Kanji Book

Name: Kanji Book
Rating: 4.7 (89 reviews)
Author: Bird Cartel LLC

Learn jōyō kanji at your pace!

Free · Designed for iPad

89 Ratings
Ages

4+
Years
Category

Education
Developer

Bird Cartel LLC
Language

EN
English
Size

220.2
MB

I built Kanji Book to aid in my own learning of kanji. I wanted something that would let me learn the 2136 jōyō kanji at my own pace. I was inspired by Japanese style journals which extensively use highlighters and stickers to brighten up the otherwise dull contents. In Kanji Book, you'll build your own workbook which tracks your progress visually. You can learn as many kanji as you want each day. I find that 2 or 3 is a good cadence. I tend to play 3 or 4 times a day, whenever I can find a spare 5 minutes. I try to use my phone as a tool, not a distraction. I hope you find some value in Kanji Book. Let me know how many you learn! As you play, the language of the workbook changes to reflect your knowledge. Practice all aspects of kanji: readings, drawing, recall, definition, and recollection. Use your Kanji Book as simple flashcards or test yourself with 25 random questions. Once you have enough kanji to form compound kanji vocabulary words, you'll end each session with a grid of kanji which you can use to form vocabulary words.

Ratings & Reviews

4.7

out of 5

89 Ratings

Very nice!
10/14/2021

Abikin2
I’m updating my review now that I’ve spent a few weeks using this app. I think it’s pretty fantastic! I have dozens of apps for learning Japanese, and I have found few that teach writing the kanji. There are a couple of things I love about this one. The kanji are presented in an order that makes sense for actually learning to write kanji. Other apps that also focus on vocabulary building present kanji that are difficult to remember how to write very early on, which is frustrating. Also, since it’s not SRS, there’s no mounting backlog of reviews if you take a day or two off. SRS is fabulous but my life right now is too hectic to commit to daily study. I have been studying Japanese for a while so the kanji so far are all familiar. I’m not sure this would be an ideal introduction to kanji. The simplicity of this app is a wonderful thing, but it necessarily leaves out a lot of info. That being said the link to Jisho is brilliant - if you want more, go there! I don’t think adding tons of more stuff would make it better though - I like the focus on straight up memorizing kanji writing. The only addition that I might like would be an option to display the Japanese word for the compounds, such as ふたり and むいか, before dismissing. But, maybe that would be overload. Also, I love the interface - it’s very pleasing. The stickers are a cute feature.

Developer Response
Thanks Abikjn! Good suggestion about adding a spot for notes.
Very nice!
10/14/2021

Abikin2

I’m updating my review now that I’ve spent a few weeks using this app. I think it’s pretty fantastic! I have dozens of apps for learning Japanese, and I have found few that teach writing the kanji. There are a couple of things I love about this one. The kanji are presented in an order that makes sense for actually learning to write kanji. Other apps that also focus on vocabulary building present kanji that are difficult to remember how to write very early on, which is frustrating. Also, since it’s not SRS, there’s no mounting backlog of reviews if you take a day or two off. SRS is fabulous but my life right now is too hectic to commit to daily study. I have been studying Japanese for a while so the kanji so far are all familiar. I’m not sure this would be an ideal introduction to kanji. The simplicity of this app is a wonderful thing, but it necessarily leaves out a lot of info. That being said the link to Jisho is brilliant - if you want more, go there! I don’t think adding tons of more stuff would make it better though - I like the focus on straight up memorizing kanji writing. The only addition that I might like would be an option to display the Japanese word for the compounds, such as ふたり and むいか, before dismissing. But, maybe that would be overload. Also, I love the interface - it’s very pleasing. The stickers are a cute feature.
Developer Response 09/28/2021
Thanks Abikjn! Good suggestion about adding a spot for notes.
Kanji made fun and cute!
07/21/2023

K 3 PO
I just started and already know about 300+ kanji going in. I love how it is self paced, no timers, you can revisit cards as often as you like (with cute incentives), and the program shows you the stroke order! My favorite little surprise was the compound words game where you can build your vocabulary and discover just how practical a pictographic text can be (no furigana given, but I have my jisho for that). I would have liked audio, but if you know your hiragana going into using this app, you are SET. Love this product! As a teacher of languages myself, I highly recommend it. Thank you for making and keeping it free!

Developer Response
Glad you like Kanji Book K 3 PO! Thanks for the kind review.
Kanji made fun and cute!
07/21/2023

K 3 PO

I just started and already know about 300+ kanji going in. I love how it is self paced, no timers, you can revisit cards as often as you like (with cute incentives), and the program shows you the stroke order! My favorite little surprise was the compound words game where you can build your vocabulary and discover just how practical a pictographic text can be (no furigana given, but I have my jisho for that). I would have liked audio, but if you know your hiragana going into using this app, you are SET. Love this product! As a teacher of languages myself, I highly recommend it. Thank you for making and keeping it free!
Developer Response 07/22/2023
Glad you like Kanji Book K 3 PO! Thanks for the kind review.
Halfway there!
11/09/2021

MoonDrop 🌙
I’m at approx 1000 Kanji and this app legitimately is helping me reach my goal of learning how to read Japanese! It started asking me about on' and kun'yomi and I’m not sure if that will be helpful to me but I’m willing to give it a shot! While I’m no where read fluent, this app and a little bit of word and grammar knowledge have gotten me this far. My only gripe are the bugs where the screen stays stuck on the opening screen or when other things glitch out but you seem aware and attentive of them. Thank you, this has been a major help!

Developer Response
Hey MoonDrop, thanks for the review. 1000 kanji すごうい! That's way more than I know. Ugh, I thought I had fix the lock up on start up. I'll take another look.
Halfway there!
11/09/2021

MoonDrop 🌙

I’m at approx 1000 Kanji and this app legitimately is helping me reach my goal of learning how to read Japanese! It started asking me about on' and kun'yomi and I’m not sure if that will be helpful to me but I’m willing to give it a shot! While I’m no where read fluent, this app and a little bit of word and grammar knowledge have gotten me this far. My only gripe are the bugs where the screen stays stuck on the opening screen or when other things glitch out but you seem aware and attentive of them. Thank you, this has been a major help!
Developer Response 11/12/2021
Hey MoonDrop, thanks for the review. 1000 kanji すごうい! That's way more than I know. Ugh, I thought I had fix the lock up on start up. I'll take another look.
It’s good - just needs one more thing
11/11/2025

mkbluechannel
I don’t mind that there is no audio. I have other resources for that. The layout is simple, attractive and fun to use. I enjoy drawing the kanji. I think the compound word scramble is REALLY cool and actually the main reason I do want to keep using it - except— I would like to see the compound once completed correctly written in Hiragana under the English word. It means little if I don’t know which On or Kun is being used based on that kanji combo. Perhaps this evolves in the app as I evolve in my learning. But combining kanji to form words but not see them in Hiragana but only in English is limiting. That said, what a cool free app it is.. It is a great way to start familiarizing with kanji.
It’s good - just needs one more thing
11/11/2025

mkbluechannel

I don’t mind that there is no audio. I have other resources for that. The layout is simple, attractive and fun to use. I enjoy drawing the kanji. I think the compound word scramble is REALLY cool and actually the main reason I do want to keep using it - except— I would like to see the compound once completed correctly written in Hiragana under the English word. It means little if I don’t know which On or Kun is being used based on that kanji combo. Perhaps this evolves in the app as I evolve in my learning. But combining kanji to form words but not see them in Hiragana but only in English is limiting. That said, what a cool free app it is.. It is a great way to start familiarizing with kanji.