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Other Japan Resources

	Other Web Sites About Japan
	Finding a Job in Japan
	Japanese Language Programs in North America
	Cheap Phone Calls To/From Japan
	Freeware / Shareware Japanese Software for a PC/Mac
	Hear Japanese Radio on your Computer
	Buying Books In and Outside Japan How to Buy English Books Without the 50% Markup

Other Web Sites about Japan

General Sites About Japan

A beautiful site covering just about everything you want to know about the Japanese language, culture, and people is Japan Guide. This page has lots of information and links to other web sites, all done in a clear easy to understand format. It would be safe to say that everything you want to know about Japan can be found either at this site or at one of the sites it has links to. The site is also available in a German version.

If you'd like to read full length articles about different aspects of Japanese culture and society then a good site is the Japan File, which is the archive from back issues of Kansai Time Out, an English language magazine that anyone in the Kansai (Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe) area will find out about soon after arriving in Japan.

If you've got questions about anything, particularly travel related ones, then you'll find AllExperts.com useful. Their "volunteer experts" will answer all your Japan travel related questions, ranging from what to see to hotel and restaurant questions.

AsianNet Japan has links to web pages on many aspects of life in Japan, all categorized so that you can find things quickly.

Sites About Traveling Cheaply in Japan

As you have no doubt realized, my site hasn't been updated for ages. A nice, new site containing a lot of great information on traveling cheaply in Japan is Japan cheap travel - a complete guide to budget travel in Japan.

Sites About Studying in Japan

If you want to find out more about studying in Japan then I would recommend the Association of International Education, Japan Homepage. This page provides very detailed information and should answer many of the questions you have regarding studying Japanese in Japan, attending a Japanese university, doing research in Japan, etc. There's also information on getting scholarships.

Also check the directories in the next section.

Directories of Japan Related Sites

About.com's Japanese Language Page is well done and is sort of an enhanced Yahoo!. The information is better sorted, the descriptions are better, and the person who maintains the information even gives free Japanese lessons on the page for those who are beginners! You should also check About.com's Japanese Culture Page which focuses on culture, ranging from ancient Japan to modern Japanese Anime, Manga, and Music.

Another useful site is Stanford University's JGuide. The front page is similar in style to Yahoo! and provides an easy way to find what you're looking for. Japan Daruma is a similar site.

Yahoo!

And of course Yahoo! has many useful things. Examples include :

Directory of sites about Japan
Directory of Japanese Language Schools
Directory of Online Japanese Lessons and Tutorials
Directory of travel guides and guides on adjusting to life in Japan
Yahoo! Travel Info on Japan
Yahoo! News Search about Japan
Yahoo! Weather in Tokyo or Osaka
Search Yahoo!

options

Related Pages
Teaching English

Finding a Job in Japan

Jobs Using Japanese

If you know Japanese and you'd like to find a job in Japan or elsewhere that will utilize your language skills I would highly recommend Asia Net. Their web site breaks down the jobs available listing into Technical Jobs, Business Positions, or Training positions and further into Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. The job listings include many very prestigious companies so you should definitely give this site a look. You can check their Homepage or the Jobs section.

About.com's Jobs in Japan Page is a good directory of sites related to finding jobs in Japan. These range from descriptions of life working in Japan to the web pages of recruiting companies.

Japan Post - Japan Job Classifieds also looks like it could be useful. The jobs listed on the site itself look to be mostly US based or low paying positions, but there are a large number of links to other job related to sites so if you follow the links around you might find something.

Also check out some of the Japan related references at my Other Resources - Other Japan Sites page.

Jobs Not Requiring Japanese

Among foreigners in Japan teaching English is by far the most common job. The main drawback of this option is that when you first start teaching you are likely to get stuck at a school working you 40 hours a week and paying you 250,000 yen per month, the legal minimum that they can pay someone whos visa they sponsor. However pay will increase quickly with experience and after a few years you'll probably be making much more and working less than half the hours. For information on this I'd recommend reading my "How To" Guide on Studying in Japan - Working in Japan page. Another good web page to check is ESLJapan and the ESLJapan Discussion Board. For listing of jobs teaching English check Japan English Teacher's Association and any of the sites on Yahoo! Teaching English in Japan page. Probably the largest English language school in Japan (and least liked by English teachers) is Nova, they'll interview you back in the US, Canada, Britain, etc. and offer to sponsor your work visa if they like you. You can accept the offer and then quit after you arrive in Japan and find a better job.

As far as other jobs that don't require Japanese are concerned word of mouth says that almost the only way is to get hired in your home country and then transferred to Japan. You should also look through the web pages mentioned in the previous section, About.com's Jobs in Japan Page, Asia Net's job listings or some of the cross-references at Japan Post - Japan Job Classifieds. In some rare cases the firms might be willing to train you in Japanese and then send you to Japan. A couple of friends of mine from college had that experience, as soon as they were hired Mitsubishi sent them to a Japanese course in the US and a few months later they were doing programming in Japan!

You might also want to look through some of the other Japan related sites on my Other Resources - Other Japan Sites page.

Japanese Language Programs in North America

An alternative to studying Japanese in Japan is to study it in a summer program in the US. One program I've heard good things about is the Middlebury University Summer Course in Japanese. The program is supposed to be total immersion (ie. you're only allowed to speak Japanese except a little English in class) and the Japanese resources are supposed to be excellent, including a large selection of Japanese movies and the TVs have only Japanese language programming. You can find a few other programs at Yahoo! Japanese Language Schools in the US.

If your interest in Japan is so great that you're considering majoring in Japanese or if you simply want to take a Japanese class back home then you can find a directory of Japanese language degree programs and courses in North America at Academic Focus Japan : Programs and Resources in North America. This page links to AFJ Online which includes details of perhaps a hundred of the programs available. But I think that it would just be easier and more informative to talk to a Japanese language teacher at a local college.

Making Cheap Phone Calls

By far the cheapest way to call from Japan is via your DSL company. For instance, if you get your DSL from Yahoo!Japan (3000-4000 yen per month) (English info and Official page in Japanese) then the BBPhone DSL modem has a plug for your telephone. Your phone works just like normal, receiving calls and making calls, but if you dial a special code before the calls then your call is sent through the DSL line for around 2.5 yen per minute for calls to the US, with similarly low rates to other countries.

If you are just travelling in Japan or do not have a DSL line then KDDi Super World Card is available at many convenience stores and costs about 35-50 yen a minute to call the US (see the Super World Card web page for details).

To call from the US to Japan there are many cheap long distance services. A few can be found from Cognigen while very cheap phone cards are available from Leancard. Other cheap phone cards can be found at many local ethnic markets.

In Europe, especially in the UK, I've found that all the small drugstores and newsstands have phone card ads posted in their windows and very cheap rates can be had from these phone cards.

In This Section
PC Software
Mac Software
Japanese Radio

Related Pages
Online Dictionaries

Using Japanese on a Computer

The following software are mostly programs that will run on a PC or Macintosh without any additional special Japanese language software. For summaries of these and many more Japanese language programs check :

You might also be interested in reading the next section on listening to Japanese radio on your computer and the section on Online Japanese / English Dictionaries.

Japanese on a PC

Word Processors

There are quite a few Japanese word processors which can be downloaded from the web, ranging from freeware to shareware to normal commercial products. You can find information and download many of these at Monash University's Nihongo Windows FTP Archive. Software available on the site include two freeware word processors, JWP and JWPce, or for a full featured word processor there's also a good demo version of the shareware word processor NJStar. A great new program is the NJStar Communicator 2.0 which will allow you to read and write Japanese on all your current English language software, including your word processor!

Viewing the Web

There are two good programs which allow you to read & write Japanese on the web. The first option "which allows you to input, convert and view Chinese, Japanese, Korean text in standard Windows programs" is the NJStar Communicator 2.0, a free 30 day demo version is available at the NJStar Web Site. This program will not only let you read and write Japanese on your web browser (Netscape or Microsoft) but also on all your normal software (Word Processors, etc.)! The second option is Microsoft's Global IME and Japanese Language Pack which work only with Microsoft Internet Explorer (4.0 or above). These two programs can be downloaded for free from Microsoft's Web Site. If all you need to do is view the web then a third option is the NJStar Internet Viewer.

Reading and Writing E-mail

If you use a free WWW based e-mail account (such as Yahoo! Mail) then you should use the Microsoft Global IME if you use Internet Explorer or NJStar Communicator 2.0 if you use Netscape. With the Global IME you can input text directly into your e-mail, just like you'd do for English. With NJStar you will need to download their shareware Japanese Word Processor, type your document in it, and then paste it into your Yahoo! Mail or Hotmail account. One problem with both of these programs is that they assume all frames on a page use the same encoding format. This usually isn't a problem but sometimes (e.g. on Yahoo! Mail) the Katakana comes out as Chinese Kanji. If you have this problem then you should use the NJStar Internet Viewer to read your email (make sure to disable the Global IME or Asian Language Enabler software first).

All of the Above

One program that should hold hope once some bugs are worked out is NJStar Communicator 2.0, "which allows you to input, convert and view Chinese, Japanese, Korean text in standard Windows programs". This will work with your English web browser, word processor, etc.! However, when you try to delete text it runs into problems, hopefully they'll fix this later.

Japanese on a Macintosh

Word Processors

Unfortunately most Japanese word processors require the KanjiTalk software or Apple Japanese Language Kit. One program that doesn't require either is WordMage, a free 10 hour demo version is downloadable from the web site. If you have the Japanese Language Kit then you can download the freeware word processor Nisus Writer 4.1.6 from the Nisus web site. They hope that after using it you'll want to buy the latest version, Nisus Writer 5.1.3, which incidentally has a free 60 day demo version also available for downloading.

You should also look at the University of Washington's Macintosh Text and Word Processors in Japanese page and the Monash University Nihongo Macintosh FTP Archive, at the latter site you can download some other demos as well as find information on additional software.

Viewing the Web

Unfortunately the NJStar software is not available for the Macintosh. The simplest option which requires no special software is Shodouka. This site will convert the Japanese characters appearing on a web site into graphics, which makes it viewable on basically any computer. The drawback is that it cam be slow in times of high traffic or when you view long documents. If you're willing to spend some money then the best option for Mac users is to buy the Japanese Language Package from Apple. This costs about $99 and I believe it essentially gives you a Japanese language operating system. This should also allow you to view Japanese text on the web if you change the encoding on Netscape Navigator to Japanese (in the "View" menu on the newer versions of the Navigator). But no promises, I haven't tried this.

Writing E-mail

If you type your message in a Japanese word processor and then paste it into your e-mail you'll be able to send e-mail in Japanese. Without the Japanese Language Kit it'll probably appear as jibberish in the e-mail message but as long as the receiver's computer can display Japanese then they'll be able to read it. Some e-mail accounts won't allow you to paste in the Japanese, in that case you should get a free web based account, for example at Yahoo! Mail.

Listening to Japanese Radio on Your Computer

Perhaps you're studying Japanese and would like to hear "real Japanese" rather than what you hear on language tapes all the time. In that case you should check the Real Network's Japan Page. If you want to hear the news then click on the "Yomiuri News Stream" icon and after a short bit of downloading the computer will begin playing the news broadcast on your computer. The broadcast is 7-8 minutes in Japanese and is updated every day. It's sort of a slide show style, the voice reads the news continiously but the image only changes every 10 seconds or so. Many of the English programs (CNN, ABC, etc.) have video along with the voice so perhaps Yomiuri will add that some time in the future. If you want to see what else is available then check Real Network's English Page.

In This Section
Books Outside Japan
Books In Japan
Dictionaries
Online Dictionary

Buying Books In and Outside Japan

Buying Japanese Books Outside Japan

If you're interested in learning about Japanese culture or want to study the Japanese language then you'll need to find bookstores and language material.

Language Material

There are millions of textbooks but I can't really make a recommendation because the ones I used in Japan were all Japanese only, with no English. But if you want something a bit more fun than a textbook then there are three magazines I know of : Hiragana Times, Nihongo Journal, and Mangajin (now defunct). The first is meant to be a bi-lingual magazine, it has regular articles in English with the Japanese translations next to them. The second contains some articles in that form but mainly focuses on teaching you something new each month. The last has Japanese comics and then translates them to English along with explanations of the grammar. Mangajin is a US based publication so it's packed full of ads selling software and other learning materials that you might want, whereas the other two are Japan based so the ads are probably mostly for places in Japan. You can also order Hiragana Times and Nihongo Journal from Mangajin.

For information on Japanese - English dictionaries, printed and electronic, please check the Dictionaries Section of this page.

Bookstores

You should be able to find these and other items at large university bookstores but another option would be to go to a Japanese bookstore that has branches in your country. Here are many Japanese bookstores outside Japan. Bookstore websites listing their overseas locations include Kinokuniya, Maruzen and Asahiya.

Buying English Books in Japan

After arriving in Japan you'll probably soon be wishing you brought more English books with you. The first thing you'll notice when you go to a bookstore is the price, English language books and magazines are generally marked up about 50%!

If you're looking for books and don't mind waiting a few days then you can get English books online at Amazon.co.jp at 5-20% off the US cover price. Full time students can save even more on magazines by getting a student subscription. For instance, The Economist magazine is 900 yen an issue in the bookstore, but when I called their subscription office in Tokyo (number listed inside the magazine) they gave me a student subscription at 16,000 yen a year (300 yen an issue), an enormous savings over the bookstore.

Bookstores in Kansai (Osaka, Kyoto, etc.)

One of the more convenient bookstores In Osaka with a large English language section is Kinokuniya, located in the Hankyu Umeda train station. However, the Junku-dou bookstore near Namba is far bigger and has a much more comprehensive English language section. Books that aren't in-stock can often be special ordered and if it's at one of their stores in Japan they can get it fairly quickly. But if the book's not in stock it might just be easier and cheaper to order from Amazon.co.jp.

For those in Kyoto there's also a bookstore that sells English books at their American price, quite a discount considering that as I mentioned earlier books are typically marked up 50%. I'll post information about the store when I find it.

Bookstores around Japan

A website listing addresses and directions to bookstores in Japan (in English) is Evelyn C. Leeper's page on Bookstores in Japan.

Most company web sites seem to list address information only in Japanese. Kinokuniya is one exception, check their list of stores in Japan. Other major chains in Japan that carry English books include Maruzen, Asahiya, and Bunkyodo. But in general the best way to find a good store near where you're living is just to find another foreigner and ask them.

Japanese - English Dictionaries

Printed Dictionaries

If you're looking for dictionaries there are a few types. For beginners there are Japanese to English and English to Japanese "learner's dictionaries" that use "romaji", i.e. they write Japanese words using English characters. Once you start running into a lot of words that aren't in those dictionaries then you should move up to a dictionary that uses Japanese characters (hiragana, katakana, and kanji) throughout. In many bookstores you will need to look in the dictionary section intended for Japanese people studying English, in Japan the part of the bookstore for foreigners had only the "learners dictionaries".

Online Dictionaries

Google Translate will translate between English and Japanese, but the Japanese input and output are in the Japanese alphabet (kanji, hiragana and katakana). You can find an online romanized Japanese-English dictionary at Jeffreys's Japanese <-> English Dictionary Page or Jim Breen's WWWJDIC Japanese Dictionary Server, among others.

Electronic Dictionaries

If you go to any electronics shop or bookstore in Japan you'll find a wide variety of Japanese-English electronic dictionaries. There's not much point in my posting details on these, because electronics change on such a regular basis. However, when shopping around you'll want to make sure the dictionary you get includes a Kanji finder so that you can look up unknown characters by counting strokes. And if you plan on learning Japanese at a high level then a straight Japanese-English dictionary will eventually be insufficient, so it would be good to select a Japanese-English electronic dictionary which includes Kojien, which is considered to be the authoritative Japanese language dictionary.

Last modified: August 9, 1999

Ravi Montenegro (monteneg@yahoo.com)