Catch words. Cross Japan.

Kotomuke is a pixel-art adventure for learning Japanese. Walk the whole length of the real country, from Wakkanai in the north to Okinawa in the south, and catch each word by showing you understand it.

In development for iPhone, Android and Mac.

Try a catch

Every wild word starts with a RESIST of 100. Read it, say what it means, use it in a phrase — each right answer wears it down, and each wrong one pushes it back up by 20. At 100, it runs.

A wild ゆき appeared!

The country is the curriculum

Nine regions, walked north to south. Each one teaches the next band of the JLPT, from N5 in Hokkaidō to N1 in Kyūshū.

北海道HokkaidōJLPT N5
The Sōya Main Line
東北TōhokuJLPT N5
Tōno
関東KantōJLPT N4
Nihonbashi, Tokyo
中部ChūbuJLPT N4–N3
The Nakasendō
近畿KansaiJLPT N3
Taishō, Osaka
四国ShikokuJLPT N2
Matsuyama
中国ChūgokuJLPT N2
Izumo
沖縄OkinawaInterlude
Motobu
九州KyūshūJLPT N1
Hakata

How it plays

Prove it to catch it
A word joins you only once you can read it, say what it means and use it. Nearly a thousand live in the grass; thousands more are found through the kanji they share.
Fight with sentences
In a word debate, the words in your party are your moves, and every turn you build a real Japanese sentence. An invalid sentence costs you the turn.
Nothing is ever lost
Come back after a month to a full collection. A word you neglect hits softer for a while. It never disappears.
True names take time
A word shows you its kanji — its 真名, its true name — only after you've forgotten it and remembered it anyway. You can't cram it.

Coming to iPhone, Android and Mac

Kotomuke is in development. Release news will be posted here first.

Catch words. Cross Japan.

Try a catch

The country is the curriculum

How it plays

Prove it to catch it

Fight with sentences

Nothing is ever lost

True names take time

Coming to iPhone, Android and Mac