Catalog

Every course, every lesson

The complete index of the illustrated Japanese tracks — what each lesson teaches and the scene it is drawn around. Lesson one of every track is readable in full, free.

Japanese Foundations

Your first Japanese, told as one story in a small café

Foundations is one continuous story. You walk into Komorebi House, a café where the staff board is mislabelled and the cat has opinions, and every lesson gives you the exact Japanese that scene needs — greetings, then names, then places, then your first verbs. Each lesson is drawn, so the words attach to a picture and a person rather than a list.

16 lessons~3 h total114 words
Seen over your shoulder, the interior of Komorebi House café reveals Ren behind the counter and Aki standing nearby. The room is warmly lit, and they are both looking towards you.
  1. Seen over your shoulder, the interior of Komorebi House café reveals Ren behind the counter and Aki standing nearby. The room is warmly lit, and they are both looking towards you.

    Lesson 1 · free preview · ~8 min

    The Door with Two Signs

    Greet someone, thank them, get their attention, and answer a yes-or-no question.

  2. At a table in Komorebi House, Aki writes on small cards while Ren and Haru watch. Several finished name tags are spread out on the table in front of them.

    Lesson 2 · ~10 min

    A Name Tag for Everyone

    Say your own name, and say who someone else is.

  3. A delivery person at the entrance of Komorebi House points at the staff board on the wall. Behind the counter, Aki and Ren look on with surprised expressions.

    Lesson 3 · ~9 min

    Is Mugi the Manager?

    Ask a yes-or-no question, answer one, and say that something applies to someone else too.

  4. Near the entrance of the café, Ren holds up a dark-blue umbrella decorated with a small bird pattern. Aki stands next to him, looking at it thoughtfully.

    Lesson 4 · ~11 min

    This, That and the Mystery Umbrella

    Point out an object near you or near someone else, and say whose it is or is not.

  5. Seen over your shoulder, Haru sits at the counter, tasting a small, decorative cake with a fork. Behind the counter, Ren watches with a slight smile.

    Lesson 5 · ~11 min

    One Cake, Surprisingly Expensive

    Ask what something costs, understand the answer, and order one of it.

  6. Ren sits at a table, drawing a weekly schedule on a large piece of paper. Aki leans over his shoulder, pointing to a spot on the calendar with a confused expression.

    Lesson 6 · ~11 min

    The Schedule Has Three Mondays

    Ask what time something starts, and say when something happens or how long it runs.

  7. In the bright morning light of the café, Haru carefully prepares pour-over coffee, while Ren cleans the counter in the background.

    Lesson 7 · ~12 min

    What Happens at Komorebi?

    Say what someone regularly does, what they do it to, and where.

  8. Aki speaks on the phone with a surprised look on her face, while Ren stands beside her, listening in with curiosity.

    Lesson 8 · ~12 min

    Where Is the Cat?

    Ask where something or someone is, and describe where it is in relation to something else.

  9. Aki draws a map on a notepad for Sato, who looks on attentively. Ren leans over Aki's shoulder, smiling at her creative drawing.

    Lesson 9 · ~12 min

    Good Coffee, Bad Map

    Describe something as good, bad, big or small, and say what you like.

  10. Seen over your shoulder, you are handing the blue umbrella to Sato in an office. Another woman, Maya, stands beside Sato and smiles.

    Lesson 10 · ~14 min

    The Umbrella Returns

    Hand something over, thank someone, ask them to repeat, and accept an invitation.

  11. Seen over your shoulder, Maya and Ren stand at the west exit of the train station holding stacks of flyers.

    Lesson 11 · ~12 min

    Where You Came From

    Say which country or town you came from, and ask someone the same.

  12. In the warm morning light of a small café kitchen, Haru is busy baking while Aki stands nearby.

    Lesson 12 · ~12 min

    From Six to Nine

    Say when something runs from and until, using clock times.

  13. Illustration of the classroom: Sato stands by the blackboard with the flyer list while Maya answers from a desk, and a grey cat sits on the window ledge behind them.

    Lesson 13 · ~12 min

    What Didn't Happen

    Say what you did and did not do yesterday.

  14. Illustration of Mizuhana station's west exit: Maya, Ren and Aki stand at the gates naming three different destinations, with arrow signs to the park and the shop behind them.

    Lesson 14 · ~12 min

    Which Way From Here

    Say where you are going, coming from or heading back to.

  15. Illustration of the park bench: Ren sits with a borrowed bicycle beside him and asks who you came with, while Maya stands with her notebook.

    Lesson 15 · ~12 min

    With Whom, By What

    Say who you did something with.

  16. Illustration of the staff board at Komorebi House: Haru studies the rota with Aki beside him and Mugi sitting on the counter.

    Lesson 16 · ~12 min

    The Order Things Go In

    Build a sentence with a time, a place, a thing and a verb in the usual order.

Japanese N5

The whole JLPT N5 syllabus as an illustrated story arc

The N5 track covers the grammar and vocabulary the exam expects, in the order a story needs them. Every point — は and が, the te-form, ～てください, comparisons, past tense — arrives because a character has to say something, and comes back in later scenes so it sticks. The recurring cast means new words land against people you already know.

24 lessons~6 h total200 words
Illustration of Komorebi House café: Maya Torres and Aki Mori and Ren Nakamura. Maya adds the learner to the Open Day group chat.
  1. Illustration of Komorebi House café: Maya Torres and Aki Mori and Ren Nakamura. Maya adds the learner to the Open Day group chat.

    Lesson 1 · free preview · ~13 min

    The Invitation in the Group Chat

    Read a short group invitation and introduce yourself to the group.

  2. Illustration of the staff board at Komorebi House: Aki Mori and Ren Nakamura and Haru Kondo. Aki turns the Open Day plan into a responsibility board.

    Lesson 2 · ~13 min

    Who Does What?

    Say who is responsible for an activity, and read a simple team list.

  3. Illustration of the staff board at Komorebi House: Haru Kondo and Ren Nakamura and Aki Mori. Haru writes the first Open Day rules.

    Lesson 3 · ~13 min

    Only One Rule, So Far

    Read a short list, say that it is complete or only examples, and say that there is only one of something.

  4. Illustration of Sato's office: Fumiko Sato and Aki Mori, seen over your shoulder. Sato asks for one clean team profile before approving the initial plan.

    Lesson 4 · ~15 min

    Team Profile Checkpoint

    Read short team profiles, identify each person's role, and send a confirmation message.

  5. Illustration of the street outside Komorebi House: Haru Kondo and Aki Mori and Ren Nakamura. The learner follows a normal morning schedule at Komorebi.

    Lesson 5 · ~13 min

    Every Morning, Except Tuesday

    Say how often something happens and when in the day it happens.

  6. Illustration of the shopping street: Aki Mori and Ren Nakamura. Supplies have to be bought at three different places.

    Lesson 6 · ~13 min

    Do It Here, Go There

    Say where an action happens, where someone is going, and how they are getting there.

  7. Illustration of the print shop: Aki Mori and Ren Nakamura. No posters were printed yesterday and nobody is sure why.

    Lesson 7 · ~14 min

    Yesterday's Perfectly Normal Disaster

    Say what happened and what did not happen yesterday.

  8. Illustration of Komorebi House café: Fumiko Sato and Maya Torres. Sato asks for a status update on the week.

    Lesson 8 · ~15 min

    A Day in Messages Checkpoint

    Follow a day across a schedule and a set of messages, and say what happened where.

  9. Illustration of Komorebi House café: Aki Mori and Ren Nakamura. Aki lays out the neighbourhood map to plan the supply run.

    Lesson 9 · ~13 min

    There Is a Cat on the Map

    Say what is in a place, and ask what or who is there.

  10. Illustration of Mizuhana station: Ren Nakamura and Aki Mori and Haru Kondo. The team follows Ren's sign to the print shop.

    Lesson 10 · ~13 min

    Next to the Station, Behind the Impossible Sign

    Follow a two-step direction and give one yourself.

  11. Illustration of the staff board at Komorebi House: Fumiko Sato and Ren Nakamura. Sato needs quantities for the budget.

    Lesson 11 · ~14 min

    How Many Posters?

    Ask how many of something is needed and answer with the right counter.

  12. Illustration of the shopping street: Maya Torres, seen over your shoulder. The learner and Maya go into town for the supplies.

    Lesson 12 · ~15 min

    The Scavenger Hunt Checkpoint

    Use a map, a sign and an order list to collect supplies and report back.

  13. Illustration of the kitchen at Komorebi House: Haru Kondo and Aki Mori and Ren Nakamura. Haru tests three versions of the curry.

    Lesson 13 · ~14 min

    This Curry Is Red. Very Red.

    Describe something now or in the past, and say what it was not like.

  14. Illustration of the kitchen at Komorebi House: Aki Mori and Haru Kondo and Ren Nakamura. One curry, one drink and one children's activity must be chosen within budget.

    Lesson 14 · ~14 min

    Better, Bigger, Spicier

    Compare two options and say which of three is the best.

  15. Illustration of the kitchen at Komorebi House: Ren Nakamura and Haru Kondo, seen over your shoulder. The learner tastes the curry Ren insists is spice level one.

    Lesson 15 · ~14 min

    I Like It, but My Tongue Disagrees

    Say what you like, dislike and are good at, and add a contrast.

  16. Illustration of Komorebi House café: Maya Torres, seen over your shoulder. Maya plays the first visitor to test whether the menu works.

    Lesson 16 · ~15 min

    The Menu Test Checkpoint

    Read a menu, compare two items, order one, and say why you chose it.

  17. Illustration of the staff board at Komorebi House: Aki Mori and Ren Nakamura and Haru Kondo. Aki finishes the corrected poster with the right date on it.

    Lesson 17 · ~15 min

    The Poster Is Missing

    Join two actions together and say what happened in what order.

  18. Illustration of the print shop: Fumiko Sato and Haru Kondo, seen over your shoulder. Ren prepares to reprint all two hundred posters.

    Lesson 18 · ~14 min

    Please Do Not Print 200 Yet

    Ask someone to do something, and ask them not to.

  19. Illustration of the doorway of Komorebi House: Aki Mori and Haru Kondo and Ren Nakamura. The group rearranges Komorebi for the event.

    Lesson 19 · ~14 min

    Can We Put This Here?

    Ask whether something is allowed, and understand a sign that says it is not.

  20. Illustration of the staff board at Komorebi House: Maya Torres and Aki Mori, seen over your shoulder. Maya builds a live status board while everyone searches.

    Lesson 20 · ~15 min

    What Is Everyone Doing? Checkpoint

    Say what someone is doing right now, and tell that apart from what they usually do.

  21. Illustration of Komorebi House café: Aki Mori and Maya Torres and Ren Nakamura and Haru Kondo. Everyone picks an extra Open Day task, including the learner.

    Lesson 21 · ~14 min

    What Do You Want to Do?

    Say what you want to do, what you want, and why you are going somewhere.

  22. Illustration of the doorway of Komorebi House: Maya Torres and Haru Kondo and Ren Nakamura, seen over your shoulder. The team rehearses the visitor welcome.

    Lesson 22 · ~15 min

    Shall We? Can You?

    Invite someone to do something, and say what you can do and what you have done before.

  23. Illustration of Komorebi House café: Aki Mori and Ren Nakamura and Fumiko Sato. A visitor messages to say the poster says Sunday.

    Lesson 23 · ~15 min

    Because the Poster Says Sunday

    Give a reason for something, and ask which of two conflicting facts is right.

  24. Illustration of the street outside Komorebi House: Maya Torres and Haru Kondo, seen over your shoulder. The rain arrives and the event moves inside.

    Lesson 24 · ~18 min

    Komorebi Open Day

    Welcome a visitor, answer where and when something is, and say whether they may do something.

Kana Sprints

Short sprints that turn hiragana and katakana into reading

Kana Sprints are short, take-them-when-you-need-them lessons. Each one puts a handful of characters into something worth reading — a menu, a station board, a price tag — so recognition comes from use rather than from repetition of a grid.

12 lessons~1 h total57 words
Illustration of Komorebi House café: Ren Nakamura and Aki Mori. Closing time at Komorebi. Ren has lined five paper cards along the counter and is squinting at them like a man reading a map upside down.
  1. Illustration of Komorebi House café: Ren Nakamura and Aki Mori. Closing time at Komorebi. Ren has lined five paper cards along the counter and is squinting at them like a man reading a map upside down.

    Lesson 1 · free preview · ~5 min

    Kana Sprint 1 — the five vowels

    Read あ, い, う, え and お on sight.

  2. Illustration of Komorebi House café: Aki Mori. The specials board is blank and the morning rush starts in nine minutes. Aki writes the first two syllables and stops, chalk in the air.

    Lesson 2 · ~5 min

    Kana Sprint 2 — か and さ

    Read the か and さ rows on sight, including し.

  3. Illustration of Komorebi House café: Ren Nakamura. Someone has relabelled the tea tins. Every tin now says something confident, and two of them say the wrong thing entirely.

    Lesson 3 · ~5 min

    Kana Sprint 3 — た and な

    Read the た and な rows on sight, including ち and つ.

  4. Illustration of Komorebi House café: Haru Kondo. Haru brings the flower delivery in through the side door and starts sorting the little cards by their first character, the way she does every Thursday.

    Lesson 4 · ~5 min

    Kana Sprint 4 — は and ま

    Read the は and ま rows on sight.

  5. Illustration of the staff board at Komorebi House: Aki Mori. The chart on the staff board is complete except for the last short row, because Mugi is asleep on exactly that part of it.

    Lesson 5 · ~5 min

    Kana Sprint 5 — や, ら, わ and ん

    Read the や, ら and わ rows and ん on sight.

  6. Illustration of Komorebi House café: Ren Nakamura. Two small marks, top right of a character, and the word on the tin becomes a different word. Ren discovers this at the worst possible moment.

    Lesson 6 · ~5 min

    Kana Sprint 6 — two dots and a circle

    Read any voiced kana, and say which base character it comes from.

  7. Illustration of Komorebi House café: Fumiko Sato. Sato arrives with the event badges and holds hers at arm's length. One character on it is full size and should not be.

    Lesson 7 · ~5 min

    Kana Sprint 7 — the small ones

    Read a small ゃ, ゅ or ょ as part of one beat with the character before it.

  8. Illustration of Komorebi House café: Maya Torres. Maya's takeaway cup comes back to the counter with her name on it, and the shapes are sharper and straighter than everything else on the menu.

    Lesson 8 · ~6 min

    Kana Sprint 8 — the second alphabet

    Read katakana for a sound already known in hiragana.

  9. Illustration of Komorebi House café: Aki Mori. Aki says a word, then says it again holding the vowel a beat longer. Ren hears two different words and looks personally wronged.

    Lesson 9 · ~5 min

    Kana Sprint 9 — holding the vowel

    Read ー as a doubling of the vowel before it.

  10. Illustration of Komorebi House café: Ren Nakamura. Every shelf label finally matches its shelf. Ren stands back to admire the wall; Aki quietly turns one tin around before he notices.

    Lesson 10 · ~6 min

    Kana Sprint 10 — reading Komorebi

    Read every sign and name in the Komorebi story without support.

  11. At a brightly lit convenience store counter, Aki works as the clerk, looking expectantly at Ren who is holding up two fingers.

    Lesson 11 · ~6 min

    Kana Sprint 11 — counting out loud

    Read the numbers one to ten written in kana.

  12. Aki looks at the cake display case in the small café, where the handwritten price tag on the last slice shows faint traces of older numbers.

    Lesson 12 · ~6 min

    Kana Sprint 12 — how much is it

    Read prices in hundreds and thousands of yen out loud.

Grammar Labs

Second-pass labs for the patterns that need one

Labs are the workshop next door to the story. Each one takes a single mechanism — verb groups, the te-form, plain form, adjective types, question words — shows it inside a scene you already recognise, then drills it until the shape is automatic.

8 lessons~1 h total59 words
Illustration of Komorebi House café: Ren Nakamura. Ren keeps a notecard in his apron pocket with a column of verbs on it, written in their bare form, the way a dictionary would list them.
  1. Illustration of Komorebi House café: Ren Nakamura. Ren keeps a notecard in his apron pocket with a column of verbs on it, written in their bare form, the way a dictionary would list them.

    Lesson 1 · free preview · ~8 min

    Verb Lab A — the form in the dictionary

    Convert between the ます form and the dictionary form of a known verb.

  2. Illustration of Komorebi House café: Aki Mori. The café phone rings and Ren freezes. Aki hands him the receiver and mouths one word: polite.

    Lesson 2 · ~8 min

    Verb Lab B — four cells, one verb

    Produce all four polite forms of a known verb: present, past, negative and negative past.

  3. Illustration of Komorebi House café: Maya Torres and Haru Kondo. Haru and Maya have tried the new cake and cannot agree on a single adjective for it. The plate between them is already empty.

    Lesson 3 · ~9 min

    Adjective Lab — eight boxes and two liars

    Produce present, past, negative and negative past for both い-adjectives and な-adjectives.

  4. Illustration of Komorebi House café: Fumiko Sato. Sato asks for three things in one breath — take this, print that, come back by four — and the three requests arrive joined together.

    Lesson 4 · ~10 min

    Te-form Lab — nine ways in, one ending

    Produce the te-form of a known verb from its dictionary form and its group.

  5. Illustration of Komorebi House café: Maya Torres. Maya's notebook is open on the counter. The left page is how she writes to friends; the right page is how she writes to the city office.

    Lesson 5 · ~10 min

    Plain-form Lab — four more boxes, mostly free

    Derive the plain past of a verb from its te-form.

  6. Illustration of the staff board at Komorebi House: Aki Mori. The staff board carries a row of small magnets, one particle each. Mugi has knocked two of them onto the floor and the sentence above now means something no one intended.

    Lesson 6 · ~9 min

    Particle Repair — は or が, に or で, へ or に, と or や

    Choose between に and で according to whether the place is where something is or where something happens.

  7. Lesson 7 · ~8 min

    Question Words — なに, だれ, どこ, いつ, いくら, どう

    Choose the right question word for the piece of information you are missing.

  8. Lesson 8 · ~8 min

    Starter Particles — は, を and も

    Mark the thing a verb acts on with を.

Pick a lesson and start reading

A free account opens the interactive versions: vocabulary review, grammar checks and progress that carries across every track.