Photos of Joyo Kanji in Action Help You Learn Japanese Characters

"JOKIA" stands for "Joyo Kanji in Action." JOKIA photo albums show kanji in their natural habitats, bringing them to life. The photos are of signs, book covers, posters, clothing, tattoos, and so on. One reader said, "I browsed through the JOKIA albums, and they are lovely! Reminded me a lot of being in Japan and trying to understand signs and texts."  

Each album shines a spotlight on one kanji and presents it in about 10 photos. If a character has three Joyo readings, you will see several images corresponding to the first yomi, then the second, then the third, giving you a chance to become comfortable with each reading. A template at the beginning of each album displays all the Joyo yomi, as well as the definitions. Then, before you see any photos, the template will appear once more with a yomi in red. This signals to you that the next set of photos will correspond to that reading. After that batch, you'll again see the template, this time with a new reading in red. Subsequent pictures will highlight that yomi. The albums showcase the most important words for each yomi. This will enable you to build your vocabulary and recognize words in more and more signs in Japan.

You can play the albums as slideshows or can explore them at your own pace by using manual settings. The small gray boxes in the index on the left give you another way to navigate through an album; by clicking on these boxes, you can go straight to certain photos. Using the "Hide Captions" option, you can treat the album as a set of flashcards on a repeat viewing, seeing how much you've learned. After you buy an album for $.50, you can view it as many times as you like. Enjoy!