Mysterious Thief Nekopi ・ 怪盗ねこぴ

The Nekopi website is designed for Japanese elemetary school children and so the site is all in Japanese, but the language used is simple and there are furigana over the Kanji. 

You can learn about Japan (and the rest of the world) in Japanese and through various quizzes and games. To start you off here are some links to various pages...

108 Proverbs　for example -

石の上にも三年　(for when you are doing something very difficult and want to give up trying - keep trying for just a little bit longer もう少しがんばってみてください！)

Kanji writing practice - these can be printed out 

(look for きのうのこたえ and then )

Japanese History

Games

Visualizing Japanese Grammar

The Visualizing Japanese Grammar website looks very simple, but the information is extremely detailed.

There are 66 flash animations, each of which deals with a grammatical point of the Japanese language.



The explanations are very full and detailed and a quiz accompanies each section.

[Note for teachers of Japanese]
At the bottom of the web-page there are PowerPoint presentations which can be downloaded.

The index of specific Japanese grammar patterns is very good, but because it is in an excel spreadsheet some people may not be able to use it and so I am going to reproduce it here -

文法項目 grammatical items	意味 meaning	first VJG unit
sentence types		1
word order		2
noun phrase + の (particle)		3
まえ、うしろ、みぎ、ひだり、うえ、した、むこう、てまえ、さき (spatial expressions)		4
いadjectives、なadjectives		5
noun phrase + へ、に、で、から、まで、を (particles)		6
noun phrase + が、を(particles)		7
noun phrase + は (particle)		8
noun phrase + も (particle)		9
noun phrase + へ、から、まで、に、までに、で、と、を (particles)		10
こ…、そ…、あ…、ど… (demonstrative pronouns)		11
つ、にん、まい、ほん、さつ、はい、ひき、だい (counters)		12
だれ、なに、どれ、どちら、どっち、どこ、いつ、どの、どうして、いくら、etc. (wh expressions)		13
adjective stem + く (adverb)		14
adjective stem + くなる (expression of change)		14
direct-style sentence + ようになる	reach a point where X does ~	14
noun phrase + になる (expression of change)		14
stem + にくい	hard to do	14
stem + やすい	easy to do	14
なadjective/noun + に (adverb)		14
ねん、がつ、にち、じ、ふん、etc. (temporal expressions)		15
particles and verbs		16
adverbs and modifiers of nouns		18
です・ます vs. だ・る (speech styles)		19
direct-style conjugations of verbs		20
sentence + から (subordinator)	reason	21
sentence + が (subordinator)	but/background information	22
sentence + け(れ)ど (subordinator)	although	22
てform		22
てform + いる (progressive)	be doing	23
てform + 来る	come having done; event comes into view; have been doing for a long time	24
てform + 行く	go having done: event is receding from view; go on doing	24
てform + いる (resultant continuative)		25
verbs for clothing		26
noun phrase/direct-sytle sentence + より		27
particle combinations にも、へも、でも、からも、までも		28
stem + 方(かた)	how to do	28
stem +  たい(desiderative)	desire: want to	29
てform + ほしい	want X to do	29
direct-style sentence + かもしれない/かもしれません	maybe; there is the possibility	30
direct-style sentence + だろう/でしょう	high probability	30
stem + ながら	while doing	31
stem + に行く	go to do	32
~たり~たりする	sample activities: do such things as ~ and ~	33
しか~ない	no morer than	34
だれも、なにも、どこも、etc.		34
だれか、なにか、どこか、etc.		35
~よう (tentative form)	let's do	36
stem + ましょう (polite tentative form)	let's	36
tentative form + とする	attempt to do	36
tentative form + と思う	consider doing	36
tentative form + と思っている	be considering doing	36
complex noun phrases		37
direct-style sentence + の (nominalizer)	nominalizer: that ~; ~ing; ~to	38
direct-style sentence のだ/んだ	circumstance: I'd like you to understand that ~	39
direct-style sentence + と思う	think that	40
direct-style sentence + と言う	say that	40
direct-style sentence + ようだ	appearance: it looks like ~	41
direct-style sentence + そうだ	hearsay: I hear that ~	42
direct-style sentence + つもりだ	intention: I intend to ~; I plan to ~	42
direct-style sentence + はずだ	expectation: my understanding is that ~	42
direct-style sentence + ために purpose	in order to ~	43
direct-style sentence + のに	in doing; in order to ~	43
stem + そうだ (intuitive judgement)	it looks like that ~	44
direct-style sentence +ように (quoting requests)		45
direct-style sentence (past) + 方(ほう)がいい	strong advice for an action: had better do	46
direct-style sentence + 方(ほう)がいい	judgement: it is better to do	46
particle より		46
~ら、	if/when	47
~ら、どうですか	suggestion; how about doing	47
direct-style sentence + か(どうか) (embedded question)	whether (or not)	47
direct-style sentence + と (subordinator)	whenever ~; if ~	48
てform + あげる	do others a favor	49
てform + くれる	do me a favor of doing	49
direct-style sentence + こと (nominalizer)	that ~; ~ing; ~to	50
direct-style sentence + ことがある	significant experience	50
direct-style sentence + ことにする	decide to do	50
direct-style sentence + ことになっている	be supposed to ~; regulation is ~	50
direct-style sentence + ことになる	be decided for X to do; be decided for X to have done	50
direct-style sentence + まで	until	51
direct-style sentence + 前に	before doing	51
tense marking		51
の and こと (pronominal)		52
てform + ある	have done	53
てform + おく	preparation: do in advance	53
てform + しまう	do against expectation; do prematurely	53
てform + みる	adventurous first try: do and see	53
wh expression + てform + も	no matter wh~	54
てform + も	multiple options, same consequence	54
てform + も + てform + も	multiple options, same consequence	54
てform + もいい	permission	54
~なくては｛いけない/ならない｝／   なくちゃ	obligation: must	55
~なくてもいい	exemption	55
てform + はいけない/ならない	prohibition: must not	55
honorifics いらっしゃる、おかえりになる、etc.		56
てform + くれてありがとう	thank you for doing	57
てform + すみません	apology: sorry for doing	57
imperative たべろ、のめ、etc.		58
stem + なさい	imperative: do!	58
てform + ください	please do	58
させられる (causative passive)	be made to do	59
られる (passive)	be done	59
adversity passive		60
させる (causative)	make X to do	61
てform + もらう	have X do as a favor	62
gender differences in speech		65
られる (potential)	be able to do	potential forms

Genki Practice Exercises ・ げんき（練習）

Genki Exercises are free on-line quizzes produced by Lyon College in Arkansas, USA. They are designed to be used with the Genki Textbook and cover lessons 1 through 23 and although there are no instructions on the website it is fairly easy to understand how the quizzes work. (Some are click and drag and some are multiple choice). The Japan Times, who publish the Genki Textbook have page samples and audio samples on their dedicated Genki website. Their page of free Self Study Resources is impressive and I particularly like My Kikitori. [Note for teachers of Japanese ]  The Japan Times Publications Department will send free examination copies of Japanese language textbooks and workbooks to teachers who wish to consider adopting them for their classes. (Delivery is through overseas distributors so every country in the world is not eligible for this offer). What is the Genki textbook? Here is the official description - "GENKI is a highly acclaimed series of integrated resources for learning elementary Japanese through a well-balanced approach to all four language skill areas—speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Divided into two volumes, the 23 lessons of GENKI introduce students to a wide range of elementary grammar points, nearly 300 kanji, and approximately 1,100 vocabulary terms. GENKI also incorporates many words and expressions that are closely tied to students’ everyday lives, and provides a full lineup communicative practice. GENKI is designed to make it easier for instructors to prepare student-centered lessons that are as fun as they are effective—another reason why GENKI is used in many Japanese language courses around the world."

Japanese Reading Tutor ・ リーディング チュウ太

Japanese Language Reading Tutorial System was developed to help native Japanese speakers as well as non-native Japanese speakers to learn to read Japanese at their own pace.

As well as an on-line dictionary in Japanese, English, Slovenian, Spanish, Dutch and German, there is a reading resource bank with explanations in Japanese, English and German.

The reading materials are graded by star -
1 star = easy 
2 stars = more difficult than 1 star
3 stars = more difficult than 2 stars

and they are mostly related to "all things Japanese" and so are very helpful for the comprehension part of the JLPT exam.

There are also some multiple choice quizzes in Japanese - I think that these are quite difficult!

SAT Test in Japanese

The SAT is a standardized test for most college admissions in the United States.

On the SAT website you can practice for the SAT exam in Japanese.

I think that the short listening comprehension is very useful as you can click a button and see the (Japanese) script for the dialogues as well.

There is English (romaji) for most of the reading questions which I think is odd because it is recommended that you have 2–4 years of Japanese language study in high school, or the equivalent, before taking the test and I assumed that learning Japanese scripts was absolutely essential from the start.

You don't have to be a member of the website to use the practice tests and the there are many subjects to choose from apart from Japanese.

As far as Japanese is concerned I think that, even at beginner level 5, the JLTP is definitely more challenging!

Japanese in Anime and Manga

On Anime-Manga site you can play games that will teach you the sort of Japanese that is used in anime and manga.

This is a good way to learn different levels of politeness.

There are also interactive word quizzes (with audio in Japanese) and Kanji word games.

The main categories are Samurai, Love, School and Ninja and, in the manga scenes section, there are cultural notes to do with the various types of characters and the situations in which they find themselves.

This site is managed by The Japan Foundation which has many websites in various languages around the world.

JLPT ・日本語の力の試験

The Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) has been offered by the Japan Foundation and Japan Educational Exchanges and Services since 1984. The exams are held twice a year in July and December and at the beginning, there were approximately 7,000 examine-es worldwide. In 2011, however, around 610,000 people worldwide sat the exams, making JLPT the largest-scale Japanese-language test in the world. 

The English language version of the JLPT exam site is here

Official text books can be bought here 

On-line sample questions for all levels are here

Sample questions to download are here