Pets in Japan Japanese people are great animal lovers and there are many households with pet dogs and cats. The skill and availability of veterinarians is also astonishing in this country. Many people spend a lot of time, money and emotion in taking care of their pets. In this blog for students who would like to learn Japanese for free, Igarashi sensei shares her own harrowing but moving pet...

Birds in Japan The Japanese archipelago is home to a wide variety of species of birds. Many of them are migratory. Bird watching is a popular hobby and the coming and going of birds as the seasons change has given inspiration to many poems, music and art. In this blog to help students to learn Japanese for free, one of the Japonin(JOI) online school Japanese teachers, Murahara sensei introduces...

Japanese card games There are many Japanese card games. Ranging from the traditional Hanafuda and Hyakunin Isshu Karuta to the modern Pokemon card games and Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card games. The traditional card games are sometimes played competitively, and in this Japanese blog for learners of the language presents one of the most popular games. Please read this blog in Japanese without Kanji...

Japanese books Japan has a long literary culture and history. There are a large number of publishers for texts, novels, manga comic books and also picture books for children. In this Japanese learner's blog, Takase sensei who is one of the Japanese teachers at Japonin(JOI), introduces one of her favorite and recommended titles. If you get a chance, try to find it and reading – it would be an...

Japanese rice dishes Japan with its four seasons, has various cuisines that are eaten during each season. The spring season and autumn season are often the periods when the different cultural cuisine or washoku is in focus in Japan. But there are also some traditional and cultural foods that are eaten during the long cold winters. In this Japanese learner's blog, by one of Japonin(JOI)'s...

Japanese literature Japan has a rich literary culture with a large number of book publishers and periodicals. There are a number of prestigious literary prizes in the country including the Akutagawa prize and the Naoki prize. The winning books each year receive a lot of media attention and often become bestsellers. In this blog by Yokozuka sensei, one of the Japanese teachers at Japonin(JOI), we...

Japanese New Year The New Year season in Japan is probably the one of most important holidays of the calendar. Rather like Christmas and the American Thanksgiving, families tend to get together and celebrate the start of the year here. There are numerous rituals and traditions that surround the season, but in this Japanese teacher's blog for Japanese learners, Hachiyama sensei focusses on one...

Japanese winter customs In Japan with its four seasons, there are many customs that are particular to each season and they differ from area to area. The food and plants that grow in this season and the nutritional needs of our bodies during the winter are part of the reasons behind the customs. In this Japanese language learning blog, which features a video and vocabulary list, Oosawa sensei, a...

Traditional Japanese New Year Cuisine Osechi cuisine is a traditional Japanese New Year food which has its beginnings in the Heian Period. It is loaded with symbolism and contents vary from prefecture to prefecture in Japan. Sakude sensei is a Japanese teacher at Japonin(JOI), and lives in Osaka. She introduces this wonderfully colorful and cultural Japanese cuisine or Washoku in this Japanese...

A language blog for learners of Japanese This blog is a weekly blog from Japonin(JOI), Japanese online school. Each week, one of the Japonin(JOI) Japanese teachers writes an article about things that interest them and observations about Japanese culture, food, seasons and attractions. This week, Yatabe sensei writes a story about one thing that she finds interesting in her neighborhood. You can...