Playbooks
Genkōyōshi Practice Paper Explained
Japanese squared manuscript paper, one character per box. Why the grid fixes handwriting proportion, how to use it correctly, and when to stop needing it.
Lawrence Arya··10 min
Essays
Handwriting or Typing Japanese: What Each Builds
Typing asks you to recognise a candidate; handwriting asks you to produce a character. Why fluent typists cannot write, and the ten minutes that fixes it.
Lawrence Arya··10 min
Playbooks
Keeping a Japanese Handwriting Journal
Five minutes and three sentences a day turns practice into output, exposes the words drills never cover, and leaves a record that shows real improvement.
Lawrence Arya··10 min
Playbooks
How to Write Kanji Neatly: The Three Fundamentals
Neat kanji comes from the square, component proportion and consistent stroke order rather than talent. Including the kana proportions nobody mentions.
Lawrence Arya··11 min
Research
The Japanese Writing Systems Explained
Hiragana carries grammar, katakana marks foreign words, kanji carry meaning. What each script does, why three is not madness, and where learners get stuck.
Lawrence Arya··10 min
Essays
Kanji and Chinese Hanzi: What Actually Differs
Same origin, separate histories. Where the forms diverged, why readings are the real difference, and what transfers if you already know one of the two.
Lawrence Arya··10 min
Playbooks
Looking Up Kanji by Radical, and the Faster Methods
The traditional radical-plus-stroke-count method, multi-radical search, handwriting input and optical lookup: which to use when, and what each one teaches you.
Lawrence Arya··10 min
Research
The Jōyō Kanji List Explained, and How to Use It
2,136 characters designated for general use in Japan. What the list is for, what it is not, how it relates to school kanji and the JLPT, and how to use it well.
Lawrence Arya··10 min
Research
Okurigana Explained: The Kana After the Kanji
The kana that complete a word carry the grammar kanji cannot show. What they do, why learners get them wrong, the patterns that help, and how to practise them.
Lawrence Arya··10 min
Research
How Many Kanji Do You Need to Know?
The official jōyō list has 2,136 characters. What that means for reading, why the JLPT needs no handwriting at all, and how small a writing set actually needs to be.
Lawrence Arya··10 min
Research
Kanji Stroke Count Explained, and What It Is For
Stroke count is a lookup index, not a difficulty rating. What counts as one stroke, why high counts are not hard, and where the number genuinely matters.
Lawrence Arya··10 min
Research
On and Kun Readings Explained: Which One Applies
On readings came from Chinese, kun readings are native Japanese. Where they came from, the three patterns that mostly hold, and why writers should care.
Lawrence Arya··10 min