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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.
  

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

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.

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!