MangaGet - mang.jp

On mang.jp, browse several genres of Japanese comics online for free. Some genres include comedy/gag, fantasy, 4-panel shorts, horror/scary stories, romance, and MORE! Just click on a title that interests you to open it up in a reader. You can use the click of your mouse or the SPACE or ENTER key to turn to the next page. Great site if your looking for reading materials in Japanese.

E・bookJAPAN - Read books for FREE

On EbookJAPAN, you can enjoy reading comics online for free! Just scroll down and select a comic. Kanji without furigana is likely to appear so this site may be most suitable for intermediate and advance level learners of Japanese.

Nekopi - Fun Learning Content Site

Nekopi great place to study Japanese (and other subjects) in Japanese! While there's no English to guide you, you can start to put your Japanese language skills to the test.

This site is designed for schoolchildren in Japan, but a site like this can help to improve your skills as a learner of Japanese, too. Because there are lots of pictures and images, you can try to navigate the site on your own. Also, here is some help with navigating the site!

The content available for study and play include:　さんすう Arithmetic , こくごJapanese language,　りか Science,　えいご English,　しゃかい Social Studies,　ようちえん Kindergarten learning,　げーむほか Games,　うた Songs,　アニメ Anime, and　キャラ＆まんが Characters & Manga.

There is a wealth of learning materials and information here! You can learn about the history of Japan, learn songs in Japanese, pick up new vocabulary such as foods which exists in Japan, and so much more.

*Some games and activities might take a bit of time because of the flash player.

Kanji-Link

With Kanji-Link, have fun learning Japanese language online with free video lessons on Japanese grammar and Kanji to prepare for levels N3, N4, and N5 of the JLPT!

Videos of Japan on photojpn's YouTube Channel

Are you interested in Japanese culture? The photojpn video channel has over 250+ cultural videos about Japan. If you enjoy Japan festivals, dancing, drumming, and other arts, you will find lots of enjoyable videos here!

Pict-Box ・ Online Story Books

Pict-Box has FREE online storybooks geared towards small children. But these are great if you're learning Japanese and looking for reading practice material! Genres of storybooks here include laughter, cry, surprise, calming, scary, and more! Click on an image of a story that interests you. On the page which loads, you should click the grey button which reads この絵本をよむ to open your selection. Then, with easy navigational buttons you can enjoy the story!

E-Douwa ・ FREE Online Fairytales

On E-Douwa you can find a variety of fairy tales include Greek mythology, Grimm fairy tales, Japanese folklore, Origami art stories, and more! Just click on a genre to get started. A page of available stories loads. Make a selection and your story will load with an easy navigation bar at the bottom of the virtual book! This is a really great site for kids, and beginner and intermediate learners of Japanese.

NariKiri eHon ・ Read Traditional FairyTales

NariKiri eHon has a collection of traditional Japanese stories available for free. Enjoy tales such as Momotaro, Urashimatarou, and even other fairy tales like Little Red Riding Hood and Hanzel and Gretel. Just click the yellow button below the story of your choice to open the eBook.Your story will appear in a very easy-to-use reading window. There is no sound or audio accompanied with these stories, so you can take your time and enjoy these great stories. Even for adults learning Japanese language a great benefit of using children's books for reading practice is that you can get a great sense of Japanese traditional culture and folklore.

Bauddha.net ・ Bi-Lingual Book List

Bauddha.net is a great source for dual readers (English and Japanese literature)! Genres for your bilingual reading pleasure include famous novels, children's stories, philosophy, and government. Click on a title and then click on the 閲覧する button to open it. The English version will be on the left side and the Japanese version will be on the right side.

If you have the Rikaichan dictionary tool, looking up words that you don't know becomes as easy as hovering your mouse or cursor over that text! How much can of the text can you understand without the English version?

BB Super Sound ・ JAPANESE Karaoke

BB Super Sound brings Japanese-style karaoke right to your home with FREE online access! With more than 3,000 tunes, there is a wide song selection available here. The most popular tunes include artists such as AKB48, Kyari PamuPamu, Utada Hikaru, Arashi, Morning Musume, and GReeeeN.

Click the orange カラオケ button to begin. You can search by artist via the アーティスト名 field and you can enter the song title in the field marked 曲名. You should note: If you are searching for Arashi, for example, you can only find this artist if you type 嵐. Typing あらし or "Arashi" wont produce any results. Once results are produced, a red Play symbol, when clicked, will work on your computer. You can enjoy a karaoke screen with lyrics and background movie as if you were in an actual karaoke room in Japan. As for the blue Play buttons, those are MIDI files which require an ".mlr" player that seems to be available only in Asian countries. In other words, unless you have a MIDI file player on your computer these songs most likely won't be accessible.

The Mixxer - FREE Language Exchange

The Mixxer is 100% FREE and a great place for language exchange! This is a great resource for conversation partners, reading practice, or even just to make new friends. You can also keep a blog here! Try to write something in Japanese. Do you know about Rikaichan? If you come across some Japanese words you can't understand, it's a great tool to assist you with reading posts written by Japanese users.

SimulRadio -Live Japan Radio

SimulRadio is a website which broadcasts LIVE radio stations in Japan. While some stations only broadcast at certain times in Japan, many stations stream live 24/7! Click on any station and it will open and play in your computer's audio player. Genres include talk radio, music, kids, comedy, and more! This is a great site to get exposure to native Japanese speaking and improve your listening skills, all while enjoying great radio stations from all around Japan --for FREE!

Azumino FM Radio Broadcasting Stream

Even just 10 minutes of FM AZUMINO Broadcasting can improve your Japanese listening skills, while expanding your knowledge of the culture of a city like Azimuno. Actually, Azumino is not well-known by foreigners, but very well-known by Japanese. Azumino is in Nagano prefecture and is known for its wasabi, beautiful scenery, and cycling environment. Azumino city is home to several art houses and crafters of all kinds including glass, leather, wood, and more! Azumino is a very relaxing environment and a day spent with Azumino FM is close to taking a trip to the city itself!

All of the stations available are shown on a map. Just click あずみ野エフエムの放送を聴く 音声（６４Ｋ） to start streaming via your computer's media player!　

Nissan N-Link ・ WEB Picture Book

Japan's Nissan corporation includes a special WEB Picture Book section on its website. Personally, this is one my favorite websites for reading practice! First of all there are 3 FREE interactive stories to choose from on this Japanese website: Issunboushi (The Inch-High Samurai), アラジンとまほうのランプ (Aladdin & the Magic Lamp), and ももたろう (The Peach Boy).
This is a very well designed interactive storybook site! The stories are also well-narrated and illustrated with accompanying music and sound FX!

The stories include special interactive features like short activity breaks from the story, such as creating a dance and performing it for friends in Isshun boushi. And of course Nissan finds a cute way to include their *product*

These stories are lengthy written with furigana-attached Kanji characters. With the narrator's voice included, these stories are great for reading practice, listening comprehension, or for entertaining small children.

Kawasaki International Culture Exchange ・ Weekly PENPAL Newsletter

The Weekly PenPal Newsletter is perfect for you if you would like to make friends from Japan. The weekly pen pal news letter is FREE! A penpal list is sent out to your email 4 times per month. This lists includes penpals of all ages from around the world. Many of them are from Japan!

Interested in Japan culture? Traveling to Japan? Want to receive snail mail letters written in Japanese? Create long-lasting friendships with someone through this culture exchange site.

Some people prefer snail mail to Email. Some are eager to send you something like a photo, letter, and maybe even a small souvenir!

Sign up is completely FREE. Start a new friendship today!

Kansai-ben - Learn Kansai Dialect

Kansai-ben is a study tool for Japanese learners who want to study Kansai dialect Kansai-ben, a dialect of Japanese spoken by residents of the Kansai (Western) area of Japan. See and hear how greetings and other expressions in standard Japanese differ from Kansai dialect. You can also see natural conversations which take place in the towns and at markets, etc. There are short quiz questions throughout the site. Challenge your Kansai-ben knowledge!

Japanese Castle Explorer

Japanese Castle Explorer is an interactive map with pictures and information about the castle of Japan. Zoom in or out to explore the castles. The red castles on the map symbolize Japan's historic castles, or in other words: the castle which still stand unrenovated.

When you click on a castle, a small info screen pops up on the right which includes the name of the castle, a 3D virtual tour, option for photos, and more information. Learn the timeline of the castles, about the clans, and about the history as well.

The interactive map also has a Japanese version.

宇宙教育テレビ ・ Space Education TV

On this Space Education TV website, you can access over 100 recorded live stream of science news! This site is geared toward young kids but is a perfect study tool for Japanese language learners, too. The hosts don't speak too fast and often pause. Also the terminology used, even though its science-related, isn't too complicated because it is for kids understanding. If you enjoy science, want to see the culture of Japan's education and classrooms, or you want to work on your listening comprehension, this site has hours and hours of educational information for your ears.

Just scroll down and click on one of the 100+ video stream links!

夢があるなら・Moving Picture Book

This Moving Picture Book site has a variety of FREE moving pictures books! You can access some of them on the main page and even more when you click on the red 動く絵本 button from the menu bar. You will see after clicking that the categories of the available picture books have been divided by age range. Actually, these store are for infant, small, children, and younger school kids(actually there is an 'Adult' category). However, this site is great for learners of Japanese!

Once you click a story you like, it will usually begin automatically but might require you to click 'Start" or the 'Play' button. Some stories have text and sound but no narration, some have words and sound but no narration, and in some case, there is sound, text, AND a narrator!　The categories designed for younger ages might include all 3 components, if that's what you prefer, because babies, for example, can't read :P

There may be a green フールスクリーンで見る button which allows you to view a full screen version.
There may also blue ＹｏｕＴｕｂｅで見る button which allows you to view the moving picture story via YouTube.

SONET's Story Gate - FREE Picture Book Sample

SONET's Story Gate offers a new FREE sample story everyday! Click on the red button which reads お話を見る（無料）　These stories are beautifully crafted and are accompanied by music and recited by a native speaker. While there is no text in these samples, these stories make for great listening comprehension practice as they are about 15 minutes long!

Stories of Hara Peko Monster - Yahoo! Kids eBooks

Stories of Hara Peko Monster are available here for free and in three forms! Click on the links to access each of the five stories. Clicking each link takes you to a page where you can read the story right online, download it to your computer このお話をまとめてダウンロードする, or print it このページを印刷する. There are just a few Kanji characters in these stories so its an easy read.

Also, there are a few more free stories available if you scroll down a little on the main page. Enjoy!

Gakken Kids Net - eBooks for Kids

Gakken Kids Net has free previews for eBooks. Click the image of the eBook of your choice. You can watch the preview via the YouTube video there!Although they are just previews, these make great reading practice for learners of Japanese and kids can enjoy them, too. Another wonderful thing about this is the audio of native speakers reading aloud. The video quality is so clear. You can read along, too!

School House Comics

School House Comics is an extension from the same site as School House Family Net Game Plaza. All of the comics here are absolutely FREE. Any comic with a 無理で読む button can be read for free.Kanji may appear in the comics.

GanGan Online - Free Manga & WEB Magazines

GanGan Online offers manga and web magazines 100% FREE! Click a manga or magazine of your choice and then click the red 最新作 button to open it up in a special viewer. Kanji may appear in the comic.

Jコミ - Japanese Comics

J-Comi offers wide selection of manga with free previews! To access the FREE previews select any option listed on the left side of the screen. If you can't read the Japanese on this site, Rikaichan would be a great tool for you! Once your results load, click on a comic that appeals to you. If you scroll down just a little, you'll see a green この本を読む button. Click it to open up your selection. Kanji may appear in the comic.

Use the blue and white keys to turn the pages. You can learn the functions of the other keys after just a minute of playing around with them.

Moai Comics

Visit moae.jp for access to free comics! You can access the WEBコミック　and 試し読み sections. Once you click a title of your interest you find that the comic is scrollable, so just scroll down to continue reading. When you reach the bottom, you will see 前へ戻る when means you have reached the end of the comic strip. Click there to go back. Kanji may appear in the comics. Rikaichan is a good tool to have here if you don't already have it. Get your reading practice on here!

MixPaper - Free Publications

MixPaper offers well over 150+ FREE publications for children, teens, and adults! This link takes you straight to that page. Click on any image that looks appealing to you! Click on the re 読む button. Your book will open up in a special viewer which allows you to flip through pages just like a real magazine! To make the print bigger click on the red + 拡大 button at the top of the screen. You can quickly learn the functions after a minute of playing around with it.

Though you might find some reading materials to fit your level, I recommend this site for learning more about Japanese culture. There are magazines on stylish Japanese homes and floor plans, sports, and kid's comics.

Kurumi no Mori - Online Picture Books

Kurumi no Mori has 4 picture books in Hiragana. Click one of the four stories. Then click OPEN to load and begin your story. Music accompanies the stories as you read along.These stories are great for beginners and children.

Tomodachi Picture Book Hall

Tomodachi Picture Book Hall is grear reading practice! This site is in Japanese but that's OK! Click on any title and the story opens up in a new window. Initially the loading is a little slow and there is no audio, however, the pictures move and the stories have accompanying music background which is very lovely. Most stories are in Hiragana. You might see basic level Kanji.

Cooking with Dog - YouTube Channel

Cooking with Dog is a wonderful Japanese recipe and cooking channel on YouTube. There are 175+ short instructional videos on how to cook authetic Japanese foods including sukiyaki, Shu cream puffs, curry rice, sushi, and more! The vidoes are in English and a detailed list of ingredients are included in the video. Most videos are only 3-4 minutes long! There are also subtitles included.

FujiPan - Famous Folktales

While this Japanese bread site offers products, recipes, and more, this post highlights the section called FujiPan to wa Hagukumu which has famous folktales for kids that are also great for learners of Japanese. There are tons of stories which you can select by genre. There is also a section which has the stories categories by each prefecture of Japan where the story is popular. You don't need perfect Japanese to navigate to the stories. Just scroll down and click on the picture or its title!

When you do click, a separate window opens up the story which are all accompanied by audio file so you can follow or read along! These stories include Kanji characters, but there are Hiragana readings in parenthesis which are also included.

Japanese Nihongo - Conversation

This is a page directed from Japanese-nihongo.com which lists a variety of different conversation topics for beginners including but not limited to introductions, first visit to Japan, taking the train, and getting lost. These conversation lessons are geared towards beginner and intermediate students of Japanese. Options for viewing the lessons may be in HTML webpage form, or PDF or DOC which you can download and save to your computer. In many cases, there are audio files included which play in your web browser.

If you click the Home link at the top of the page, you can find a link which directs you to entries--including some written in Japanese that you can study. There is also links for more conversation dialogues, JLPT, and essays. If you are ready for advance level, I think you will also like reading these.

生活日本語会話 - Japanese Life Conversation

Sekatsu Nihongo Kaiwa is a site of collected example conversations offered by a Taiwanese university. While the accompanied sound files seem to broken, intermediate and advanced speakers can find a wide variety of example conversations here for speaking practice with topics ranging from self-introduction to shopping expressions to apologizing for something.  The readings for each Kanji character is also provided here. If you're using Rikaichan, words can be interpreted despite the use of parentheses.

As for beginners, if you don't mind the absence of English on this site you might also find this site useful to you. The pronunciation practice located at the bottom of the page could be most helpful to you.

Kids @ Nifty - Practice Worksheets

This Kids@Nifty doesn't seem to be so difficult to navigate since there are so many images to help you! This website offers a collection of PDF worksheets perfect for kids and beginners! There are Hiragana worksheets and writing practice worksheets. You can also find other materials such as daily chore sheets/timetable, multiplication table, and typing games. There's so much more available by accessing the main site here. Give it a try!　

School House Family Net - Game Plaza

School House Family Net is in Japanese and geared towards Japanese children but it's a great resource and entertainment venue for learners of Japanese, especially if you love games!

If you have the Rikaichan tool which allows you to scroll your mouse over Japanese text for translations, this site works well with it. If not, you can learn more about it here. Use Rikaichan by hovering your mouse over text to better navigate this site.

Explore the site! You can find some games and activities that will give you good practice!

...Like these:

• Scroll down and click 頭脳系 and click はっぴーヘアメイク
  In this game, commands are given in Hiragana. Following these commands you have to style the clients hair appropriately!
• Scroll down and click アクション・シューティング系 and click  ウサコ・うさおの雪合戦
  Press the yellow Start button. Choose your character. Collect and throw snowballs. You can get some reading practice while enjoying a good snowball fight!
• Scroll down and click 入学準備 学習幼稚園 on the left hand side. Click on the first option: ゲームコーナー , scroll down again and click on プレー！　to play なぞポンの　なぞなぞゲーム２. Practice your reading skills and identifying matching vocabulary to such questions such as:
  まるくて　あまくて　おいしい　けど、　まなかが　たべられない　おかし　なんだ？
  What do you call the snack which is round and sweet but the middle can't be eaten?
  
  It's not hard to be directed to sites for purchasing items, but I hope you can find this site helpful.
  

JapaneseEmoticons - Kaomoji & Emoji

JapaneseEmoticons - This site overs has 2,500 emoticons for your copy-and-paste use! Find the perfect icons for emotions, animals, actions, and more! ☆*･゜ﾟ･*\(^O^)/*･゜ﾟ･*☆

Kenchako Daibouken - Kenchako's Great Adventure

Kenchako is a website for kids and Japanese to practice Japanese but it can be just as helpful to you! This link will take you to some PDF files of Kanji worksheets with answer keys included! These are also great for reading practice. If you're not familiar with written Japanese, it's OKAY! You should still be able to navigate the site fairly well by following this key:
小学 means elementary school
１生 (lowest level in Japan elementary school) means 1st year (student)
２年　means 2nd year (student)....
６年 (highester level in Japan elementary school) means 6th year (student)

Each colored box represents a different level.

NHK for School

NHK for School Don't let this site scare you off because it it completely in Japanese. It might be kind of confusing if you dont know how to read much Kanji...but...You can access so many different types of content on this site! Though the site is designed for young children and students in Japan, it's a great resource for any person studying Japanese! It can get downright confusing, but just click around and visit this site from time to time and bookmark what's suitable for your level! There are a lot of videos, games, etc. to boost and improve your Japanese language and cultural understanding!

Here is a key and some links to get you started:
番組 -  TV Programs (Bangumi)
クリップ - Clips - Broadcast programs and short educational footage clipsWatch educational programs any time! Study what you are interested in and use for studying the information you are not completely comfortable with.Many of the videos here are 1-3 minute movies. There are supposedly over 3,000 clips.
ゲーム - Games - Educational pages with quizzes and games
There are tons of quizzes and games for fun and language learning including Recycling Trash, 

電子黒板 - (Electronic Blackboard (Denshi Kokuban)

－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－　

国語　こくご　　  Japanese language/national laguage (also as a subject in Japanese schools)
算数　さんすう　Arithmetic
理科　りか　　　 science
社会　しゃかい  society
総合　そうごう　coordination/comprehension

Yurudara SeeSaa - Flash Games for Infants & Children

Yurudara SeeSaa has several flash games. Most of these games are suitable for infants. But there is a game here where you can practice Hiragana character writing and another game where you serve as a chef in a restaurant. You may enjoy these!

Japan Centre - Buy Japanese Food

Japan Centre offers a range of authentic Japanese food from sauces and spices to confectionery and drinks. Enjoy the convenience of shopping online for Japanese food, books and magazines, and more. Global delivery is available! All major credit cards are accepted.

Just One Cookbook - Easy Japanese Recipes and Food Blog

Just One Cookbook is a great website for Japanese recipes! This blog offers tons of authentic recipes for appetizers, entrees, and desserts! Complete recipes are accompanied with both instructional videos AND step-by-step pictures!

Rikaichan - Dictionary Tool

Rikaichan is a popup dictionary tool which allows you to read Japanese written on any webpage. Currently Rikaichan works with Firefox, Thunderbird and Seamonkey web browsers. See the blue box in the image above? Rikaichan s a web-based tool which allows you to understand Japanese texts on webpages. If you don't already have it, you can access it for Firefox here. It is simple to use! Just hover the mouse on top of a Japanese word. Rikaichan automatically de-inflects verbs and adjectives. There is an optional toolbar that allows you to manually type the word to lookup. Detailed kanji view shows meaning/keyword in English, on/kun readings, and other information. Hiragana, katakana and half-width katakana are treated the same making it possible to lookup stylized/emphasized words.

After downloading Rikaichan, you need to also download the proper dictionary file. For most, it will be Japanese - English and Japanese Names.

Usually to turn Rikaichan ON/OFF, you can click on the small red smiling face usually located at the very top right or lower right part of your browser window.

CookPad - The Best Japanese Recipes to Make your Cooking Fun!

CookPad has a wide selection of easy, delicious Japanese recipes complete with ingredients list and measurements, directions for preparation, and pictures. What I enjoy most about the recipes are the "Stores Behind the Recipe" and "Helpful Hints" sections that are posted with the recipes! The links above are for the English version of the site. You can access the Japanese version here. Using the Japanese version is a great way to practice reading in Japanese (especially if you have the Rikai-chan tool!) and learn new Japanese cooking terminology.

No Laughing in Yugawara Batsu Game

No Laughing in Yugawara Batsu Game is a Japanese gameshow. It is said that this is very popular in Japan. Currently it is available as a full-length movie on YouTube. As of today it has been available for about 2 months. Hopefully it is still available for you to enjoy!

The rules of the Batsu Game:
#1: You will stay overnight at a spring inn.

#2:  No matter what, do not laugh during this trip.

#3: If you do laugh, you will be punished immediately

Econtrader - Interactive Japanese

Econtrader - This website helps you learn Japanese through an interactive map style. Learn Japanese for the home, school, hotel, market, and more! Hear words and phrases in native Japanese!

Ba Ba Dum - Play and Learn

Ba Ba Dum is an online collection of games that lets you learn words in different languages by selecting the correct illustration of the example word. One of the languages offered is Japanese! You can pratice spelling words in Japanese, matching the word you see and hear to the correct picture among four pictures shown. 1500 words including nouns, adjectives, and verbs! Very great site for kids and beginner learner but also great site for reviewing learned material for upper levels. Create a free account to save your progress!

WebJapanese

WebJapanese might simple like a bland simple sight upon first sight of the homepage, but there is so much information available to anyone wanting to learn Japanese language, culture, history, and more! While there is different links available, maybe the ones you might find most interesting and helpful to learning about Japan and life there are:





Fun reading:There are readings in English and Japanese written by native Japanese, foreigners living in Japan, people married to Japanese, etc. Topics include marriage, language, life in Japan, recipes, and entertainment.


Archive - Free Japanese Learning Materials:
Via easy photo presentation, you can learn Japanese words and English translations of everyday life, food, nature, fashion, restaurants, history, and more.
 

Learn Japanese with "Pinterest":Although not as extensive, similar to the description of above, WebJapanese has a Pinterest page and you can see some photos mostly about language, history, and food.

Daily Yomiuri News Site

Pera Pera Penguin was a great place for access to grammar lessons! It seems yomiuri.co.jp changed their English website and along with it disappeared all of the Pera Pera Penguin Japanese lessons. Luckily, this Polish website has 88 of the 100 available for download. For those that haven't read these, they are 1 page quick lessons on various topics in Japanese. For example #50 deals with onomatopoeia like どきどき (feeling nervous) and ごろごろ (lie around). Despite being one page, they are surprisingly complete with examples, English explanations, and even a few exercises with answers provided. I recommend downloading all of them since it is uncertain whether or not yomiuri.co.jp will republish them.

You could also access those 88 PDFs here! ^_^

NHK Radio News

No matter what level you are you can still benefit from listening to the daily news on NHK Radio News. Up your vocabulary and learn about current news and events in Japan. You really don't need to be able to read Japanese to get your listening practice here. Just click on the speaker symbol on the left to start up a station. Of course you can recognize the Flash Player and Windows Media player symbol. Even 10 minutes each day while you eat your breakfast will surely help to UP your listening ability! 　Click on ふつう at the top to hear nws at normal speed. ゆっくり slows down the track to a slower speed. はやい speeds up the track so that it is faster than normal speed.

AJALT - Survival Japanese

AJALT Survival Japanese is for people who are interested in communicating in Japanese but have no knowledge of the language. If you plan to visit Japan, this site make your stay much more interesting and enjoyable. Survival Japanese is an on-line textbook. It has four categories: Communication Tools, Situational Conversations, Grammar and Vocabulary. Some topics include: sightseeing, asking for directions, asking for help, and home-stay.