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You’ve probably heard of Boys’ Love, or BL, a well-known genre in Japan that focuses on romantic relationships between male characters. But have you ever stopped to wonder where all the LGBTQ+ women are in Japanese media? I know I have. Luckily for all of us, believe it or not, there is a genre roughly […]

Learning to differentiate the subtle nuances between 〜ている, 〜てある, and 〜ておく might be one of the biggest headaches for Japanese learners. Not only do they look similar, but they can all serve a similar purpose, too: these grammar patterns describe a situation created by some intentional action done in the past. Despite their similarities, each […]

How do you describe what you just did in Japanese? Maybe you just brushed your teeth, or you just bought a car. How can you describe those past activities that have just happened? Well, you’ve got two great options: ばかり and ところ. Say you want to tell someone that you just bought a car in […]

Japanese words that even the most proficient learners of the language find the hardest to pronounce can be, ironically, the ones borrowed from their own native tongue. My wife, who’s originally from the United States and now is a fluent speaker of Japanese after living in Japan for 15 years, still struggles to pronounce one […]

Even in situations when Japanese people are quite positive that something is true, they typically hold back on expressing claims. Similar to how one might use a layer of wrapping paper to hide what is really within a package, when speaking Japanese, Japanese speakers regularly encase their assertions in language that implies they aren’t sure […]

The year might be drawing to a close, but it’s a perfect time to do something new with your Japanese study! Take a look below at the latest list of Japanese learning resources, lovingly selected by our team, to help supercharge your Japanese study. Activate Your Japanese! Activate Your Japanese! is a 24-episode drama about […]

Looking for a simple tool to practice reading hiragana and katakana, as many times as you want to? Well, Tofugu’s Learn Kana Quiz might be a perfect tool for you. We actually made this kana quiz tool a few years ago as a companion to our Learn Hiragana Guide and Learn Katakana Guide. Since then, […]

Hiragana and katakana are literally the ABCs of Japanese. They’re the most basic types of Japanese characters and essential parts of the Japanese language. Learning these two types of characters is often the very first step to learning Japanese, too. Being able to read hiragana and katakana is amazing because it’s such an immediately practical […]

Learning kanji is tough. The unfamiliar shapes. All the different ways to read a single kanji. And what’s more — there are over 2,000 of them to learn?! Unfortunately, there’s no shortcut around these hurdles. And I’m not gonna lie, learning kanji does take time and energy no matter what method you choose. But if […]