Pine's Ridiculously Long List of (Mostly) Free Japanese Study Materials
2026 Restart Edition
All my current study materials, because sharing found resources is caring. You may have seen the first version of this in the past, and I had a study lull due to circumstances since I last posted that. Taking everything into consideration, I made a few changes and updates to my list of resources.
Again, these are not JLPT-specific and are for beginners like me. Comparison is truly the thief of joy. I still hate my handwriting, and I still block every YouTube Channel I find that says learn X language in X short time period. I am not its target audience. I am still a slow learner, and that's okay.
As I said in the previous post, find a community because it truly does make a difference. Shoutout to Seitokai's Nihongo Discord!
This list contains the following: my textbook (paid), anki decks, dictionaries (paid and free), a game (paid), grammar and kanji guides, writing practice, watching (not YouTube) and reading resources.
Textbook: Tobira: Beginning Japanese I. This is one of the three resources that are paid. I really like this text book because it's colorful (which, it did matter for me) and physical (which, I did Marugoto, but I prefer turning the pages myself, if that makes sense). You could probably borrow this from z the library.
Genki and Minna no Nihongo are definitely more popular and would have more third-party supplementary material (like on YouTube), but I found they're catered more to university students or classroom learning which does not fit me.
Tobira has a self-study guide containing how they'd suggest you use their textbook to study on your own, and links to videos and audio materials which help you review vocabulary and explain grammar points found in the book. Disregard how their vocabulary videos has beginning spelled as begging. IDK how that got past quality control, but I mean everything else was sound.
Anki decks: And while I understand that Anki is not for everyone (and I suspect I am not too, but I am still in my trying-to-embrace-Anki-phase). Making a deck is a productive form of procrastination, but I digress.
Tatsumoto's Kana (Writing Sub-deck)
Tatsumoto's AnkiDrone Sentence Pack V7
Custom Tobira: Beginning Japanese I Vocab Deck
Dictionaries and similar:
A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar. The second paid resource in this list, sorry! The e-book sold on Amazon does not have good reviews as it's a scanned copy of the book, rather than a properly formatted e-book. I have the physical book copy.
Rikaitan browser extension I use on Firefox with installed JMDict English V4, JMExtra, 日本語文法辞典(全集), and Kanjium
Takoboto site (online) and app (with offline access) dictionary
Youglish site for pronunciation examples.
Stardew Valley Japanese Wiki because no one can stop me from playing this in Japanese even if my pronunciation will likely suffer but I don't care I will complete a playthrough in Japanese! The wiki is free, but the game isn't. I had been playing Stardew Valley years prior to my Japanese learning journey and I love it. Update 1.7 can't come fast enough, but in ConcernedApe and his team I trust.
Ultra Handy Japanese Verb Conjugator because help!
Immersion Kit provides audio and picture examples for Japanese words and phrases. It helps you look up things when you're immersing.
Game:
Wagotabi. This is the third and last paid resource in this list. It's a role-playing game which starts off in English, then gradually changes to Japanese as you play through and learn kana, kanji, vocabulary, and grammar points. It's fun and I have yet to beat my in-game rival because I don't know left from right yet. I am stuck LMAO. I barely know my directions in my native language of Filipino, you can't expect me to know this immediately in Japanese PLEASE.
Grammar: Because if you can't get your hands on a textbook or prefer to just read through the grammar points, there are available free alternatives online which I do refer to from time to time as well.
Cure Dolly Script. This is a transcript based on the YouTube series by Cure Dolly. Whether you're put off by the robotic voice the original creator used or you just want something to read along or refer to, this one is for you.
Sakubi: Yesterday's Grammar Guide
Kanji:
The Kanji Map is where you can search for kanji, their radical, and what other kanji can be related to them.
Handwritten Kanji Search as it says on the tin.
Writing:
Kakikata Generator for Japanese writing sheets. I like how customizable it is, which is very useful for me since there are certain kana characters I would really like to be legible.
Watching:
Famelack. I like the shop channel especially because all I can understand from it so far are the numbers. LOL
Slow Japanese with Yuki. If you're familiar with Comprehensive Input in Japanese on YouTube or in their website, you've likely seen her before. She's the same creator, but this is her post-CIJ venture.
Japanese Media Recommendations that I have yet to go through, but I have it in my bookmarks.
Reading:
Reader Ttsu for reading Japanese materials on a browser, used in conjunction with Rikaitan, since I couldn’t find an e-book reader that I can install a Japanese dictionary in.
Todaii Japanese site and app for easy news reading. Has a one-time lifetime paid option to unlock all the features. It has audio that plays along as you read.
Mangaz for manga if you're into that. Features independent and/or older, more niche work. Also has adult content if you're into that. This site disappeared for a bit because of that whole payment processor issue which like, plagued half the internet last year, but they came back! Not completely beginner friendly, but it's fun to look at!
Tadoku for easy reading materials which really is for beginners.
Open Access Readers is a list of reading resources gathered by the University of British Columbia.
Watanoc is a free web magazine written in simple Japanese.
Pine's Ridiculously Long List of Free Japanese Study Materials
First Month Edition
All my current study materials, because sharing found resources is caring. These are not JLPT-specific and are for pre-beginners to beginners like me. I can't believe I have been studying for a month. Comparison is truly the thief of joy. I am a slow learner, but that's okay. Find a community because it truly does make a difference. Shoutout to Seitokai's Nihongo Discord, and to @tokidokitokyo whose post let me know about it and is just overall a great person too.
Main study material: Marugoto Online A1 Self-Study Kastudoo and Rikai with downloaded PDF and Wordbook (my original post about it)
Supplemental references:
A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar (The only NOT free resource in this list, sorry! The e-book sold on Amazon does not have good reviews as it's a scanned copy of the book, rather than a properly formatted e-book. A free alternative to this is JapBase which also contains Intermediate and Advanced content.)
Marugoto Plus which accompanies the Marugoto courses and includes videos, audio files, etc.
Apps: Anki, Renshuu
Anki decks:
Tatsumoto's Kana (Recognizing and Writing)
Tatsumoto's AnkiDrone Sentence Pack V7
Official KanjiDamage Deck (from the creator of KanjiDamage, crude language warning for both the deck and the site)
Marugoto A1 Rikai Katsudoo 2021
Dictionaries:
Rikaitan browser extension (installed JMDict English V4, JMExtra, 日本語文法辞典(全集), and Kanjium)
Takoboto app (with offline access)
Other resources:
Sukiruma for practice writing sheets
Reader Ttsu for reading Japanese materials on a browser (used in conjunction with Rikaitan, since I couldn't find an e-book reader that I can install a Japanese dictionary in)
Sousakuba for downloadable genkouyoushi without watermarks
Youtube:
Favorites marked with a ⭐️.
Comprehensible Input for what it says on the tin, in bite-size formats
Daily Japanese with Naoko for vlogs with Japanese subtitles
Dogen for the funny videos that you can learn from and/or relate to
Game Gengo because Japanese learning through games, and has JLPT geared content if you're looking for it
Gino Kei who has shorts teaching Japanese in a not so serious way
Hiro - Food in Japan for cooking videos, not in Japanese, but these make me crave for Japanese food anyway so that counts
⭐️ Japan Eat for Japanese food commentary in English and also makes me hungry. So, yeah, not in 日本語 but it's delicious so that also counts
Japanese Koro mostly for kana reading practice which actually helps you get short serotonin boosts for when you do actually get to read the words correctly
Japanese Quest which plays games in Japanese
⭐️ Japarrot! for fun, animated comprehensible input videos
Let's ask Shogo for culture content
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Matcha Samurai for delightfully unhinged culture content, debunking Japanese misconceptions one video at a time
Namba Tsuyoshi for no narration Japanese walk with me style vlogs, very chill and relaxing
⭐️ NihongoDekita with Sayaka for fun, short grammar content
ShekMatz Japan has videos/playlists where she teaches Japanese in Tagalog, so if you can't understand Tagalog, you'd better skip it
Sora The Troll because why not
⭐️ Takashii from Japan is honestly one of my favorites, even before I started learning Japanese. His interviews are just really good!
Taro's Sewing because my toxic trait is thinking I can sew the cool things they post. Also comes with short Japanese commentary on screen
Tokyo Lens counts as uh, immersion even if it's not in Japanese, but it's in Japan so that counts? Yeah, let's go with that
もしもしようすけ for Japan vlogs/walk with me with Japanese and English subtitles
Yomii Japan Piano if you like piano and the occasional trolling
Japanese Calligrapher Takumi because my other toxic trait is thinking I can write this beautifully
To future me, so that you'll remember why you're doing this in the first place.
To remember where you started, so you'll be able to measure your progress.
Overall Objective
I want to be able to comfortably travel to Japan someday, preferably within 2 or 3 years. Though likely to be part of a group tour, I would like to be secure in the knowledge that I will be able to ask for direction in case I get lost.
And it would also be cool to understand what's written in those Japanese products available locally. And maybe navigate Japanese websites without much hassle. And maybe talk to people, but that's just a bonus.
C1 or C2 is ideal, but with a 2-year travel timeframe that I am considering at the moment, B1 is already a stretch, but doable.
Key Result Areas
Can comfortably read and type Kana;
Can read and type Kanji up to a partial JLPT N2 level;
Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc.; and
Can deal with most situations likely to arise while traveling.
Starting Point
I had taken formal beginner lessons in Japanese many years ago. So in the past, I had been able to:
Read and write in Kana;
Recognize Kanji related to numbers and dates;
Introduce myself; and
Make very simple descriptions (provided I know the vocabulary).
I can barely remember anything at present, except a couple of Kana. I'm not fully starting from scratch, but I might as well to be honest.
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