Background of this web-site

Yukiko has been giving private Japanese lessons in Tokyo, mainly to the people in the british Embassy and business persons from Europe since 1978.
Although Japan is aiming to be international and is trying to invite more foreigners to study and work here, it is still quite unfair for non-kanji users that most of the buttons on domestic appliances and signs are in Kanji only. Kanji is also a high hurdle for those who want to step up to the advanced level in their Japanese study.

"Could we support them with any different approaches to learning Kanji?"
"How can we show them not only the usefulness but also the charm of Kanji, as a pictograph, a phonogram and an ideogram at the same time?

That was the starting point of my challenge.

There are already so many books and web-sites dealing with introductory course in Kanji. In this web-site, I selected Kanji words and useful phrases for foreign business persons and their spouses living in Japan (principally those who had already some basic Japanese lessons). We are planning to give more information about the Kanji around you, such as mobile phones, automated cash dispensers, etc. Any questions, requests and advice are always welcomed. This page is being developed and (hopefully) updated everyday, so frequent visit is requested.

All Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana characters are converted to GIF files so thatyou can see them on the PC with Table tag enabled layout capability (such as Netscape or Internet Explorer)even if it doesn't have Japanese Operation System. I greatly appreciate all the hard work, computer skills and patience of my sister in producing this web-site.
is the most popular transcription of the long vowel sound in the Japanese textbooks, we intentionally used double vowels in Romaji such as " oo" to prevent you from having trouble with any web browser you use. I still feel reluctant to use these double vowels because they are very confusing for English speakers.

Finally, I am very grateful to my british students for their help in giving idiomatic U.K. English phrases to this page, and teachers of Office N.(Japanese teachers' group to improve their teaching skill) for their kind advice.