JAPANESE LANGUAGE
LEARNING/TEACHING RESOURCES

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This page is updated regularly. If you have any comments or suggestions on this page, please send them by e-mail to furutak@mala.bc.ca .

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 The site with is highly recommended.

Last revised on August 26, 2003 .

Language Learning

General

• Language School (Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji) at Stanford University
• Webjapan  There are lots of resources for learning Japanese.  This site is maintained by Japanese language teachers.

Hiragana/Katakana/Kanji

• Kanji Practice for Yookoso  This site is provided by MIT's  JP NET Kanji Project.  You can practice reading and writing the Kanji for each lesson in Yookoso.
• The Japanese Writing Tutor
• Joyo 96  There is a very good explanation of some basic Kanji and tips to remember those characters.
• KanjiFlash for Java v1.2   You can test yourself how to write Kanji on the web.  You can even try to write the character using a mouse on the web.  You need to use Netscape 4.5 or above to access to this program.
• A Door to the World of Kanji  This web site helps you try to learn how to read Kanji characters that you might be encounter in the daily life in Japan.

• Wake Forest University Japanese Program Online Kanji Exercises   These exercises are accompanying to the textbook, Yookoso.  There are a lot of exercises such as matching exercises and more to help you to learn kanji for each lesson.

   

Grammar

• Japanese Language Learning Cyber Tutorials
• CMJ Grammar On-line  On-line grammar and Kanji lessons from Nagoya University, Japan.  Click on "Content" first to find out the lesson number containing the grammatical items that you want to practice.  Also, set "encoding" of your browser to "Japanese (Auto-select).

Conversation/Listening

• Lesson/J  You can test your ability of listening Japanese with this dictation test. It seems that you cannot display Hiragana in the Internet Explore 5.0 but it would work with Netscape 4.5 with Japanese fonts installed.
• Travelers' Japanese with Voice
• Mangarama  You can study conversational Japanese using Japanese comics.

Dictionary

• Jeffrey's Japanese/English Dictionary Server

 

Culture

• Japanese Information at NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone)  
• Kid's Window Restaurant  You can learn the names of Japanese food with photographs.
• Kabuki for Everyone
• JGuide  Japan Information Resource from Stanford University
• Kid's Library for an electric picture book of Japanese folk tales with sounds
• Japan Information Network
  You can go to various sites from here.
• Nihon Sumo Kyokai Home Page 
  You can learn everything about Japanese National Sport, Sumo, here.

 

Internet Radio/Video
 Broadcasting In Japanese

• Radio Station Guide from Microsoft
  Click on the "International" and choose "Japan." Then you can listen to Japanese radio programs from Japan!
• Beach FM from Shoonan, Kanagawa
• RV-Okinawa
  You can enjoy the music and videos from Okinawa Islands located in the south-west end of Japan.
• FM-YY from Kobe, Japan
  Click on "Live Stream!"

 

Electric Newspapers/Magazines

• Asahi Newspaper (daily) - in English
• Japan Pictorial - in English
• Tokyo Journal - in English
• Hiragana Times  You can read this newspaper for non-native speakers of Japanese in either Japanese or English. Also, you can choose the levels of Japanese based on the amount of Kanji (you can even read it with all in Hiragana). 

 

Living, Studying, and Working
 in Japan

• Embassy of Japan, Ottawa (Click on "Exchange and Scholarship Programmes)
• O-hayoo Sensei (The Newsletter of teaching jobs in Japan)
• Association of International Education, Japan  Some information on scholarships for studying in Japan.
• Working Holiday Program (from Embassy of Japan, Ottawa)
  The Working Holiday Visa allows young Canadians (between 18 and 30 years old) to visit Japan primarily for a holiday, but also allow them to work to supplement their incomes.
• Japan Association for Working Holiday Makers Home Page (JAWHM) 
  This is a non-profitorganization and is the only organization in Japan authorized by the Government to help Working Holiday visa holders. The association provides free job referral services, accommodation information, and opportunities for counseling.

 

Pen pal from Japan

Disclaimer:
These links were found by using internet search engines.  I have checked the pages and picked those that appear to be genuine.  However, there is no way that I can confirm their identities or credentials. Please use these services with your own discretion.

• JPA Pen Pal Home page 
  This site is only for those who are 21 years old or younger.
• Hello! from Japan 
  You can post your message on Pen pal Wanted Bulletin Board.  You can also subscribe the Weekly Pen pal List from Japan twice a month.
• Japan Info-Xchange 
  This page aims to help people to find email pen pals for language exchange between English and Japanese.

 

Japanese Bookstores
On-line

• Kinokuniya Bookstore
  Visit one of the largest bookstore chains in Japan!  

 

Computer Programs
for Japanese 

• Virtual CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) Library
• Global IME for Japanese (from Microsoft)
  Global IME is free software from Microsoft that enables one to input Asian characters in e-mail/web forms within English Windows.
• JWPce  Free Japanese word-processing software for Windows 95/98
• J-mail  Japanese capable free web-mail site.  You can choose your domain name such as "xxx@sushi.co.jp"
• Marshall's Japanese Web Page  This page provides you with some free software to learn Kanji as well as links to other sites

 

Anime related sites

• Anime Discovery Project  An Anime site run by students in University of Washington

• MIT Anime Club Homepage  by students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Hitoshi Doi's Anime Page  by a Anime fun in Japan 

 

Link Collection

• Keiko Schneider's Bookmarks  Great collection of links related to study of Japanese language