Links

Click here for General links.

Click here for links relating to Arts & Culture.

Click here for links relating to Japanese studies.

Japanese Language

Supplementary Resources for Textbooks
Dictionaries
Script and Vocabulary
Grammar explanations and activities using the four skills
Preparation for the JLPT
Podcasts, TV and Music
Quizzes, Games, and tests
Sites for Kids
Other Useful sites

Language Related Organisations and Governmental Departments

Japanese Language

Supplementary Resources for Textbooks

Marugoto Official Website
The main website for the Japan Foundation’s Marugoto textbook series.

JF Japanese e-Learning Minato
The Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Institute, Kansai has released the Japanese language learning platform, JF Japanese e-Learning Minato in order to provide an opportunity to study Japanese for all those people in the world who may wish to begin learning, but cannot attend an actual Japanese language school. The main course of Minato is the Marugoto Japanese Online Course, based on the Marugoto textbook series, which we recommend for those who wish to comprehensively learn about the Japanese language and culture. With this course you can have an integrated learning experience by using interactive e-learning materials to study the language skills needed for communication (listening, speaking, reading, and writing).

MARUGOTO+
A Japan Foundation website where users can learn about Japanese language and culture alongside the contents of "Marugoto: Japanese language and culture", a coursebook which uses the JF Standard as a basis. Users can practice real-life Japanese while watching videos that help deepen understanding of actual everyday situations, in order to achieve various 'Can-do' goals.

Genki Online
Designed to accompany the Genki series of textbooks, the self study page allows students to work at their own pace. Printable interactive pages make the resource ideal for homework or self assessment. Teachers and students will also be able to find a wealth of useful materials in the Instructional Resources section, including flash cards and animated guides to writing kanji.

Japanese for Busy People Resource Website
Online supplementary materials for Japanese For Busy People. Numbers, money (shopping), verbs and adjectives (including conjugations), complete with audio. Suitable for beginners.

Obentoo Deluxe
The new revised edition of Obentoo 1 complete with new photos and illustrations. Check out the student support site.

AJALT Japanese For Young People: teacher's manual
This site provides supplementary material for the Japanese for Young People series.

Dictionaries

NIHONGO e-na Portal for Learning Japanese
Click on the "Dictionary/Translation" link to view a number of carefully selected online dictionaries and translation tools on this Japan Foundation web portal.

RIKAI
Rikai enables the user to read any Japanese text. Simply enter the web address you are looking at in the box provided, and then by placing your mouse over any difficult text instantaneous popups will appear, complete with furigana and English translation.

Jim Breen's WWWJDIC
Easy-to-use site which is very useful for looking up Kanji and Japanese words.

Script and Vocabulary

Japanese in Anime and Manga
This fun Japan Foundation site includes vocabulary and kanji quizzes.

NIHONGO e-na Portal for Learning Japanese
Click on the "Vocabulary," "Kanji" or "Kana" links to view a number of carefully selected websites focussing on these areas of Japanese language on this Japan Foundation web portal.

Minna no Kyozai Site
Japanese teachers from around the world can share all kinds of teaching materials on this Japan Foundation site.

The Japanese Language Page.Com
Kanji Dictionary and a brand new Kanji Database for levels 4 to 2 of the JLPT. New database features a Kanji Randomizer and Flashcards, that allows users to set which set of kanji they want to see and how fast the delay should be. There are currently 90 kanji available for level 1. Try the on-line kanji quizzes and download a very easy to use flashcard program for learning Hiragana and Katakana.

Kanji Alive
Search for 1235 kanji using a number of different criteria all presented in a single, unified interface: textbook lesson number, onyomi, kunyomi, English kanji meaning(s), radical name, radical stroke number, radical English meaning(s) and kanji stroke number. Other features of the site include PDF documents that describe the history of kanji, the radicals, and the basic rules of writing as well as a customisation facility that allows instructors to organize the kanji database according to lesson order.

Grammar explanations and activities using the four skills

Hirogaru, get more of Japan and Japanese
A website where you can enjoy studying Japanese while getting information on various topics. It is aimed for Japanese language learners with a proficiency level of A1 or A2 (Starter to Elementary) in the JF Standard for Japanese-Language Education. Users can engage with various aspects about Japan and the Japanese language through articles and videos.

NIHONGO e-na Portal for Learning Japanese
This Japan Foundation site features various websites and online tools useful for studying Japanese, and aims to provide support for learners from all over the world who are looking for fun ways to study.

Minna no Kyozai Site
Japanese teachers from around the world can share all kinds of teaching materials on this Japan Foundation site.

Preparation for the JLPT

Japanese Language Proficiency Test
The official website of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), featuring test guides, sample questions, resource lists and more.

Meguro Language Center
List of vocabulary, kanji and grammar produced by the Meguro Language Centre in Tokyo.

Nihongo Kyouzai Toshokan
This site is in Japanese and contains practice grammar tests.

Podcasts, TV and Music

NIHONGO e-na Portal for Learning Japanese
Click on the "Listening" link to view a number of carefully selected websites featuring sound and video files on this Japan Foundation web portal.

Japanese Songs
Sing along to a selection of 56 Japanese children's and folk songs. Available in karaoke melody and MP3 song format these songs are classified by level of difficulty in terms of both the vocabulary and the grammar that appear in the lyrics. This site is also equipped with vocabulary lists.

Quizzes, Games, and tests

Japanese in Anime and Manga
This fun Japan Foundation site includes vocabulary and kanji quizzes.

NIHONGO e-na Portal for Learning Japanese
Click on the "Tools" link to view a number of carefully selected online Japanese language learning tools, including quizzes, on this Japan Foundation web portal.

BBC languages Guide to Japan
BBC’s archived Guide to Japanese - 10 facts, 20 key phrases and the alphabet

Japan-Zone.com
Features a wealth of information on Japan, including cultural quizzes.

Sites for Kids

Japanese in Anime and Manga
The purpose of this site is to give Japanese learners and anime/manga fans from all over the world an opportunity to learn Japanese in an enjoyable way, using the anime and manga they enjoy as a gateway to their studies. The site to deepen learners' understanding of the Japanese language and culture, and to give an added incentive to study.

Ready Steady NihonGO!
Ready Steady NihonGO! is a unique scheme of work for teaching Japanese at Key Stage 2. It was produced jointly by Japan 21 (now the Japan Society) and the Japan Foundation London. The scheme comprises ten structured 45-minute lessons, with comprehensive teachers' notes, National Curriculum Links and a set of accompanying Culture Notes. The course is available free online from the link above. A CD-ROM version is also available from the Japan Society.

Yahoo Japan Kizzu
Designed for Japanese children learning about various topics. Also suitable for learners of the Japanese language.

Kizzu @ nifty
Study aids for Japanese children. Also suitable for learners of the Japanese language.

Other Useful sites

JF Standard for Japanese Language Education
JF Standard is a tool developed by the Japan Foundation to help Japanese teachers consider how Japanese can be taught, and how learners' achievements can be assessed.

English- Japanese website for Care Professionals
Nihongo de Care-navi is designed by the Japan Foundation to help care professionals working in Japan communicate effectively with colleagues, superiors, patients and clients. Nihongo de Care-navi consists of more than 5,500 daily Japanese expressions and basic vocabularies as well as more than 2,000 example sentences.

The Japan Forum
This site contains a downloadable Photo Data Bank of 2,968 photos of the daily lives of Japanese young people from elementary school as well as junior and senior high school ages.

Japan Foundation Sydney
A lot of resources are available at JF Sydney's own website.

Japanese Mosaic
Prduced by The Center for Applied Second Language Studies (CASLS) at the University of Oregon, the subject areas covered are Tokaido, baseball, Manga and Anime, Food and lifestyle, and haiku. For each subject there is a set of lessons with teacher notes, and links to supporting websites and literature.

Kids@nifty
Occasion cards with Japanese scripts ready for you to print out and make. The collection includes card for birthdays, holidays and festivals.

Origami club
A wide range of origami (paper folding) available in five levels ranging from easy to very difficult. Printoutable instructions written in hiragana with pictures or animated instructions are provided. This site is in Japanese only.

Japan-Related Organisations

Travel and Japan Guides

Guide to Japan
A useful travel guide to Japan, this site contains information on the arts and crafts of Japan as well as a useful hotel search function by city.

JASSO
Japan Student Services Organisation (get help with studying Japanese in Japan)

JNTO
The Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO) is a government body whose aim is to promote Japan internationally as both a leisure and business travel destination. The site is a useful resource for travel-related info on Japan.

Cultural Exchange

Club Taishikan (Embassy of Japan in the UK)
Club Taishikan is a popular workshop organised by the Embassy's Japan Information and Cultural Centre (JICC), aimed at introducing various aspects of Japan to young people. Activities include Calligraphy, Origami and wearing Kimono.

Japan UK Live
A totally bilingual site where young people in Japan and the UK can exchange ideas.

Teachers' Associations

AJE
The Association of Japanese Language Teachers in Europe is a trans-national organisation based in Europe, which aims to enhance and promote teaching and learning Japanese language and culture in Europe.

ALL
The Association for Language Learning

BATJ

The British Association for Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language

JLC (Japanese Language Committee)
The official site for the Japanese Language Committee and a must for UK teachers of Japanese. The Japan Language Committee is part of the Association for Language Learning (ALL). To view the ALL site in its entirety you have to be a member of ALL.

Language Related Organisations and Governmental Departments

Department for Education
The Department for Education have now merged with TDA (Training & Development Agency for Schools). They are now the primary source of information about getting into teaching at Primary and Secondary level

National Assembly of Wales

Northern Ireland Department of Education

Scottish Office Education Department

Japanese Media Section

Daily News

NHK Online
NHK WORLD, the international broadcasting service of NHK provides information on how to receive NHK broadcasts around the world, in Japanese and more than 20 other languages. The website features Radio Japan Online that offers live radio programs on the Internet. NHK's short-wave international broadcasts are available on demand in either Real Player format, Windows Media Player format or as a podcast. The photographs on this year's NHK World Calendar, featuring twelve prize-winning photographs from an annual photo contest can also be downloaded as wallpaper for your personal computer from the website. NHK World Japanese Lessons are also available in a wide range of languages as well as details on how to access NHK World TV.

Magazines

Eikoku News Digest
Weekly paper designed for Japanese-speakers living in the UK.

Hiragana Times

Nipponia
NIPPONIA is a quarterly magazine which introduces modern Japan to people all over the world. Articles are written in Japanese and English (amongst other languages). Issues have covered topics such as Mount Fuji, earthquakes, recycling in Japan, anime and pop culture.