I made Kanami for myself when I was starting my first year Japanese studies about three years ago. I got the idea from a classmate of mine, who had this tiny piece of paper with him in the classroom, which basically contained the same kana charts you now find in Kanami. First I wrote a similar one for myself – and soon found out that it was never with me when I needed it. The solution: Best place for kana charts was in my iPhone, as it’s always within reach.

iPhone of course has a little bonus: I could include writing instructions, all the combination characters, and little extras like a link to Denshi Jisho mobile version – the best online Japanese dictionary. This was the Kanami first version – a comprehensive hiragana and katakana reference, which you could quickly use in the classroom or while making homework.

Before Kanami was published, I had used a few web based trainers to learn the hiraganas. I felt the approach of a simple repeating drill worked best for me, so I reused my best experiences in the making of Kanami trainer. Training with Kanami in short: You click, click, click, click – sometimes for half an hour, sometimes less. You can do this anywhere, as the trainer is always with you. The inevitable result: I did learn Katakanas using my own app. And I believe you can learn them too. Click, Click, Click.

Still today – I need Kanami every now and then. I don’t know if you fellow students have noticed already, but if you don’t actively read hiragana/katakana, it only takes like few months before you start forgetting what you learned. Today I feel that the app contains everything I needed to learn the kanas, and later on to refresh my memory.

Hope you enjoy the app as much as I do! If it’s not too much trouble, I’d love to hear stories (or just few lines) if it has helped in your studies! Or if you think there’s something missing, please drop me a line. You can find my contact information in the bottom of the screen.

がんばって！

Janne Hansen

FAST: You can see the whole hiragana or katakana chart at a glance – no need to scroll or navigate to find what you’re looking for. It’s always there.

COMPLETE: In addition to the ”basic textbook” kanas, Kanami contains over 90 combinations you usually won’t find in textbooks or other iPhone apps. These more rare combinations are typically used while translating foreign words (like place names) into Japanese. Kanami also contains writing instructions for both hiraganas and katakana’s (both stroke order and direction).

YOUR WAY: Supports all the standard ways of presenting the kana charts. Landscape, portrait, and with reading order starting from left or right. You choose.

TRAINER: Trainer helps you memorize the kanas as you would learn them naturally; First choose if you want to train hiraganas or katakanas. Start the training with smaller set of characters at a time, and add more as you learn. Trainer also lets you do the training both ways – from kana to romanji or vice versa. Your way.

The extras section contains links to language related sites etc.
Languages available: International English, Suomi.

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Kanami Free

Not sure yet? Try the free version! Kanami Free has all the basic hiragana and katakana charts, plus the common combinations.

What you’ll be missing…

Free version doesn’t have the trainer, writing instructions or the extended combination kanas available. Free version also contains ads and reminders about the full version. Please note that further limitations may apply in the future.

Get Kanami Free

Get Full Version

Full version is only $2.99 (= 2,39 €). Cheaper than a cup of latte. Or a manga pocket book.

For questions, feedback or ideas how to improve Kanami, please e-mail me directly. You can find my contact information in the bottom of the screen.

Graphics

NASA galleries for the coolest space images ever!

Trademarks

Apple, the Apple logo, iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc.

18.4.2013Kanami 4.0 universal app is now available on the App Store. The iPad version looks great on retina display! Enjoy!