NihonMaster

I'm Joppe. I built Nihon Master because I was learning Japanese and the apps I was using were not doing it for me. Duolingo got me started but I was not really learning past hiragana. Anki is great if you build your own deck. Wanikani is great for kanji.

I wanted one place that actually teaches the language. So I built it for myself. A few friends started using it. Then strangers. Now it's here.

This is not a flashcard deck, and it is not a gamified drill machine. It is a real curriculum backed by real tools, built specifically for Japanese, where kana and kanji are first-class instead of a language pack bolted on the side.

What's inside.

A guided journey from absolute beginner through JLPT N1. Hiragana, katakana, kanji, vocabulary, grammar, reading practice. Every lesson has a clear point and you finish it knowing something you did not know an hour ago.

Around 2,000 kanji with stroke animations, writing practice, and readings ordered by what you actually need first.

Spaced repetition built on FSRS (the same algorithm Anki adopted in 2024) instead of the 1987 SM-2 formula most apps still ship.

Twelve sub-skills tracked separately, so you can see whether your particles are fine and your kanji readings are the problem, instead of one meaningless overall number.

Mock JLPT tests for every level, in the same shape as the real exam. Useful for the test itself and for figuring out where you actually stand.

Native-quality Japanese audio on every vocabulary item, generated by VOICEVOX, an open-source Japanese TTS that does not sound like a robot.

A sentence generator that builds sentences only from words and grammar you have already learned, so you never get jumped by kanji you have never seen.

What's not inside.

Streaks engineered to guilt you into opening the app at 11:59 PM. A heart system that locks you out until you wait or pay. A subscription that holds half the content behind a paywall. Ads of any kind.

Everything works offline. No sign-in. No account. Your progress lives on your device. There are no servers, and that is intentional.

I am one person making this in my spare time. If you have an idea, a feature request, a bug to report, or you just want to tell me which kanji is annoying you this week, please do. There is a Discord linked inside the app and an Instagram at @nihonmaster.official. I read everything.

If Duolingo is working for you, honestly that is great, keep doing that. This app is for the people who tried Duolingo, kept the streak alive for six months, and realised they still could not read anything.

Have fun with it. Let me know what you think.

nihonmaster.com