Learn Japanese · free to start
All of Japanese. Made in Japan.
Kana, kanji, grammar, reading, culture, and JLPT practice — one app, five minutes a day. Reviews are capped and forecast, so what you learn actually sticks — and your words go to work in real conversations, starting day one.
No sign-up needed — your first lesson runs in the browser.
- 8,400+
- vocabulary words
- 1,400+
- kanji, story included
- 600+
- grammar & phrase guides
- 4,900+
- JLPT questions
- 21
- full mock exams
- 51
- conversation scenarios
Counted from today’s curriculum — N5–N3 in depth, N2 opening — and growing every week.
Start at あ. Never wonder what’s next.
No decks to build, no curriculum to puzzle together yourself. The whole path is ordered for you — kana first, then greetings, then core grammar step by step, each lesson using only what came before. Plain-English guides explain the why behind every rule, and reviews are scheduled automatically as you go.
Already know some Japanese? A placement test finds your spot on the path — and you can move it whenever you like.
You can pass every lesson and still freeze when someone talks to you.
300 days of practice — and you ordered ramen by pointing.
A kanji app, a grammar app, an SRS deck, a tutor — four subscriptions, still no sentences.
A review queue in the hundreds. Motivation: gone.
You know the words. The sentence never comes out.
The problem isn’t you — it’s the setup. The path was scattered across four apps, and speaking was never on the syllabus. Here the whole path is one app, and speaking is on it from day one.
Learn it. Keep it. Say it — the same day.
Learn
Short lessons take you from kana to real sentences — 8,400+ words, 1,400+ kanji, and 600+ plain-spoken grammar guides, chosen because you'll say them, not just recognize them.
Review
One smart queue for everything you learn. It's capped at 60 cards a day and shows a 7-day forecast, so reviews stay a five-minute habit — never a mountain.
Speak
Then you use it. Your AI partner builds conversations from only the words you've kept, remembers your last chat, and corrects you with reasons — a real conversation on day one, included with a free account.
The three feed each other: every word your reviews keep alive is a word your next conversation can use.
A few weeks in — an actual conversation
Small? Yes. Real? Completely. Your AI partner builds the conversation from the words you’ve already learned, stretching only a touch beyond — the i+1 rule good teachers use. On day one that’s a greeting; a few weeks in, it’s weekend plans, directions, and travel talk like this.
Reviews that never pile up.
If you’ve used a spaced-repetition app before, you know the dread: skip three days and 400 cards are waiting. We built the whole review system against that feeling.
A daily cap of 60Overflow is rescheduled and leveled out automatically — never dumped on you at once.
A 7-day forecastYou can see Thursday's load on Monday, before it surprises you.
A Known buttonAlready know a word? Say so, and it leaves your queue. It can always come back.
A redo lane for stubborn wordsThe ones you keep missing get focused re-practice — without touching the schedule.
Under the hood it runs on FSRS, the newest open spaced-repetition model. The science stays; the pile goes.
Say why you’re learning. The app takes it from there.
Pick a goal in onboarding and the app actually changes — what your home screen suggests, which scenarios you meet first, what tomorrow asks of you.
ConversationEvery lesson points at your next chat, not at a syllabus.
TravelHotel check-ins, train tickets, asking the way — the trip phrases move to the front.
JLPTA placement test, level-tagged practice, and 21 full mock exams pace your path.
WorkWorkplace Japanese and polite forms arrive early, not as an afterthought.
CultureQuizzes and readings on the Japan behind the language lead the way.
Meet Aoi & Mochi.
Aoi — the teacher
Aoi is the accuracy in the room. When she corrects your Japanese, she tells you what was off and why — without making you feel wrong. And when something has more than one answer, she says so instead of pretending it doesn’t.
Mochi — the moral support
A round white cat with limited enthusiasm and perfect attendance. He never explains grammar — that’s Aoi’s job. He mostly naps, and occasionally approves.
“Acceptable.” — Mochi, on your progress
Built in Tokyo.
Hi — we're a small team based in Japan. Spending time with travelers from abroad, we kept having the same thought: there's so much of this language and culture we wish we could pass on. That's why we built Ukiyoe Japanese — the whole path to real Japanese, in one app, shaped from the inside. We can't promise anything flashy; what we can promise is that we keep improving, and we are listening.
— The Ukiyoe Japanese Team
Every sentence, reading and question here is drafted with AI, then read and corrected by a person before it reaches you.
See how we check every questionEverything between zero and conversation.
Kana, stroke by strokeHiragana and katakana with stroke-order animations and quick quizzes.
1,400+ kanji, in contextKanji arrive attached to words you already know — each with a mnemonic story, not as isolated charts.
600+ grammar & phrase guidesShort, honest explanations of the why — from は vs. が to how to politely decline an invitation.
631 weak-point drill questions19 drills on the classic trouble spots — particles, counters, keigo, て-form — and every answer explains itself.
JLPT, built in4,900+ level-tagged questions and 21 full-length mock exams, timed and scored with a pass estimate — plus a placement test that finds where you stand.
Reading at your levelShort passages built from words you already know, with furigana you can toggle.
Culture, explained15 illustrated quiz packs on the Japan behind the language — regions, food, everyday life.
A partner that remembersPronunciation scoring, corrections with reasons, session recaps — and an AI partner who recalls your last conversation.
A kind communityShare progress and ask questions. Friendly corrections are the house rule.
One round a day — the same round as the whole world.
Free daily quizzes on the Japan behind the language — world heritage, castles, temples, the fish kanji on a sushi-shop teacup, even a daily ukiyo-e print to identify. No account, no setup: everyone on Earth gets the same round, once a day.
Today's boardYour score lands on the day's board — see where you stand among everyone who played the same round.
A play streakCome back tomorrow and it grows. A calendar keeps the record.
Challenge a friendSend today's round with your run attached, and see if they can match it.
And when a quiz teaches you a word you want to keep, the lessons are one tap away.Open the Play hub →
Learn the language of a place worth visiting.
Culture quizzes and reading passages come illustrated in modern ukiyo-e — Japan drawn in its own woodblock language, phones and all. From Kyoto’s temples to a Tokyo green light, the places you’ll study are the places you’ll stand in.
Free to start. Pro when you want more.
The core of Ukiyoe Japanese — lessons, kana, kanji, grammar guides, reading, culture, and every review — is free, with no daily caps. You can even try your first twenty questions without an account. Pro removes the fair-use limits on the features that cost us money per use. We will never silently start charging you.
Free
$0forever
Free account — no credit card needed.
- The full curriculum — lessons, kana, kanji, grammar, reading, culture
- Every review, with no daily caps
- 20 practice questions a day
- 5 AI conversation messages a day
- Your first JLPT mock exam
Pro
Founding price$4.17/month — $49.99 billed yearly
or $6/month · regular price $9.99/month
- Everything in Free
- Unlimited practice questions
- Every JLPT mock exam, with scoring
- 30 AI conversation messages a day
- All Pro study sets and the full Play archive
You're early — the founding price is our thank-you for being here first. If the regular price ever applies, yours stays where it started for as long as you stay subscribed. Upgrade any time from Settings, cancel any time.
Honest answers.
How is Ukiyoe Japanese different from other language apps?
Most apps are great habit machines, and we share their respect for small daily lessons. The difference is the destination: every feature here — kana, kanji, grammar, JLPT practice, reviews — feeds an AI conversation partner that uses only the words you've learned. You don't finish a course; you start talking.
Do I still need separate kanji, grammar, and flashcard apps?
You can use them together, but you shouldn't have to. Kanji with mnemonics, grammar guides with built-in review, and vocabulary SRS all live here — one queue instead of three, and the queue is capped so it never buries you.
How much time does it take per day?
Five minutes covers your reviews on most days — the daily cap of 60 keeps that honest even after a break. A lesson plus a short conversation fits in about fifteen.
Will it prepare me for the JLPT?
N5–N3 are covered in depth today — 4,900+ level-tagged questions and 21 full-length mock exams that mirror the official sections, time limits, and sectional pass marks — with N2 now opening. A placement test tells you where to start.
Why not just talk to a general AI chatbot?
A general chatbot doesn't know your level, so it speaks past you. Your partner here knows exactly which words you've learned — it holds the conversation inside them, corrects you with reasons, and remembers last time. That's the difference between being answered and being taught.
Is it really free?
The core curriculum is free with no daily caps — lessons, kana, kanji, grammar guides, reading, culture, and reviews. AI conversation and pronunciation scoring cost us money per use, so the free plan has fair daily limits on those; Ukiyoe Pro ($6/month at the founding member price, or $49.99/year) removes them. We will never silently start charging you.
Ready to experience the real Japan — in Japanese?
Five minutes a day is enough to get you there.
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