How it all began
In early 2025, I was frustrated that graded readers were either too scarce or too expensive. I wanted an app that let me dive into native stories, stumble on unknown words, and learn them on the spot – guilt-free. I built a quick prototype and showed it to my friend Haruki Yamamoto, a novelist whose Amazon books chronicle her own language-learning journey. She loved the concept and started writing exclusive short stories for the app. Six months later ReadNihongo v0.1 shipped.
Our mission
We curate native Japanese content that’s fun, short, and actually readable at JLPT N5. Watch one ad to unlock a story forever, then read it offline – no paywall surprises.
Accessible
Ad-unlock system means anyone can read every story for free.
Immersive
Furigana auto-hides once you know a kanji, so you stay in flow.
Curated
Every piece is hand-picked & level-checked by Haruki.
What’s next
Here’s what we’re cooking for v0.2:
• Web full-screen reader (this site!)
• Tategaki vertical-text mode
• Native iOS launch
• Higher-quality TTS for audio read-along