I have also been trying to clean up around the house and have some Japanese books I need to get rid of. I have listed them all below along with prices. If you are interested, please comment below. I will be responding in the order the comments show up so it is a first come first serve basis. I also have some special edition “Initial D” manga if anyone is interested. The books are about the series rather than part of the story and each one has a special collectors item (paper ae86, stickers, team cards, etc)

Payment can be made through paypal.

Remembering the Kana

$10 including shipping

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Kanji Power Handbook for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (practically brand new)

$15 including shipping

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Langenscheidt’s Pocket Dictionary: Japanese

$10 including shipping

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Handbook of Learning Japanese and Life in Japan

Free + $5 shipping

While I was at the beach this morning I wrote a post on my personal blog about the importance of getting away from your computer and office to get work done. I figured I would write a bit here on Japanese Words about how important it is to do the same thing when you are studying.

When I was a college student, I spent a lot of my time studying near a computer or studying while I listened to music. While this is something that most of us do, it isn’t actually very effective. The problem is that it is difficult to focus and easy to get distracted. Most of us will look up when we hear an e-mail hitting the inbox. Or start singing our favorite song if it comes on.

Learning Japanese isn’t just about the amount of time you spend studying, it is also about the quality of that time. Find yourself a nice quite spot where you won’t be bothered and can really focus. You will be able to learn much quicker.

Also, remember to take small breaks. If you study for too long without breaks your concentration and ability to learn weakens. Small breaks aren’t a waste of time, but a method to keep you studying strong.

For those who don’t know, Mochi (もち) is the Japanese word meaning sticky rice cake. They are very very good!

I have titled the series “Adventures in Miyakojima”. Since many of my family and friends don’t speak Japanese I am commentating in English, but there is also some speaking in Japanese as well. Check out the video and let me know what you think.

I mentioned in the last post I wrote reviewing White Rabbit’s Japanese Flash cards, Japanese Kana cards, and the Kanji Poster that I would be holding a contest to give away some of the cards that White Rabbit Press was kind enough to donate. Shortly afterwords I had to leave to Tokyo for a friends wedding (I’ll try to get some pics up soon) and just got back a few days ago. Upon arriving back in Miyako, I had to start preparing for my wife’s parents who came to visit yesterday from Nagano. So without any more delay, here are the details for the contest:

THE PRIZES

1. Japanese Kanji Flash Cards 1 (2 sets)
2. Kana Flash Cards

THE CONTEST

I thought quite a bit about what the contest would be, and what I finally decided on was a short essay. The essay should be about why you started learning Japanese and your interest in Japan (assuming you have one lol). Their is no minimum length, but  please keep the maximum within one page (single spaced, 10 font).

The essays will be reviewed by myself, my wife, and one other person. The winnering essays (with the permission of the writer) will be posted on Japanese Words as inspiration for others. Writing in Japanese is highly encouraged!! The winners will also be invited to write a guest post about their Japanese studies and experience with Japanese and Japan. A total of three winners will be chosen (2 for the Kanji cards and 1 for the  kana cards). Please specify which set you are entering for. Each person may only apply for either the kana cards or the kanji cards as the essays will be evaluated separately. Winners will be required to pay for shipping.

The Rules

• Submit one essay (send to Japanesewords(at)gmail.com) no longer than one page (single spaced, font 10), describing your interest in Japan and studying Japanese.
• In your e-mail please include your name, how long you have been studying Japanese, and which cards you are entering for. Each person may only apply for one set of cards. (Essays for the Kana and Kanji cards will be evaluated separately).
• **ALL essays must be submitted by 6:00pm on April 23 (Japan time)
• Winners will be contacted via e-mail for shipping information.

I look forward to reading your essays and hearing all about your experiences with Japanese. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

One of the main focus of Japanese Words has always been about learning new Japanese words. In the beginning you need to know a certain number of words to communicate in Japanese and as you get to a more advanced level you will need to more words to express more complex ideas and feelings.

Today I stumbled across a site that has a number of common Japanese words such as numbers, colors, common Japanese phrases, animals, and other Japanese vocabulary. They also have sound.

You can check out the Japanese page here. In case you are studying another language as well, you can find other languages here.

Good luck and let me know what you think!

Over the last month I have been pretty busy with a number of things including the holiday season, working as a volunteer diver to remove おにひとで (devil starfish) to protect the coral, and just work in general that have kept me away from my Japanese study. It has also caused me to write less on Japanese Words. Though I hate to admit it, I have barely touched Anki in over 3 weeks (at this point I am almost afraid to look).

On the good side, this is actually a good topic on Japanese study to cover.

I have mentioned before that it is best  if you can study at least a little bit every day. However, no matter how diligent I am, there are times when I tend to miss my study for one reason or another. So what should you do when you get off track?

The first step is to realize that you will get off track. Once you realize this you will be able to plan for it. Basically, create a back up plan. If you miss a day you will study an additional 10 minutes each day for a week. Or if you like, and can find the time, you could do a longer intensive session. Study an additional hour tomorrow. Just be careful not to burn yourself out.

If you are unable to study for a longer period of time, then try to substitute your regular study with something you can do. Watch movies in Japanese, read Japanese on the internet during your break, download some Japanese podcasts to play in your mp3 player or listen to them while you drive to work.

In my case, I am living in Japan and use Japanese on a daily basis. And while I prefer to study each day, I do get a lot of “Japanese time” even if I am not studying. By volunteering for the diving I have exchanged some study time for some speaking practice.

One last piece of advice is to continue to put Japanese words in Anki (or whatever you are using to learn new words) even if you don’t have the time to study. This will help make sure that you don’t forget and keep growing your list.

And of course, if you have been putting off your study, then there is no better time to start than now! I guess that goes for me too!

Let me know if you have any special methods that you use to keep yourself on track and how they work out for you.

I have mention before that learning the the most common Japanese words first is an essential part of learning to speak Japanese quickly. You want to learn the words that you will use, not just the ones that are ordered in a book.

However, wouldn’t it also be great if there was a simple way to learn the words that didn’t require just pure repetition. A way to remember the words are pronounced and what they mean without having to look at it 20 times, finally remember it, only to forget it because you didn’t use it for a week?

The link to the program below focuses on exactly this problem. Unlike a lot of  the programs available Speak Japanese Fast doesn’t try to be a full Japanese learning suite. Instead it focuses on teaching you vocabulary quickly and remember them by using interesting stories to learn the meaning and the pronunciation. Remember the Kanji uses a very similar method in teaching Kanji and it works pretty well.

You can check out the program here.

Disclaimer: I get a percentage of all sales purchased from this link and appreciate your support. The money is used to keep Japanese Words up and running and allow me to spend more time writing and developing the site.

The most popular post on JapaneseWords.net has been 1000+ Japanese Words List. As the title suggests, the post contains a list of over 1000 common Japanese Words and Kanji. I am proud to announce that the list has just gotten much better.

Thanks to the hard work of Michele Romanini and his wife Bika Fujioka, the list is now available for download for Anki and Mnemosyne. In addition to making the list usable in Anki and Mnemosyne, he has also divided the original into multiple lists (english to hiragana, hiragana to English, English to Kanji, etc). The ability to use Anki will allow you to study over 1000 common words and kanji in a very efficient manner.

I have included two files below. One is in “mem” format (Mnemosyne format) and the other in txt format. Either one can be imported into Anki.

Japanese Word Lists

Click Here to download Mnemosyne format

Click Here to download txt format

Japanese Study Tip

When dealing with a list of this size it can be a little bit overwhelming. Setting up a study schedule and a goal will prove to be very helpful. For instance, you might try to learn 5 or 10 new words a day. Or choose the date of completion and then figure out the number of words you will need to remember each day!

Special Thanks

Thanks once again to Mr. Romanini and Mrs. Fujioka for their  hard work! Putting this list into a format usable by Anki and Mnemosyne greatly improves it’s value

The last two tools I have written about (Remembering the Kanji and Reviewing the Kanji) have all been about learning the kanji. When learning kanji it’s important to not lose focus of why we are studying in the first place, “to read Japanese”. And it just so happens, that this next tool is a cool website called Read the Kanji.

Read The Kanji gives you Japanese words in Kanji or kana (depending on what you are studying) and  asks you to type in the correct reading. It automatically converts to hiragana so you don’t even have to worry about having Japanese input set up on your computer. The words are also used in sentences so you will learn even more words, usage, and some grammar along the way as well. The site keeps track of your progress and shows you new words and kanji once you have mastered the ones you’ve already seen. It also tracks how well you know the different readings of each character.

The website is great for seeing new sentences and learning new Japanese words and Kanji, but there is actually something about it I like even more, it’s addictive. The feeling of always wanting to do “just one more” means that you will spend ample time learning Japanese. I recommend that you head over to the page right now and check it out. You can find it at the below link:

Read the Kanji