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.

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!

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.

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!

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! ^_^

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.

Prefectures of Japan - Purpose Games

Can you recognize the 47 different Prefectures of Japan? Test your knowledge with the timer-based online game! A fun way to learn Japan's geography!

Tsunagu Japan - All About Japan

Tsunagu Japan - All About Japan
Learn the culture of Japan and all about its foods, seasons, entertainment, and more! These articles are short yet informative and written by Japanese as well people with experience living in Japan.  The articles are plentiful and include a wide variety of topics such as anime, weddings, obento, fashion, and so much more. The articles are organized into 9 popular categories: Kawaii, Otaku, Entertainment, Beauty/Fashion, Travel, Traditional, Food, Art/Literature, and Living/Study.