even more of a challenge.
Nihongo Con Teppei
If you’ve heard of any Japanese podcast for language learners, chances are it’s Nihongo Con Teppei. In addition to being a native Japanese speaker, Teppei speaks Spanish and English, the former of which being where the name comes from (“con” meaning “with” in Spanish).
After starting the series several years ago, Teppei has gone on to record almost a podcast a day, leading to hundreds and hundreds of episodes, and even a beginner and advanced series, along with collaborative podcasts with other teachers like Noriko sensei.
The topics covered in Nihongo Con Teppei are varied, and episodes tend to run on the longer side, with many clocking in around 20 minutes. His speech varies too, from slightly slowed to normal speed.
Teppei does a good job as host, and remains interesting and engaging regardless of topic. He’s funny, and several recurring jokes help give Nihongo Con Teppei such a welcoming atmosphere. For Japanese learners looking for more immersion material, Teppei is hard to beat.
If you’ve ever looked for Japanese language learning podcast recommendations, chances are you’ve come across Nihongo Con Teppei. And with good reason! Teppei is funny and engaging, and with hundreds of hours of free audio content spread across multiple different skill-levels, there’s something for everyone. Teppei’s intermediate podcast, the regular Nihongo Con Teppei is a staple of study routines everywhere, and seems likely to remain that way.
The Real Japanese Podcast
The Real Japanese Podcast, launched in 2020, is a monologue-style podcast hosted by Japanese teacher Haruka. The podcasts tend to mirror videos from her YouTube channel, where she spends time speaking unscripted on a certain topic. Despite this, transcripts are available should you want to check your comprehension, or read along.
While the format is similar to other monologue-style podcasts, Haruka’s natural speed and unscripted speech make this podcast well worth your time. She talks about events from her life, such as time spent abroad in Canada, personal takes on social issues, as well as general interest topics on Japan and Japanese culture. This more personal touch makes The Real Japanese Podcast feel more tailor-made rather than how other series can feel scattershot at times, and keeps the conversation engaging even if you’re not well versed on the topic.
Finally, her natural speech makes this a great listen for intermediate Japanese learners. With so much of a focus on beginner-level materials, it can be hard to find something that’s well suited for intermediate learners, but The Real Japanese Podcast definitely fits the bill.
The Real Japanese Podcast is a solid addition to the growing field of intermediate-focused Japanese podcasts. While the format is very familiar to Japanese learners at this point, her personal look at topics and natural speech elevates this podcast among some of its peers.
The Miku Real Japanese Podcast
Not to be confused with “The Real Japanese Podcast,” The Miku Real Japanese Podcast comes from the host of popular Japanese language learning channel, Miku Real Japanese, who we wrote about for our YouTube Grammar Channel recommendations article.
Like her excellent YouTube channel, her podcast is also very high-quality. Rather than focus on grammar or a smattering of topics, The Miku Real Japanese Podcast features a lot of fascinating conversations with guests that Miku knows. There’s one about life in Okinawa for example, and more than one episode about Miku’s experiences living abroad.
Episodes tend to run slightly on the longer side, with these conversations coming in around 30 minutes a piece. There are also a sprinkling of other episodes Miku hosts alone in the mix, often closer to about 10 minutes.
For intermediate Japanese learners looking to get into conversation practice or start listening comprehension practice with more than one person, The Miku Real Japanese podcast is a great way to expand your horizons.
~10 minutes (with conversations running longer, sometimes around 30 minutes)
Ian’s Review8/10
Much like her YouTube channel, I think The Miku Real Japanese Podcast is great. These sorts of long conversations are difficult to find elsewhere at this level. Miku does a great job of keeping things relatively easy to understand, while not limiting her or her guests’ speech too much, and still making the conversations fun and interesting to listen to. I only wish there were more episodes!
YUYUの日本語 Podcast
Launched in January of 2021, YUYU’s podcast and YouTube channel have since exploded with new content, and built up a ton of new fans along the way. Host YUYU is a Japanese teacher, who through a vtuber avatar does long live streams on YouTube among other content.
THe podcast is similarly broad. There are episodes on Japanese history, Japanese language, and of course pop culture, which is perhaps the content YUYU has become most well-known for.
Episodes vary wildly in length, with some as short as 10 minutes, all the way up to a half-hour or more. YUYU is a kind and thoughtful host, with very clear audio, and an easy-to-understand way of speaking. If you’re looking to get your pop culture fix while you study, look no further than YUYUの日本語 Podcast.
Transcript (Free) via YouTube CC or Subtitles on certain videos
What’s the average length of an episode?
~30 minutes
Ian’s Review8/10
While it’s not rare anymore to find Japanese teachers who will talk about pop culture, it is rare to find someone who expresses the same sort of earnest enjoyment and enthusiasm about the topic such as YUYU. This infuses the podcasts with a lot of fun, and of course keeps them very engaging if you share the same interests. Listening to YUYU feels like listening to a friend, which is about the highest compliment I can bestow.
In this final section, your abilities will really be tested. These podcasts feature conversations at or nearly at native speed, or are simply made for native Japanese listeners. With that, this section is a bit of a challenge, at times pushing beyond the “intermediate” label. But don’t worry. If some of these are too difficult now, with diligent practice, before you know it they’ll be a piece of cake. Just make sure you’re not pushing too far, and instead finding something level-appropriate to work through consistently.
Japanese with Teppei and Noriko
If you’ve looked into podcasts for Japanese language learners before, you’re probably familiar with both Teppei and Noriko sensei. But did you know they have a collaborative podcast? Well, they do, and it lives up to the quality you’d expect from this pair of veteran podcasters.
As you might expect, this podcast is very similar to their solo work, featuring a variety of topics. However, with the both of them they discuss these topics at more or less natural speed, making this podcast more suited for intermediate learners rather than beginners.
Like some similar podcasts, it’s a great option for those struggling to comprehend native conversations, though it probably shouldn’t be your first practice in this field.
In this podcast, Teppei and Noriko combine their powers to make a podcast for Japanese learners looking to step up their listening comprehension game. Unlike their solo podcasts, I find this one to be a little more difficult, with the speed of their conversation, and the interjections, but since they’re both teachers, they still do a good job at making sure it’s not inaccessible.
4989 American Life Podcast
Borrowing their name from a Japanese idiom pronounced “shikuhakku,” which means “struggle” or “suffering,” 4989 American Life Podcast aims to describe the difficulties of being a Japanese person living in America. But it’s not all doom and gloom; actually, 4989 American Life is a fascinating look at some of the cultural differences between Japan and the US.
Made primarily for native Japanese speakers, you won’t find very much here to support Japanese learners, though more recently transcripts for the episodes have been added to the official website. Instead, 4989 American Life is almost like a listening comprehension test. But don’t get discouraged!
Host Utako speaks clearly, though at normal speed. She has some interesting insights into living abroad, which might be helpful to those who hope to live in Japan one day. Episodes tend to run about 30 minutes, so buckle in, and let’s put our listening to the test.
4989 American Life is a really interesting podcast, and stands somewhat alone on this list. Intended for native Japanese speakers, 4989 American Life is one of the most challenging podcasts recommended to Japanese learners. Even so, it’s made to be comprehensible, so stick with it if you’re having trouble. What you’ll find is an interesting look at cultural differences between Japan and the US, and some serious practice for your listening abilities, as well.
Let’s Learn Japanese from Small Talk
If you’re looking for a podcast that offers authentic, everyday Japanese, we recommend you check out Let’s Learn Japanese From Small Talk! The podcast is hosted by two native speakers of Japanese, and they cover a wide range of interesting topics about modern life in Japan. We covered this podcast in another Japanese Learning Resources article a year ago, but it has really come into its own since then!
One of my favorite things about the podcast is how well the hosts provide vocabulary support for listeners. Instead of simplifying their Japanese, they provide English translations of difficult words, or explain what words mean using other words in Japanese. At the end of each episode, one of the hosts slowly pronounces each word covered in the episode, leaving enough time in between for listeners to pronounce the words after her. Vocabulary lists for each episode are posted on the podcast blog, which makes this a really great study tool!
I would recommend this podcast to upper-intermediate and advanced learners, however a more beginner level learner could try studying the vocabulary list before listening to the podcast to see if it is more accessible that way. In any case, if you’re in need of an enjoyable and informative Japanese podcast, give it a shot!
Let’s Learn Japanese from Small Talk is a lot of fun. Originally started while the hosts were studying abroad in London, the show has continued into their adult lives. As two friends, the conversations they have are very natural and easy-flowing, making this about as close to a native conversation with your peers as you can get. That said, they do provide vocabulary lists, and break down words or phrases from time to time.
Conclusion
Hopefully you’ve seen the wide range of podcasts available for intermediate Japanese language learners and beyond. This list comprises a larger range of difficulty than my previous beginner level roundup, so hopefully there’s a few podcasts here that can take you from intermediate into advanced.
I think the best listening practice is the one you want to do, so if there’s a podcast with hosts or topics you like, settle in. That way, you’ll stay engaged and actively listening, getting the most for your practice. That said, don’t be afraid to readjust to find something more suited to your level. If you’re struggling to comprehend each sentence, that’s probably a good sign you should try something a bit easier for a while as you build up your abilities.
Hopefully between this list and the beginner version, you’ve found something that strikes your fancy, and even better if you’ve found a few podcasts you’re interested in that you can follow along during your journey. Go for a nice walk, and get practicing!
For those of us studying Japanese, listening can be one of the hardest skills to improve. Like with most things, the only way to improve is through practice; however it’s easy to try and jump into some native material and then get discouraged or overwhelmed when you can’t understand it. Luckily, there’s a lot of Japanese language podcasts out there for learners hoping to improve their listening skills. In fact, maybe too many! How can you know what podcasts are worth your time, or best suited for your needs?
In this article, I’ve rounded-up 10 of what I think are the best beginner-level podcasts for Japanese learners. I’m sorting the list roughly from the easiest at the top to the most difficult at the bottom, based purely on my experience and impressions. I’m also including a table with helpful information about the podcasts, like what they talk about and how long episodes usually are, as well as if they have one host or multiple, for example. Hopefully this all helps you find just the right podcast for you: one that’s interesting enough to keep you listening, while still being well-suited to your current Japanese abilities.
Ready to take your listening skills to the next level? Let’s dive in!
What Makes a Good Podcast?
First, some ground rules. What makes a podcast worth listening to in the first place? For this article, I wanted to focus on listening practice, which I feel is best improved through immersion. That means sticking as closely as possible to only Japanese, though since these podcasts are meant for beginners, many of them will pepper in a translation of a word or phrase in English now and then. Additionally, I did my best to pick podcasts that are either currently active, have a large back-catalog of episodes, or ideally both; nothing worse than finally getting into a podcast only to have it abruptly end.
One of the best ways to stay motivated and diligent with your practice is to find something that interests you, while not being too difficult to turn you away.
While I did have those criteria in mind while I was searching for podcasts, I wanted to be sure to cast a wide net. After all, one of the best ways to stay motivated and diligent with your practice is to find something that interests you, while not being too difficult to turn you away. Some of these podcasts have specific topics they tend to cover, while others are more scattershot, focusing more on making the Japanese easily-comprehensible rather than covering anything particular in depth. Additionally, there are a ton of different types of podcasts: from shorter ones and longer ones, to monologues and group conversations — and the lengths they go to help Japanese learners varies, too. Some offer transcripts, vocabulary lists, or just try to break down difficult words when they use them, while others are more casual.
If you find a host or a series that clicks with you, stick with it! It’s best to dive deeply into something than to bounce around and only scratch the surface.
What Makes a Podcast Beginner-Friendly?
Next, how can we define what it means to be a beginner? This is tricky, of course. In general, these are podcasts that are intended to be accessible to the widest number of people. Thinking in JLPT terms, I think beginners usually range from the N5 into the start of the N3 level. These learners are probably working through a beginner textbook like the ever-popular Genki series, maybe taking an intro class, and are just starting to get a feel for what the Japanese language has to offer.
Since podcasts focus on listening, you technically don’t need to be able to read hiragana, katakana, or any kanji to engage with these items. However, I think learning the kana syllabaries and starting to learn kanji should be the start of anyone’s Japanese language learning journey, so don’t skip that step! Even more, it’ll help a ton with deciphering what the hosts are saying, checking a transcript or vocabulary list, or even just being able to look up words you don’t know and read the episode titles.
Additionally, listening practice is just inherently a bit more advanced than something like cracking open the first page of Genki, doing the first three levels of WaniKani, or otherwise getting your feet wet in Japanese. For listening practice in general, I think using the audio included with a textbook like the Genki series and the dialogues the lessons focus on should be your first step. Or, absolute beginners can get started with something that uses visual cues to help convey information, like the excellent Comprehensible Japanese videos.
That said, I think the first few entries on this list are even easier than the audio from Genki, so even for absolute beginners, it shouldn’t be long before you’re able to get started with these as well.
Absolute Beginners: Slowed Speech and Ample Pauses
As I mentioned, these podcasts are suited for beginners, but there are a number of different ways to accomplish that. This first section includes podcasts that take probably the simplest approach: slowing down the speaking speed. Japanese is among the fastest spoken languages in the world, and for beginners just starting to do listening practice, it can be daunting to jump into something they’re unable to understand.
With these podcasts, that’s not an issue. Whether they pause between words or after particles, or even just slow the pace of each syllable down, even beginners should quickly begin to realize they’re able to comprehend, and with that, improve.
Slow Japanese by Mochifika
Slow Japanese by Mochifika is a Japanese podcast aimed at providing even beginners with comprehensible listening practice material. The way it does this is as the name implies — it’s very slow! The host, Akari, breaks sentences down into pieces, and pronounces words at a near syllable by syllable pace at times. After starting in September 2021, Mochifika has released episodes at a weekly pace, building a comprehensive library. Additionally, transcripts are offered through the series’ website, allowing students an even more comprehensive look at the language.
Episodes tend to be very short, mostly around 5 minutes. This, coupled with the relatively slow release schedule makes it easy to get caught up quickly, but also easy to run out of episodes to listen to. Thankfully, the consistent schedule means you probably won’t be waiting for too long. Like many Japanese language podcasts, the topics covered vary, but there’s a little something for everyone.
Slow Japanese is a great first step into adding some listening practice to your Japanese study routine, and it’s nice that even beginners can listen and comprehend. However, the pace really is slow, and most students will outgrow the content pretty quickly. Additionally, because the pace is so unnatural, it’s really only a stepping stone rather than something more evergreen. Still, it’s hard to find a better place for Japanese beginners to get their feet wet in listening comprehension.
I think it’s great that Slow Japanese is so accessible. Because of the pace, the short episodes, and clear pronunciation from host Akari, I think Slow Japanese is probably the most accessible podcast to even very beginner Japanese learners, without the use of visual cues to aid comprehension. That said, I’m not sure it has much longevity. The pace is so slow and unnatural, I think learners will both get tired of it and move beyond it quickly. Still, this is probably the easiest entry point into listening practice I’ve found, and isn’t a bad way for learners to get their feet wet.
Thinking Out Loud in Japanese
Thinking Out Loud in Japanese is a podcast for Japanese language learners that started in 2021. This podcast is focused on beginners, offering something that almost every student will be able to listen to and enjoy, while also getting some practice in. Episodes are really short, most clocking in under 5 minutes, and uses almost exclusively grammar from the Genki textbook series, which makes it an excellent companion to students studying using them. In addition to the restrained grammar, Mel, the host, also speaks using a clear voice, and slowly, often pausing between words. This makes Thinking Out Loud in Japanese one of the most accessible podcasts for students. Mel is a tutor on iTalki, so they’re pretty good about catering to students’ needs.
Finally, through Patreon, Mel offers full transcripts, as well as some bonus episodes, if you just can’t get enough. If you’ve wanted to add listening practice to your Japanese study routine, but have found it too intimidating when you try, Thinking Out Loud in Japanese might be just what you’re looking for.
Like Slow Japanese, メルのThinking out loud in Japanese helps beginners by slowing down the speech, but does so by pausing between words and after particles. Additionally, the vocabulary and grammar is a bit more advanced, while still sticking primarily to items corresponding to Genki 1+2. To me, this is a much more natural and beneficial approach for learners, as pausing after particles almost teaches you how to break down a Japanese sentence, understanding it clause by clause. Where メルのThinking out loud in Japanese lacks a bit for me is the topics, length, and slow release schedule. There’s just not a ton here. Still, I think it’s a great stepping stone for Japanese learners.
Sakura Tips
Sakura Tips is a short, daily podcast for beginner level Japanese language learners looking for some level-appropriate listening practice. The host, Mari, speaks in a very clear voice, and slows down her speech, while not overdoing it so much to make it odd. Instead, the speed strikes a nice balance between comprehensibility and naturalness.
Additionally, the podcast is scripted, which avoids any meandering or time-filler phrases, and the script is available to view on her website, in both Japanese and English. This is great for Japanese learners who want to follow along while they listen, or to simply check that they properly heard or understood something spoken.
The topics vary, but with the short episodes, the focus is constrained and easy to understand. Additionally, because of the daily release schedule, there’s a huge back-catalog of episodes; both so you won’t easily run out, and that you’re sure to find topics that interest you. Really, for beginners looking to get started with Japanese listening practice, there might be no better place than Sakura Tips.
Sakura Tips is great. With the huge number of episodes, clear, well articulated pronunciation, and just-slow-enough speech, Mari’s podcast is really something special. With the added benefit of the transcripts, for beginner level Japanese learners, you can’t go wrong. Personally, I wish the episodes were a little bit longer, so you could settle into the practice a bit more, but with how many episodes are now available, that’s less of an issue. Additionally, it really is a beginner podcast, so it won’t be long before you’re ready to move on. But to my mind, Sakura Tips is about as good as it gets.
Japanese with Shun
Japanese with Shun is a Japanese podcast series focused on providing listening practice that’s accessible to beginners. It accomplishes this in a few ways. For one, Shun speaks slowly and clearly, often pausing after particles to give learners a chance to think and parse what they’ve just heard. Secondly, he’s very thoughtful about constraining his speech to use mostly grammar points from the Genki 1 & 2 beginner textbook series, meaning almost any Japanese learner can enjoy.
Shun, like many other Japanese language learning podcasters, is also a Japanese teacher, offering lessons via iTalki, as well as a series of YouTube videos and other related content. For Japanese learners, this lets you know how accustomed he is to teaching.
Episodes are released once-weekly, and most clock in between 5-10 minutes. While this is fairly short, the large back-catalog means you won’t soon run out of episodes to listen to. For beginners looking for a fun, interesting, and level-suited podcast, Japanese with Shun is a great choice.
It’s hard to go wrong with Japanese with Shun. While there are a ton of beginner-focused Japanese language learning podcasts under 10 minutes, you can tell how much Shun cares about making sure his podcast is well-suited to learners. Additionally, Japanese with Shun strikes a rare balance, where he manages to restrict the grammar and vocabulary, while still covering interesting and nuanced topics and not devolving into childish themes like other similar podcasts.
Beginners: Take the Next Step With These Teacher-Hosted Podcasts
This next section covers roughly the first jump in difficulty. While these podcasts are still very beginner friendly, they don’t tend to pause between words or syllables. They might speak a bit slower than usual, or repeat key phrases, but they all feel a bit different from the first group. Of course, they still tend to constrain their vocabulary, grammar, and topics to ones that are more on the beginner side of things.
One way to think about doing listening practice is like practicing a musical instrument. In the beginning, you’ll probably start slow, just trying to make sure you make as few mistakes as possible. As you get more comfortable, you might click the metronome up a few steps, until gradually you arrive at the speed the piece was meant to be played at. The same could be said for Japanese. While everyone has different natural speaking speeds, you can practice at different tempos, and work your way up to a generally natural speed. This group represents that first click up on the metronome!
Japanese Podcast for Beginners (Nihongo Con Teppei)
Most Japanese learners who have looked for listening practice are probably familiar with Teppei by now. A Japanese teacher on the platform iTalki, Teppei has long championed listening practice through podcasts, and come out with hours and hours of material through a number of different series, including solo podcasts for beginners, intermediate, and advanced learners, and a collaborative podcast with fellow online Japanese teacher Noriko.
This podcast, the aptly named Japanese Podcast for Beginners (Nihongo Con Teppei), is exactly as it says. Similar to his main podcast series aimed at lower-intermediate learners, Japanese Podcast for Beginners takes everything that’s great about that main series and makes it even more accessible. Episodes tend to be about 4 minutes long, covering a wide range of topics like many other Japanese podcasts.
Unlike many other Japanese podcasts aimed at beginners however, Teppei doesn’t really slow his speech much. Instead, he simply speaks clearly, only really pausing around the title or any other key phrases. Of course, it’s not quite a native speed conversation, but for beginners hoping to work their way up to more natural speed Japanese, Japanese Podcast for Beginners might be just the stepping stone you need.
Japanese Podcast for Beginners (Nihongo Con Teppei) is an excellent first step for Japanese learners looking for some listening practice. While Teppei doesn’t slow himself down too much, he still manages to make a podcast that’s really accessible. But really, Teppei himself is the star of the show. He’s a character, and if you find him funny, I think you’ll be energized by his antics to listen intently, and listen more.
日本語 with あこ
Like so many Japanese language learning podcasts, 日本語 with あこ is a short monologue series hosted by the well-known online Japanese teacher, Ako. Ako has built up a reputation for her thoughtful classes online, particularly a course for Japanese learners hoping to work in Japan in the tech or game development fields.
Luckily for us, Ako’s podcast offers just the same level of consideration and care. Episodes are marked with emoji to indicate difficulty, with a bicycle signifying easier episodes, a rail car denoting N3 or intermediate level episodes, and a rocket indicating advanced episodes. She also does interviews, indicated by an emoji of two silhouettes.
Ako’s speech is clear and easily comprehensible, and episodes are interesting, often going a bit more in-depth than the standard survey you’ll find in most beginner-level Japanese podcasts. While she does her speech, particularly in the bicycle or rail car level episodes, the more thoughtful look at topics makes this a bit more thorough than some other Japanese podcasts. Finally, Ako makes transcripts available on Patreon for a $5 subscription fee for those that want it.
Ako sensei has built up a reputation for her thoughtful Japanese instruction, and luckily her podcast is no exception. While I wish episodes were a bit longer, the backlog and clearly indicated difficulty levels make this a podcast that you can grow with as your Japanese improves.
日本語の聴解のためのpodcast
Another weekly Japanese podcast series aimed at beginners, 日本語の聴解のためのpodcast offers what the title promises: listening comprehension practice. Started in the middle of 2020, the host Akane has now built up a catalog of over a hundred episodes. Each episode’s script is available for free on her blog, as well.
Akane will introduce pauses both in and after sentences, but in general her speech is smooth and flows well. Podcasts cover a range of topics like most beginner podcasts, but it’s more than just your standard simplistic fare. Instead, Akane talks about things more naturally, rather than introducing a simple topic like “cherry blossoms” and listing facts or asking questions.
With Akane’s clear speech, the free transcripts, and interesting topics, 日本語の聴解のためのpodcast manages to stand out in a crowded podcast field. Beginners looking for listening practice would be wise to heed the title — don’t pass this up!
Akane’s 日本語の聴解のためのpodcast is a excellent choice for beginners looking for listening practice, or for those looking for a step up in difficulty from the podcast they’re already listening to. While the topics are a bit more advanced than other podcasts at this level, I find that to be a positive, as Akane keeps things fresh. Additionally, with the free transcripts, learners can check their comprehension later, or look up any new words they want to study more.
Upper-Beginners: Moving Closer to Natural-Speed Speech!
Finally, this group of podcasts tends to be one step closer to native speech. That said, they still cater to beginners in a variety of different ways. Additionally, these podcasts tend to be longer, too. This changes things in two main ways. For one, with a longer episode, it’s more practice of course. Personally, I think listening practice, like reading practice, becomes more difficult in longer sessions; just like going for a longer jog is more difficult than going for a shorter run. Secondly, since these series’ episodes run longer, they tend to cover a topic more in-depth, too. Because of this, it inherently introduces new grammar, vocabulary, and just adds complexity.
But don’t get discouraged! These are all still well within the realm of “beginner level”; you got this. Just like all Japanese study, be diligent, stick with it, and enjoy the journey.
Momoko to Nihongo
Momoko to Nihongo is another podcast series started in the middle of 2020, that’s since grown to over a hundred episodes. The eponymous host, Momoko, also has a popular YouTube channel for Japanese language learners, where she makes vlog videos about her daily life.
Similarly, Momoko to Nihongo covers a wide range of topics from Momoko’s life, such as earthquakes she’s experienced, or moments like losing her wallet. She also covers broader topics, such as studying abroad in Japan.
With the script available for free on her website, you can probably tell Momoko is very thoughtful about her word choice and grammar usage. That said, she’s not locked into this, as she offers interesting asides during her monologues. Additionally, she tends to offer more English support than other similarly-leveled Japanese language podcasts, explaining words or phrases she uses in English. Luckily, this isn’t that intrusive, but if you want to avoid any English at all, it’s something to be aware of.
Momoko to Nihongo is a fun listen, and a podcast that manages to stand out in a crowd. Given the personal aspect of this podcast, I think most people’s interest in this podcast will stem from how much they are interested in or relate to the host, Momoko. I like hearing her take on different topics, and her thoughts on aspects of Japanese culture. I do wish the podcast was entirely in Japanese, but she does a good job of offering support while not distracting from the goal. For Japanese learners looking to take the next step in their listening practice, look no further than Momoko to Nihongo.
Sayuri Saying Everyday-Japanese Podcast
Sayuri Saying Everyday-Japanese Podcast, hosted by, you guessed it, Sayuri, is a Japanese language learning podcast aimed at upper-beginner or lower-intermediate level Japanese learners. Sayuri additionally runs a YouTube channel that’s also popular among Japanese language learners, and actually, the podcast is largely an extension of that. Episodes are also posted to YouTube, and it’s on YouTube that learners will find the transcription should they want to check their comprehension.
Sayuri’s strength is in the naturalness of her speech. Rather than feeling stiff, her podcasts flow very naturally, striking a good balance of feeling unstilted while remaining easily comprehensible.
The topics continue this trend. Sayuri tends to discuss things from her life or from her interests like meditation or food, or aspects of Japanese culture such as the continued use of fax in Japan.
For Japanese language learners itching for more natural Japanese, while still being slow, Sayuri Saying Everyday-Japanese Podcast might be just what you need.
Similar to other podcasters with a vlog, Sayuri Saying Everyday-Japanese Podcast takes a more naturalistic approach to Japanese language learning podcasts. That said, Sayuri keeps things comprehensible for beginners with inserted pauses and slightly slowed speech. For me, I think she strikes a great balance between natural and accessible, and should be near the top of the list for Japanese beginners looking to take a step forward with their listening skills.
Let’s Talk in Japanese
One of the first podcasts you might be recommended if you’re looking for Japanese podcasts for language learners is Let’s Talk in Japanese. Hosted by Tomo, this weekly podcast series has accumulated over 200 episodes over the years. Episodes cover a variety of topics, and are tagged by the JLPT level Tomo intends them to correspond to, meaning there are podcasts for every level here, though the focus seems to be beginners.
Tomo’s speech is clear, though the audio quality could be a bit higher. Really, the incredible thing is the difference between the levels Let’s Talk in Japanese offers. Episodes tagged for N5 or N4 listeners are slow, with carefully selected grammar and words. But after working your way up to the N2 episodes, no punches are pulled. Tomo speaks at a completely normal speed, which can be disorienting if you’re not used to it. Luckily, there’s plenty of other episodes for Japanese learners who aren’t ready for it yet.
As he mentions on his website, the Japanese Tomo uses is conversational at all levels. It’s not perfect, scripted, error-free Japanese; instead, he keeps things natural, regardless of his speaking speed. While this might dissuade some, it’s perhaps the closest look to natural Japanese you’ll find in a podcast that’s suited to beginners.
Transcripts are available on Tomo’s website, though their release lags behind the episode releases quite a bit. That, coupled with the sub-par audio quality hold Let’s Talk in Japanese back from being a true homerun, but it’s still a great listen.
Transcripts (Free), though they’re not updated regularly
What’s the average length of an episode?
~10 minutes
Ian’s Review7/10
Let’s Talk in Japanese is a really strong podcast for Japanese language learners. I love the conversational tone, as it can be difficult to find something natural sounding that’s suited for beginners. In a field of resources with no errors and all the edges sanded off, Tomo’s podcast allows even beginners to practice with the real deal.
The Last Word
Regardless of your current Japanese abilities, podcasts are a great way to practice listening comprehension, and they’re a lot of fun too. With so many podcasts out there, there’s something for everyone. Hopefully this list helped you find a new favorite.
Podcasts can be an awesome active listening practice, allowing you to check your understanding without the pressure of a conversation.
Remember, the best podcast for you is going to be one you can comprehend most of, and find interesting enough to hold your attention and want to keep listening. Don’t think you’re going to be able to throw something on in the background like white noise and suddenly get good at Japanese while you sleep. However, podcasts can be an awesome active listening practice, allowing you to check your understanding without the pressure of a conversation.
Now get out there and get listening! I’ll be back soon with an intermediate edition of this list as well, so if you found all these podcasts a bit too easy, or just want something else in the queue for when you get there, stay tuned!
Are looking for materials to learn katakana with? You came to the right place, because we have a perfect book for you, and it’s available for free.
Maybe you’ve just finished studying hiragana, or you’re one the many people who procrastinated getting your hands on katakana for a long time (no judgement, I feel you). Either way — or, even if you don’t apply to either, as long as you want to study katakana and want to be able to read those somewhat futuristic-looking Japanese characters, check out Tofugu’s Learn Katakana book.
If you are already familiar with Tofugu’s Learn Hiragana Book, you already have an idea of what it is like. It comes in PDF format so you can print it out or use it on your tablet. For Japanese teachers and tutors out there, you are welcome to use this material with your students too.
Just like its hiragana version, it is based on the Learn Katakana: Ultimate Guide that uses visual memory hints (mnemonics).
What’s different from the Ultimate Guide is that this book comes with writing practice. It’s more important to be able to read the katakana first, but this extra hands-on practice will help you remember them, not just let you remember how to write katakana or practice handwriting them prettily.
There are also review pages throughout the book to review what you’ve learned up until that point. You’ll be filling in the romaji reading of the corresponding kana. Through some of the quizzes, you get to see some examples of how katakana are actually used, too. For example, some show Japanese words that are commonly written in katakana, and others show katakana transcribing foreign words.
<figcaption> Click to download the PDF </figcaption>
If you are printing this out on paper, it fits nicely on a standard 8.5 x 11 inch (or A4 size) piece of paper. You can of course use it on your tablet too. Enjoy!
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<figcaption> Click to download the PDF </figcaption>