Many of these websites require Japanese fonts, which should work fine on most modern computers. In case of problems, Fontboard has lots of useful information about using Japanese with English Windows. Alternatively, there are web services that render the kana and kanji on Japanese web pages: try Open Japan or ACCESS-J.
- Japan Information Network is run by the Japan Center for Intercultural Communications and carries information about the society, culture, education and other aspects of Japan.
- Japan National Tourist Organization
- Japan FAQ: Know Before You Go for gaijin (visitors), including lots of valuable (unofficial) hints about the JET programme from previous participants.
- And here's the official page about the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme (JET).
- Japanese Students at Sussex University Facebook group.
Learning resources
- Rikai allows you to view any Japanese website with popups that give the reading and English definition of each word; words can be added to your own word list alongside their definitions. Alternatively, you can enter your own text. The site also offers a Kanji map, flashcards and phrase/Kanji of the day. Impressive. POPjisyo.com does a similar job, but can also show romaji readings.
- Asahi Kanji offers an online Java flashcard program to help you review and drill the Japanese kanji. Also available in several language versions other than English, and for iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch.
- Nihongo Resources includes dictionaries, grammar, lessons, jouyou lists and more.
- JP NET - a clearinghouse for tools, services and information for Japanese Language and Culture teachers and students worldwide. Includes a set of online study materials.
- Joyo96 is mostly concerned with written Japanese lessons, including a full 144-page course on the Katakana phonetic script, as well as 150 Kanji etymologies with stroke order diagrams and example compounds. There are also primers on many topics, and "Paper Maker" which allows the student to print out authentic writing practice paper (squares for Kanji and Katakana and circles within squares for Hiragana).
- JiWORDS (Japanese info on words) provides an easy romaji (Latin alphabet) interface to three dictionaries published by Sanseido: Daijirin, a Japanese language dictionary, and the Daily Concise English-Japanese and Japanese-English dictionaries. No fonts required.
- WWWJDIC and Jeffrey Friedl's Japanese/English Dictionary Server provide online gateways to Jim Breen's edict, complete with graphical display of kana.
- goo provide another online Japanese<->English dictionary.
- Teach Yourself Japanese and Japanese Online both provide a range of online lessons from beginner level.
- Lesson/J - dictation quizzes using Java applets for listening training on spoken sentences, words, syllables, special moras and word accents.
- Japanese Writing Tutor is self-explanatory....
News and journals on-line
- The Asahi Shimbun - daily newspaper in Japanese. English version also available.
- The Yomiuri Shimbun - daily news in Japanese or English.
- Mainichi Daily News - another bilingual daily.
- Japan Echo - quarterly journal presenting translations of significant articles from the Japanese media about politics, business and the economy, society, culture, and other topics of current interest within Japan.
- Radio Japan - NHK Radio Japan World Service in 22 languages.
Sources for further research...
- Yahoo! Japan is a Japanese version of the famous web directory.
- About.com Guide to Japanese Language - original articles, stories, quizzes and lots of links, plus discussion forum and chat room.
- The WWW Virtual Library: Japan
- Jim Breen's Japanese Page
- @nifty:Global gate does a reasonable job of translating web pages and text to and from Japanese.