Katakana Rocks! Learn Japanese
Read Japanese in a Quiz
$4.99 · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.
Read your first Japanese words in ten minutes, through the story of a rock band on tour in Japan. One purchase, no subscription, no ads, works entirely offline.
YOU'RE ON TOUR IN JAPAN. NOBODY IN THE BAND SPEAKS JAPANESE.
Makiko, your guide, takes it from there — one level at a time. Somewhere around minute ten, you notice you're reading.
KATAKANA FIRST
Japanese uses three scripts. Katakana is the one kept for foreign words: コーヒー is coffee, ホテル is hotel, タクシー is taxi, ビール is beer.
You have just read four Japanese words. That is the whole idea. Learn these 46 signs first and a large part of what a visitor actually meets — menus, station signs, convenience store shelves — opens up within a couple of weeks, instead of a month of drilling before anything clicks. Hiragana come next, then a set of kanji chosen for being genuinely useful.
A STORY, NOT A COURSE
36 levels, told as a journey: the all-night konbini, the sunrise onsen, the karaoke night, the train that gets you to the venue. Makiko explains, teases and corrects. There is an ending, and there are credits.
FIVE WAYS TO PLAY
Quiz — short sessions on a handful of characters or words, at your own pace.
Rhythm — read kana in time with the music, on a soundtrack written for the game.
Battle — a duel that makes you recall under pressure.
Stickers — a collection to unlock, some pieces much rarer than others.
Street levels — real Japanese signage, read the way you will actually meet it.
WHAT IT DOES NOT DO
No subscription. No ads. No in-app purchases. No account to create. No streak guilt-tripping you at 9pm. One purchase, and the game is yours.
IT WORKS ON A PLANE
Every lesson, voice and music track is inside the app. Nothing needs a connection — not in flight, not on the subway, not in a hotel room with no Wi-Fi. And nothing you do leaves your device: there is no server to send it to.
ENGLISH AND FRENCH
Both, fully — story, voices, vocabulary.
MADE BY ONE PERSON
Written, designed and built solo in Bordeaux, France, with music composed for the game and a story written for it, tested at every iteration by a small circle of French and Japanese friends.
Play the first five levels free, in your browser, before you buy anything: katakana.rocks
Ratings & Reviews
- This app hasn’t received enough ratings or reviews to display an overview.
Katakana Rocks! has been rebuilt from scratch.
What used to be a table of characters and a quiz is now a game with a story: you are on tour in Japan with your band, and Makiko guides you through the country one level at a time, until the ending.
NEW IN THIS VERSION
• 36 levels, following an illustrated story from arrival to final concert
• Hiragana and a selection of useful kanji, after the katakana
• Rhythm mode — read kana in time with music composed for the game
• Battle mode — recall the right character under pressure
• A sticker collection to unlock as you progress
• Street levels: real Japanese signage to decipher
• Full English and French, story and voices included
• Everything offline: no connection, no account, no data leaving your device
Still a one-time purchase. Still no subscription, no ads, no in-app purchases.
Something not working, or a character you think we got wrong? Write to us at katakana.rocks/contact — you reach the person who made the game.
The developer, OnlineCreation, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- OnlineCreation
- Size
- 178.9 MB
- Category
- Education
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 15.0 or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 15.0 or later. - iPad
Requires iPadOS 15.0 or later. - iPod touch
Requires iOS 15.0 or later. - Mac
Requires macOS 12.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later. - Apple Vision
Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
- iPhone
- Languages
- English
- Age Rating
13+
- 13+
- Infrequent
Mature or Suggestive Themes
Alcohol, Tobacco, Drug Use or References
Simulated Gambling
Sexual Content or Nudity
- Copyright
- © OnlineCreation
