Desktop is the recommended experience for deep study: you can keep the navigation visible, compare reading panes side-by-side, resize workbenches, and give the Language IDE room to breathe.
01 · NAVIGATION & LAYOUT
Know where everything lives
Sidebar
The left sidebar groups tools into Learn, Practice & Tools, and Professional Resources. Use the header menu button to collapse it when you want more workspace, then expand it again without leaving the page. Your choice is remembered in this browser.
Top navigation
Frequently used destinations stay available across the top so you can move between study modes without returning home.
Day / Night mode
Use the sun/moon button in the header to switch the entire site between the standard light workspace and a lower-glare night workspace. Your choice follows you across pages in this browser.
Movable workbenches
Where supported, drag, resize, or minimize tiles. On the home page use Save to preserve the arrangement and Reset to return to the default layout.
Recommended browser width
A laptop or desktop window gives side-by-side tools enough space. This matters most in Tsundoku, Side by Side Reader, and Language IDE.
02 · GUIDED COURSE & CORE TOOLS
Follow the course, then reinforce each skill with the right tool
道
Guided Japanese Course
Use it for: Your main structured path from beginner foundations through practical professional Japanese. Work through the tracks in order, complete each lesson step, and use the linked Manabi tools when a lesson calls for extra recall, reading, kana, kanji, handwriting, or sentence-building practice.
Your lesson and workbook progress is kept in this browser. The cumulative workbook gives you a paper-friendly and on-screen place to produce Japanese instead of only recognizing it.
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How to Use the Site
Use these guides as the map. They explain the four pillars, supporting practice tools, professional resources, and device-specific behavior.
憶
Japanese Adaptive Recall
Use it for: Turning useful everyday, internal-monologue, and professional phrases into durable recall with adaptive timing.
Try to produce the Japanese before revealing it, use hints only when needed, and rate the attempt honestly.
⇩
Importing Anki and phrase banks
Kotoba Fishing and Adaptive Recall share one browser-local imported phrase bank. Choose Import Anki / phrase file, review Manabi’s field suggestions, map the Japanese field and any optional reading, rōmaji, meaning, or category fields, preview the notes, then import.
Rollback: Open Manage imported decks to remove one source or all imported content. The built-in Manabi phrases are never removed. Adaptive Recall history for deleted imported phrases is preserved unless you explicitly select the option to delete that history too.
積
Tsundoku Reading Nook
Use it for: Curated bilingual reading with controlled chunks, furigana, translation modes, grammar relationships, or an imported Anki deck shown as synchronized front/back cards.
Start sentence-by-sentence, then increase the reading size as your confidence grows. Use Import Anki deck as book to turn each deck into one bookshelf entry, and Delete selected Anki book when you no longer want it on this device.
⇄
Side by Side Reader
Use it for: Moving beyond curated readings: provide a supported public HTTPS page in English or Spanish and compare its safe reader view with Japanese in Kanji, Furigana, Kana, or Rōmaji.
Desktop and unfolded foldables are the recommended experience. On narrow 19.5:9 or 20:9-style phone layouts, the Japanese pane stacks below the source. Sync scrolling is optional; cached pages may load much faster after the first translation.
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Language IDE
Use it for: Building, compiling, and debugging Japanese with typed grammar blocks and software-engineering-style diagnostics.
Reconstruct sentences from your lessons, compile them, inspect structural diagnostics, and iterate.
03 · PRACTICE & TOOLS
Strengthen the foundations behind your Guided Course lessons
あ
Kana Dojo
Build fast hiragana and katakana recognition through focused drills. A good warm-up before recall or reading.
字
Jōyō Kanji Hub
Explore the 2,136 daily-use kanji through meaning, readings, components, pronunciation, and stroke order.
釣
Kotoba Fishing · ことば釣り
Use it for: Fast recognition of words inside complete internal-monologue phrases. Read the phrase, follow the highlighted target, then catch the matching answer with the arrow keys or touch controls.
Switch Japanese ↔ rōmaji modes at any time. A miss sends that phrase to the end of the queue for another attempt; View Report summarizes practiced phrases, misses, repeated failures, timing, and difficult items. When installation is offered from the Fishing page, it installs as an independent Kotoba Fishing PWA.
読
Furigana Lens
Use a photo or camera capture of Japanese text to place kana readings directly above detected kanji. The tool is intentionally focused on reading support: it does not translate, rewrite, or summarize the page.
How to use it: Choose Upload image or Camera, scan the page, then use the controls above the image to zoom, resize the furigana, change its text color, or add an optional background behind the readings. Show furigana can hide the overlay at any time.
Privacy: The selected image remains in the browser for display. The server processes an in-memory copy for OCR and returns only the detected text coordinates and readings; the image and converted output are not saved.
部
Kanji Radicals
Recognize reusable components so complex kanji become easier to inspect and remember.
文
Sentence Builder
Practice Japanese word order, particles, and sentence patterns before applying them in recall or the Language IDE.
04 · PROFESSIONAL RESOURCES
Structure and extend your study outside the core workbenches
参
Reference Hub
Use books, courses, communities, project information, and recommended resources as starting points for deeper study.
日
90 Day Syllabus
Use the structured 90-day path to organize consistent study and protect momentum between larger lessons.
聴
Michel Thomas Method Companion
After completing the audio material, use this independent companion for reading, writing, recall, and longer-term reinforcement.
遊
Video Games with Furigana
Browse games by platform to find additional Japanese reading exposure with furigana or learner-friendly text where available.
05 · SUGGESTED WORKFLOW
One example of a balanced 20-minute session
10–15 min
Guided Course
Continue the current lesson and complete one meaningful step or notebook exercise.
3–5 min
Targeted reinforcement
Use the tool linked by the lesson—Kana Dojo, Adaptive Recall, Kanji, Sentence Builder, or Language IDE.
5–10 min
Reading exposure
Use Tsundoku or Side by Side Reader when the lesson calls for reading in context.
2 min
Close the loop
Mark the lesson step complete and write down one pattern or phrase you want to reuse.
The best workflow is the one you can repeat.
You do not need to use every Manabi Kōbō page every day. If you are following the Guided Course, let the current lesson choose the supporting tool; otherwise, let your own study goal decide what deserves attention.
Install Manabi Kōbō
iPhone / iPad
Open this page in Safari, tap Share, then choose “Add to Home Screen”.
Android
Open this page in Chrome, open the browser menu, then choose “Install app” or “Add to Home screen”.