Guides
Japanese learning guides
Everything here is grounded in the app's real implementation and catalog, with sources cited. New guides ship regularly.
The method
- About Moji - Learn Japanese Daily Moji - Learn Japanese Daily is an iPhone app for Japanese vocabulary and kanji by independent developer Huy Bui. FSRS-6 scheduling, JLPT N5 to N1.
- FSRS vs SM-2, and what Moji actually runs Moji runs official FSRS-6 with all 21 parameters and 90% target retention. What that means, why it beats SM-2, and why there are only two buttons.
- How to Remember Kanji: the Component Hook Method A kanji mnemonic method that names each component with a true gloss, then ties them into one image. How Moji writes its 5,880 hand-edited mnemonics.
- How we curate Japanese vocabulary The sources, standards, and review passes behind Moji's 8,237 curated Japanese vocabulary entries, with the real numbers from each pass.
- Learning Japanese 5 Minutes a Day: What It Adds Up To Five minutes a day is enough to keep a spaced repetition habit alive. The honest arithmetic on what it compounds to, and what it will not do.
- Spaced repetition retrievability, explained What retrievability means, the FSRS-6 forgetting curve behind it, and why memory bands sit relative to 90% target retention instead of raw intervals.
- What order should you learn Japanese words in? Why frequency order beats textbook order in your first months of Japanese, how Moji orders its first 500 cards, and why particles arrive early.
- Why Japanese example sentences are too hard (i+1) Most Japanese example sentences assume words you have not learned yet. How Moji budgets untaught words in early cards, using Krashen's i+1 idea.
- Why we removed the daily review cap A solo dev post-mortem: how a kind-looking daily review limit quietly starved an FSRS scheduler, what the fix looked like, and what shipped in 1.8.1.
Honest comparisons
- Anki alternative for Japanese: an honest comparison Anki is more powerful and free on desktop. Here is a straight comparison with Moji, a curated 8,237-word Japanese app running FSRS-6 with no setup.
- Best iPhone App to Learn Japanese: 6 Apps Ranked Moji, Bunpro, Anki, WaniKani, Renshuu and Duolingo ranked for iPhone: what each does best, what it costs, and the two-app stack that sticks.
- Best Kanji App With Mnemonics: An Honest Comparison RTK keyword stories, WaniKani radical mnemonics, and Moji's component hooks tied to real vocabulary. How the three kanji methods actually differ.
- Duolingo alternative for Japanese: an honest look Duolingo is genuinely good at habit and beginner coverage. Here is where it stops for Japanese vocabulary, kanji, and JLPT, and what picks up after.
- Renshuu vs Moji: Free Breadth or One Focused Path Renshuu is free, broad, and cross-platform. Moji is one hand-edited 8,237-word path with FSRS-6 on iPhone. An honest look at which fits you.
- The Best App for JLPT N5 Vocabulary (Honest Answer) N5 has no official word list. Here is what the ~800-word convention actually means, what Moji covers, and when Anki or Renshuu is the better pick.
- WaniKani Alternative: Kanji Through Words, Not Levels WaniKani is kanji-first, level-paced, and subscription-only past level 3. Moji is vocab-first frequency order with a free comprehension tier.
- What to Use After Duolingo for Japanese Finished or plateaued in Duolingo's Japanese course? Here's the honest next step: a small specialist stack for grammar, vocab, kanji, and reading.
Reference
- How Long Does It Take to Learn Japanese? Honest Math The US State Department puts Japanese at 2,200 class hours. What that means for a daily-habit learner, plus JLPT hour estimates and vocabulary math.
- How Many Japanese Words Do You Need to Be Fluent? A few thousand words make Japanese usable. Comfortable native reading takes 10,000 to 20,000. What corpus coverage research actually says, with the numbers.
- How Many Words Do You Need for the JLPT? Per-level JLPT vocabulary estimates for N5 through N1, why no official list exists since 2010, and how Moji's 8,237 words split across the levels.
- How to learn hiragana: the 46-character plan The full hiragana chart in gojuon order, dakuten and small-kana combinations, stroke-order principles, and a realistic timeline measured in days.
- How to learn katakana: the chart and a real plan All 46 katakana characters in gojūon order, why シ and ツ trip everyone up, and the loanwords that make katakana pay off faster than you expect.
- Japanese particles explained: は, が, を and the rest The core Japanese particles は, が, を, に, で, か, の and も, explained with example sentences chosen to make each particle's placement visible.
- JLPT Levels Explained: N5 to N1, and Which Level You Are The official N5 to N1 descriptions, what each level means for work and study in Japan, estimated word and kanji counts, and how to find your own level.
- JLPT N4: What to Study, and What Changes from N5 What to study for JLPT N4: vocabulary roughly doubles, kanji roughly triples, and grammar turns into conjugation. The N5 to N4 gap, with test format.
- Kanji Radicals vs Components: The Real Difference A radical is the single key a dictionary files a kanji under. Components are every part inside it. Why that difference matters for memorizing kanji.
- The 100 Most Common Japanese Words (With Readings) The 100 most common Japanese words with readings and meanings, plus what a frequency list cannot tell you, starting with why the top 10 are all grammar.
- The 4 Japanese Pitch Accent Patterns, Explained What Japanese pitch accent is, the four patterns (heiban, atamadaka, nakadaka, odaka) with everyday example words, and when it actually matters for learners.
- What to Study for JLPT N5: A Complete Primer Kana first, then vocabulary, kanji, and grammar. What N5 actually asks for, the official test format, and a study plan with honest hour ranges.