A complete kana workbook for absolute beginners.
All 92 hiragana and katakana characters, with stroke order, tracing and handwriting practice, reading drills that take the romaji away, and a full answer key. 60 pages, one PDF, $9 once. Download it now and start tonight.
Everything kana. Nothing missing.
All 92 characters across both scripts. Every voiced form, every small-character combination, every look-alike pair untangled. Stroke order for each one, practice grids that expect real handwriting, and reading pages with no romaji safety net.
See it. Write it. Read it.
See it.
Each character arrives with a hook your memory can hold. シ and ツ stop being twins.
Write it.
Stroke order and guided grids. Your hand learns what your eyes keep forgetting.
Read it.
Real words from the first page. Reading is what makes it permanent.
Real pages, not mock-ups.
Six spreads from the book itself. Every character page gives you a shape, a sound, a word you can picture and somewhere to write it. Every practice page expects a pen.
Hold it until it clicks.
Press and hold the character.
Who it is for, and who it is not.
This is for you if
- You are starting Japanese from zero and want to do the first step properly.
- You have used apps for weeks and still read letter by letter.
- You know most of hiragana and almost none of katakana.
- You want to write by hand, not tap through a streak.
- You would rather own one finished book than assemble nine free tabs.
This is not for you if
- You already read both scripts fluently and out of order.
- You are looking for kanji, grammar or JLPT N4 and above — this book stops at kana.
- You want an app with reminders and streaks rather than paper.
- You want spoken audio lessons. This is a reading and writing book.
When you finish it you will read any kana word at a glance without sounding it out, write all 92 characters from memory with correct stroke order, tell the look-alike pairs apart on sight, and read a menu, a label or a station sign without a chart in your other hand.
Something is taking shape.
Learn Japanese. Follow the story. Become part of it.
A learning experience built around one continuing story, starting at JLPT N5 and N4. At its centre, an original manga written for learners: chapter one is drawn, and we are not showing it yet.
Every learner tells the same story.
It just won't stick.
I still read letter by letter.
I know them, until I take a week off.
I keep peeking at the chart.
The story changes when the method does.
A digital studio, run like a workshop.
Hikari Nihongo builds learning products that make studying interactive and genuinely fun. Everything is made in-house: written, drawn, checked and published here, so the work keeps a single voice and a single standard.
Hikari Nihongo is the Japanese-learning branch of Hikari, a digital studio that also designs and builds websites for small businesses. About Hikari →
Start with fifteen characters, free.
The Kana Starter Pack is a real slice of the book: fifteen characters with pronunciation, tracing and handwriting pages, a mini reading quiz with the answers, and a progress tracker. It costs nothing and it will tell you within a day whether this way of studying suits you.
Start reading before you buy anything.
Full charts, the rules that actually matter, and printable practice sheets — all free, all written by the same hand that made the book.
Asked before buying.
There are free kana guides. Why pay?
There are, and some are good. This is the finished version: one designed book instead of nine tabs, both scripts complete, writing and reading built in, and it costs less than lunch. You spend your energy learning, not assembling.
Will it actually stick this time?
Speed alone fades. The workbook pairs recognition with handwriting and real reading pages, which is the combination learners say finally holds after apps and charts did not.
Is katakana fully covered?
Yes, and it gets equal weight. Katakana is where most learners stay weak, so the look-alike pairs and loanword reading pages are all in.
Do I need any Japanese first?
None. Page one assumes zero.
What exactly do I get?
A 60-page digital workbook as a PDF, downloadable the minute you buy. Print it or write along on a tablet. Yours forever, no subscription.
Can I get a refund?
Not at present. The workbook is a digital download, so all sales are final once the purchase completes. If anything is wrong with your file, write to info@hikarii.net and we will sort the file out.
What is Hikari Nihongo?
Hikari Nihongo is the Japanese-learning branch of Hikari. Today that means the Kana Workbook and the free guides. Next is a learning experience built around one continuing story, starting at JLPT N5 and N4, and everything it opens later builds on the same characters and pace. The early list hears first.
Download it now. Use it tonight.
