Health and Safety
General Safety
Medical Resources and Links
Disaster Preparedness
Emergency and Evacuation Resources
Emergency Supplies Checklist
Getting in Contact
Disaster Preparedness Handbook
Social Health Insurance
JET Accident Insurance
Mental Health
Sexual Health
Medication
Alcohol Abuse
Immigration
Status of Residence "Visa" (All 3rd Year JETs)
Travelling Abroad
Residence Administrative Procedures
Leaving JET Immigration Procedures
Important Documents
Money
Japanese Taxes
Home Country Taxes
Teaching Resources
Lesson Plans
Video Resources
Online Teaching Journals
Studying Japanese
Japanese Class
Self-Study
Category:
Kana
Kanji
Vocabulary
Grammar
Listening
Reading
Writing
Speaking
JLPT Prep
Resource Type:
Applications/Programs
Books
Websites
Leaving JETs
Important Documents
Immigration - Status of Residence "VISA"
Return Airfare
Moving Checklist
Shipping and Forwarding Services
Selling/Disposing Your Belongings
Sending Luggage to the Airport
Pension Refund
Procedure A
Procedure B
Working After JET
Reverse Culture Shock
JET AA
Useful Links
General Safety
Medical Resources and Links
Disaster Preparedness
Emergency and Evacuation Resources
Emergency Supplies Checklist
Getting in Contact
Disaster Preparedness Handbook
Social Health Insurance
JET Accident Insurance
Mental Health
Sexual Health
Medication
Alcohol Abuse
Immigration
Status of Residence "Visa" (All 3rd Year JETs)
Travelling Abroad
Residence Administrative Procedures
Leaving JET Immigration Procedures
Important Documents
Money
Japanese Taxes
Home Country Taxes
Teaching Resources
Lesson Plans
Video Resources
Online Teaching Journals
Studying Japanese
Japanese Class
Self-Study
Category:
Kana
Kanji
Vocabulary
Grammar
Listening
Reading
Writing
Speaking
JLPT Prep
Resource Type:
Applications/Programs
Books
Websites
Leaving JETs
Important Documents
Immigration - Status of Residence "VISA"
Return Airfare
Moving Checklist
Shipping and Forwarding Services
Selling/Disposing Your Belongings
Sending Luggage to the Airport
Pension Refund
Procedure A
Procedure B
Working After JET
Reverse Culture Shock
JET AA
Useful Links
Applications/Programs
Jisho
Jisho is a powerful Japanese-English dictionary. It lets you find words, kanji, example sentences and more quickly and easily. Enter any Japanese text or English word in the search box and Jisho will search a myriad of data for you.
Imiwa?
This is a dictionary app that many people use. If you enable the Chinese-character drawing keyboard on your devices, you can even write the kanji you see without knowing the sound.
Houhou
Houhou is a free Japanese-English dictionary application that doubles as a learning tool.
Google Translate
Google translate isn't perfect, but it is really handy! It can even read foreign scripts, which means you don't have to attempt writing kanji if you don't feel like it. Useful for understanding what's going on around you.
WaniKani
Need help remembering kanji? Using Spaced Repetition System, WK helps you remember Kanji as efficiently as possible. It can help build your kanji and vocabulary foundations, and it can be addictive! The first 3 levels are free, so you can try it out and see if it suits your study style. Several JETs think the membership fee for a year is worth it! To supplement, download Tsurukame, an (unofficial) app for smartphones and KaniWani, a companion website to WK. Even if you don't use the program, the forums are free and very helpful!
Anki
This is a flashcard application. It allows you to make customized flash cards and also gives you the flexibility to choose how often a card shows up. It is available for Windows, MAC OSX, Linux, iPhone and Android devices.
StickyStudy
This application is designed to help you learn Kanji. Like Anki, this app is designed so that you are only learning the cards which you don't already know. This app is great if you are studying for the JLPT because it has separate kanji decks for the different levels. This app is available on the Apple App Store.
Endorsement by AET: It's really good and after two years of being here, I haven't found anything that matches it. I came with no Japanese knowledge and now I'm at an intermediate level (in some areas) because of it.
Rikaikun (Google Chrome) / Rikaichan (Mozilla Firefox)
Rikaichan is a translation application for your internet browser. Once you turn on the application, you can hover your mouse over some Japanese and an English translation (with readings) will instantly pop up. This is very useful if you don't know a word or can't read a particular kanji.
TangoRisto
iOS and Android app that pulls articles from NHK and other sources. It sorts articles by their difficulty level. And allows the user to tap words to see its English translation. It display furigana for all words with an adaptative display by JLPT level. It can even highlight vocabulary by its JLPT level.
Torii SRS☆
A SRS vocabulary-learning app for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android devices. You can choose to learn vocabulary in various orders such as Wanikani or Core 10k.
Memrise☆
Memrise has user-generated courses with a very smart algorithm for SRS that prompts you to study a word just when you may forget it. There are thousands of courses on anything imaginable, and there is no need to pay for a pro version. It also has an app.
Japanese.io☆
An online reader, social news feed & Chrome extension that makes reading Japanese easy and pleasurable. You can browse any online article written in Japanese or import own texts to read or learn from and organize them in your personal library. It also also has personalized glossary lists tailored to your level of Japanese comprehension, verb inflection analysis, starred words, example sentences with lookups, furigana, and computer automated voiceover. Also works on mobile.
CLAIR Language Course
The CLAIR Language course is free. Some JETs have found these useful while other JETs have found the course less useful. If you are interested , please make sure you sign up for the course before the deadline!
Language Exchange Apps
HelloTalk | HiNative | iTalki | Meetup
Paid
Don't knock it 'till you've tried it. Paid doesn't always mean better, but with these resources below, trust that you're getting the premium experience!
WaniKani
Using Spaced Repetition System, WK helps you remember Kanji as efficiently as possible. It can help build your kanji and vocabulary foundations, and it can be addictive!
**The first 3 levels are free, so you can try it out and see if it suits your study style.
FluentU
This site has a free trial with discount coupons for the membership. It is focused on using videos to learn several languages! Also has an app.
iKnow
Another subscription website with a free trial and app that tracks your learning, much like Memrise, but courses are not user-generated. They have a large set of courses available for Japanese. Coupons can be used for discounts here as well.
Bunpro (文プロ)
Another subscription website with a free trial and app that tracks your learning. It's like Wanikani but for grammar.
For Kids
Gus on the Go
Gus On the Go is a series of apps that teach languages to children between the ages of 3 and 7. The language-loving owl teaches through stories that are familiar to children, helping with pronunciation and reading in the target languages. There are mini-games, too, to make learning fun.
Little Pim
Little Pim is a language teaching method designed for kids under 6: babies, toddlers, and Pre-K. Try it for free, and then pay $9.99/month or $69.99/year to continue.
☆Highly recommended!