Japanese Links
Learning Resources
Reviewing the Kanji: Study site w/ online flashcards and forum based around kanji study book "Remembering the Kanji" by James Heisig. Incredibly helpful to read message posts; people post links to Anki decks to d/l. Also has stories for all cards to help remember kanji.
Tae Kim's Guide to Japanese: incredibly in-depth, organized guide to characters and grammar. Has helpful charts for hiragana/katakana w/ sound clips.
JapanesePod101.com: Subscription learning site that has a 7-day free trial. Has audio and some video lessons that are short and pretty entertaining w/ a regular cast of characters. I signed up for the trial and started downloading mp3 lessons and transcriptions.
Lang-8.com: Free community-oriented blog where users post entries in the language they are learning. Other users comment w/ corrections. It's helpful and fun to read what others write as well.
AJATT (All Japanese All The Time): the title says it all. Blog about how to learn Japanese. Wacky, intense, and bit off-kilter, but always inspiring. I don't do 100% AJATT but I enjoy reading the posts.
Learning Tools
Anki: free electronic flashcard software. You can download pre-loaded decks of cards immediately, and make your own. I use this pretty much every day.
Google Translator: paste kanji in and it translates it and also will read it to you.
Rikaichan Firefox plugin: basically a dictionary online. If you mouse over the Japanese, it will pop up this little window with probably more info than you wanted. Also has an audio reading made by the folks @ JPod101.com
Yamasa Online Kanji Dictionary: I use this primarily for its animated stroke order for kanji. Incredibly helpful to learn how to write characters.
TV/Movie/Radio
MySoju: Asian dramas and movies of all sorts, with English subtitles.
FNN News: Japanese news channel website. Lots of clips.
Keyhole TV: Free program that streams real Japanese TV channels. not very good quality, but there isn't really anything better that I've found.
TBS Radio Podcasts: Links to some different podcasts from a JP radio station
Stuff to Read in 日本語
Children's Stories: Different types of stories at grades 0-6 (?) in hiragana with an embedded player and narration.
Bilingual Books: a few free books in both JP and EN.
Petit.cc: blog hosting site. Lots of photos. Kind of Etsy-ish in style.
Jugem.jp: another blog hosting site.
Buy JP Stuff
Amazon.co.jp: has pretty much anything, but shipping is expensive
White Rabbit Press: sells Japanese books and other resources and ships anywhere very reasonably
Kinokuniya Bookstore: JP bookstore, has a NY location
