The following list of links might help people like me who are starting to learn Japanese.
Character and Writing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_wr iting_system - A Wiki article on historical development of Japanese writing system
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoiku_kanj i - List of kanjis to be learnt in elementary school with the pronunciations and meanings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyo_kanji - List of kanjis to be learnt up until high school with pronunciations and meanings.
http://kanjisite.com/html/start/index.ht ml - Kana and kanji - preparation for JLPT.
http://members.aol.com/writejapan/index. htm - katakana/hiragana and some kanji writing tutor (with stroke order animations)
http://hesjapanese.com/ - Kana lessons with sound and animation files
http://kanjisite.com/html/start/jlpt/4/a ll/index.html - JLPT kanji levels
http://www.jlpt-kanji.com/ - Another web page that helps you when it comes to kanjis for the JLPT.
http://www.kanjistep.com/ - Very cool page for kanji beginners, includes writing order, meanings, etc.
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~kanji/ - kanji stroke orders
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/jouyo ukanji.html - printable list of the Jouyou Kanji as well as a some other commonly seen ones, arranged in the order they are learnt in Japanese schools.
http://www.polarcloud.com/kanji - printable kanji flashcards
http://homepage2.nifty.com/Gat_Tin/kanji /honji.htm - Variant forms of Chinese characters; from China, Taiwan, Japan and Korea.
http://www.realkana.com/ - practice the reading of random characters from your selected list
http://www.flickr.com/groups/brush_calli graphy/ - Flickr group to help find out the characters in calligraphy works
Online Lessons/Tutorials:
http://www.learn-japanese.info/ - Easy to follow grammar lessons, some vocabulary. Nice for starters.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/columns/0002 / - The excellent Daily Yomiuri Online "Pera Pera Penguin" articles.
http://www.ichiban.narod.ru/nihongo/niho ngo.html – Various tutorials and phrase books in Russian.
http://www.nhk.or.jp/lesson/ - Japanese lessons by NHK Radio available in 21 languages
http://www.sf.airnet.ne.jp/ts/japanese/c over.html - Teach yourself Japanese - Basic Japanese with a linguistics approach.
http://www.thejapanesepage.com/grammarpa ge.php - One hundred "[w]atered-down, understandable, bite-sized grammar helps".
http://jplang.tufs.ac.jp/account/login - JPLANG provides e-learning materials for learning Japanese, developed by a TUFS team.
http://www.trymango.com/language_program .php - for beginners, lots of audio, free but with a registration
http://www.basic-japanese.com/ - 34 free lessons and tools
http://www.manythings.org/japanese/ - free-to-use online study materials
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Pagod.../ 1jp/main.html - conversational topics and grammar references
Reading Material:
http://www.genpaku.org/ - Collaborative translation project. Usufruct granted by acknowledgement.
http://www3.cnet-ta.ne.jp/p/pddlib/ - Public domain documents including an encyclopaedia, a biographical dictionary and Japanese laws
http://www.aozora.gr.jp/ - Collection of copyright-free works. A lot of texts have phonetic guides in hiragana.
http://hukumusume.com/douwa/ - listen and read fairy-tales
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/20683 - Oku no Hosomichi by Matsuo Bashō
http://eloise.cocolog-nifty.com/rodoku/ - Japanese classics in text and audio files
http://ikeda-hideo.hp.infoseek.co.jp/lib rary_e.html - text and audio files of early modern Japanese literature
http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/language s/ja - Japanese reading materials in Project Gutenberg
http://www.esuj.gr.jp/cgi-local/Docu...d =list〈=jp - Contemporary Japanese opinions with English translations
http://www.voiceblog.jp/ted606/ - Recitations including classic literature (texts may be found in Aozora Bunko)
http://www.voiceblog.jp/kiyo22/ - Recitations by a voice actor (texts may be found in Aozora Bunko)
Pronunciation:
http://forum.wordreference.com/showp...5 2&postcount=9 - IPA explanations and tools, compiled by WR's own timpeac.
http://www.paulmeier.com/ipa/charts.html - sound files for IPA symbols as revised in 1996
http://ipa4linguists.pbwiki.com/ - instructions for setting up your computer to display IPA symbols
http://www.siskiyous.edu/NCTA/Japane...i les/index.htm - sound files for Japanese syllabary and verb conjugations.
http://www.ehow.com/how_2151706_impr...u nciation.html - Quick tips of phonemes (aimed at English speakers)
Web Services:
http://webcat.nii.ac.jp/webcat.html - Searches library catalogues in universities and research institutions.
http://www.ndl.go.jp/ - Home page of National Diet Library.
http://www.google.co.jp/ - Google Japan with Web services in Japanese.
http://www.yahoo.co.jp/ - Yahoo's Japanese portal.
http://podcastle.jp/ - Nascent technology for transcribing and searching podcasts.
Media:
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/ - News from NHK, Japan's public service broadcaster.
http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/ann/news/web/i ndex.html - TV Asahi News is another good listening resource with transcripts. Enjoy!
http://www.rikai.com/perl/Home.pl - Generates small vocabulary bubbles for Japanese news text.
http://www.nhk.or.jp/rj/index_j.html - live streaming of NHK Radio Japan
http://news.tbs.co.jp/ - News site of TBS, a commercial network.
Dictionaries:
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-b in/wwwjdic.cgi - Commonly known as Jim Breen's dictionary, supports a verb conjugator.
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-b in/wwwjdic.cgi?1R - search for kanjis by combinations of stroke counts and radicals
http://www.jisho.org/ - WWWJDIC spin-off with more user-friendly interface
http://dico.fj.free.fr/traduction/index. php - French-Japanese / Japanese-French dictionary.
http://www.alc.co.jp/ - A bidirectional English-Japanese database with a search box for looking up more natural expressions.
http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/ - Online dictionaries offered from Yahoo! Japan Dictionary. Includes Ja-En, En-Jp and Jp-Jp.
http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/ - Online dictionaries offered from Goo, another Japanese search engine. Includes Ja-En, En-Jp and Jp-Jp.
http://www.excite.co.jp/dictionary/ - Online dictionaries offered from Excite. Includes En-Ja, Ja-En, Jp-Jp, Ch-Ja and Ja-Ch.
http://www.englishjapaneseonlinedictiona ry.com/ A Romaji English <> Japanese dictionary.
http://www.trussel.com/f_nih.htm - Jeffrey's Jp<>En Dict. Kana and Romanji input. Display results in Romanji and Kanji
http://www.j-talk.com/nihongo/search/kan jisearch.php - Kanji-English Dictionary
http://www.matsu-kaze.net/jiten/jitenrea ding.php - Kanji-English Dictionary by romaji input.
http://homepage2.nifty.com/TAB01645/ohar a/p10.htm - Dictionary of Japan-made kanjis. Entries are provided as image files.
http://www.saiga-jp.com/kanji_dictionary .html - Kanji Dictionary, with stroke order, English meaning, On-yomi (phonetic reading), Kun-yomi (native Japanese reading), irregular pronunciations (e.g.一日 = ついたち), example sentences, and audio files.
http://www.languageguide.org/nihongo/ - thematic picture dictionary with audio
http://www.nihonjiten.com/ - Collection of numerous Japanese dictionaries
http://www.hikyaku.com/dico/onmyog.html - kanji dictionary and themed lists
Specialised Vocabulary and Phrase Books:
http://wikitravel.org/en/Japanese_phrase book - Survival Japanese for Travellers.
http://www.geocities.co.jp/SilkRoad-...e i/jinmei.html - A list of kanjis that represent typical morphemes for Japanese given names.
http://www2s.biglobe.ne.jp/~suzakihp/ind ex40.html - Japanese family names, searchable in kanji and half-width katakana.
http://yubin.senmon.net/ - A database of Japanese place names, searchable in kanji and hiragana.
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~ax2s-kmtn/re f/old_chara.html - Tables to match old and new kanji forms.
http://kanji.ifdef.jp/japanese.html - A list of kanjis created in Japan.
http://sanabo.com/words/?=index - Yojijukugo (four-charactered idioms) with definitions, usages and English translations.
http://hiramatu-hifuka.com/onyak/onyindx .html - Pronunciation dictionaries compiled by topics.
http://www.saglasie.com/tr/chemical/ - Names of chemical substances in Japanese and English; database
http://zokugo-dict.com/ - Slang with definition and usage.
http://home.alc.co.jp/db/owa/s_htsrv_tdy - Glossary of colloquial expressions
http://home.alc.co.jp/db/owa/s_sit_brows e - Themed list of conversational phrases
http://home.alc.co.jp/db/owa/s_kaydic?ct g_in=1 - Glossary of loan words and Japanese English
http://home.alc.co.jp/db/owa/s_kaydic?ct g_in=2 - Glossary of yojijukugo or four-character expressions
http://home.alc.co.jp/db/owa/s_kaydic?ct g_in=3 - Glossary of proverbs and clichés
http://home.alc.co.jp/db/owa/s_kaydic?ct g_in=4 - Glossary of onomatopoeias and mimetic words
http://home.alc.co.jp/db/owa/s_kaydic?ct g_in=5 - Glossary of Japanese culture and news
http://www.geocities.jp/tomomi965/index. html - Proverbs and clichés with synonymous and antonymous expressions.
http://hougen.atok.com/ - User-driven database for regional dialects
Grammar:
http://www.jgram.org/ - Very useful web page when studying grammar for the JLPT (from 4kyū to 1kyū).
http://www.nihongoresources.com A rather successful all-in-one Japanese site. From very basic dictionary, to grammar through particles. Noteworthy: giongo (giongo defines words usually described as onomatopoeia and then quite a lot more!).
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/index.htm l#contents - Japanese grammar reference by constructions.
Particles: http://www.timwerx.net/language/particle s.htm - Particles overview.
http://japanese.about.com/blparticles.ht m - Basic particles overview at about.com.
http://home.inter.net/kenbutler/particle home.html - A guide to the functions of structural particles in Japanese.
http://www.geocities.jp/nihongoguide/par ticles2.html - Verb related particles.
http://www.maedera.com/home/jgrammar...r /jgr_part.htm - Particles from a linguistic point of view.
Software:
http://abctajpu.mozdev.org/ - A Firefox add-on to enable easy input of Unicode characters: includes kana shortcuts.
http://www.polarcloud.com/rikaichan/ - For Firefox users: Rikaichan is a pop-up dictionary - reads Japanese web-pages.
http://members.lycos.co.uk/szunvukung/kk / - Kanji flashcard system by Peter Salvi. Uses Tcl/Tk.
http://wakan.manga.cz/ - freeware that parses Japanese text, in English and Furigana and Romanji (Hepburn)
http://wakan.manga.cz/files/wakan_full_1 67.exe - complete download
http://www.j-talk.com/nihongo/ - converts both Kanji and Kana into Romaji (select "Kanji to Romaji" option)
http://www.popjisyo.com/WebHint/Portal_e .aspx - parses Japanese sites and provides pop-up vocabulary. Also in Chinese and Korean.
http://www.freewebs.com/horazio/freeware .htm - Pazuru Alfabet is a learning tool that helps to recognize kanas.
http://homepage3.nifty.com/jgrammar/...s /tradkan0.htm - Converts between Chinese and Japanese kanjis, old and new varieties.
http://homepage3.nifty.com/jgrammar/...s /readkan0.htm - kaňon (漢音), goon (呉音), MSC and Hanja pronunciations output
http://homepage3.nifty.com/jgrammar/...s /zen2hanz.htm - Converts between zenkaku and hankaku scripts.
http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~grosenth/jw pce.html - Japanese word processor, with a built-in IME for kana input and kanji conversion. Also supports dictionaries.
http://ajaxime.chasen.org/ - Online Web-based Japanese Input Method
http://japan.adventuresoftim.com/flash.a sp - vocabulary flash cards
About Japanese:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_la nguage - Wikipedia's general account of the Japanese language.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_ve rb_conjugations - Comprehensive tables for Japanese verb conjugations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_ph onology - Basic topics of Japanese phonology.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_gr ammar - An account of Japanese grammar with emphasis on morphology.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_ho norifics - Japanese honorifics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanes...n tracted_words - Japanese abbreviated and contracted words
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_so und_symbolism - Japanese sound symbolism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanes...r aphic_symbols - typographic symbols
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_pu nctuation - punctuation marks
http://users.tmok.com/~tumble/qadgtj.htm l - Titled "A quick and dirty guide to Japanese".
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/kanaq adgtj.html - The quick and dirty guide to Japanese. (kana version)
http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blo g/ - Blog, lessons and method of learning Japanese
http://www-personal.umich.edu/%7Ewey...n ime/japanese/ - tips for common but difficult expressions
http://www.kanji.org/kanji/japanese/writ ing/outline.htm - Outline of the Japanese Writing System
http://kimallen.sheepdogdesign.net/Japan ese/index.html - fundamental differences of Japanese from European languages
http://www.classical-japanese.net/ - Translations and grammar for Classical Japanese
Links:
http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/m.rowley/r esources.html - Melita Rowley's Japanese learning resources.
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/japan ese.html - Once again Jim Breen's. This time his Japanese related web page. Ugly, but every link in that page is worth gold.
Preparing for the JLPT:
http://www.jlptstudy.com/ - The JLPT Study Page is a resource of study materials for JLPT Levels 2, 3 and 4.
http://www.soas.ac.uk/languagecentre/awards/jlpt/faq/ - JPLT FAQ from the University from London
(Photo under creative commons from nnnnic's photostream)
