Yokoso

Japanese for the life you're actually living in Japan

Yokoso (ようこそ — "welcome") is a free Japanese-learning app built around one idea: the Japanese that matters first is the Japanese around you. Shop doors, price tags, station signs, the phrase that gets the check. Learn that, and the country starts making sense in weeks, not years.

Open Yokoso — it's free Download on the App Store

What makes it different

No placement test. Answer questions from minute one. The app probes what you already know, skips it, and never makes you sit through a lesson on something you've already learned elsewhere.
Real-world material. The signs on actual shop doors (営業中, 準備中), prices the way registers say them, the phrases that work at any counter in the country.
Science, not streaks. Spaced repetition tuned to a measured retention target, memory hooks you can rewrite in your own words, and grammar the app names only after you've already used it correctly.
Honest progress. JLPT coverage tracked as facts, and milestones on real scales — ILR, CEFR, college-course equivalence — with field notes on why learning feels the way it does.
Bring your history. WaniKani import carries your kanji progress over; Bunpro import carries your grammar. Nothing restarts.

Free forever — actually

Every learning feature is free, permanently. No ads, no streak guilt, no locked lessons, no "premium" tier. Optional supporter contributions exist for people who want development to continue — they unlock nothing, because nothing is locked.

Private by default

Your progress lives on your device. No analytics, no tracking, no third parties. Optional sync and sign-in exist purely so your own devices agree with each other. The privacy policy is four paragraphs because there's nothing to disclose.

Frequently asked

Is there an iPhone app? Yes — Yokoso is on the App Store, and the web version works on anything with a browser, offline included.

I already know some Japanese. Will it waste my time? No — that's the core design. Claimed knowledge is verified instead of re-taught, and anything you demonstrate is skipped.

Does it prepare me for the JLPT? It tracks N5 coverage and beyond honestly — coverage and readiness are different numbers, and Yokoso shows both.

Who builds it? One person living in Aomori, Japan, learning the language the same way you are. Questions: support.