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The Fun Japanese
Not Found in Textbooks
For Beginners to Intermediates
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Learn Japanese with Makoto+. Cancel anytime · 7-day free trial on monthly plans
Makoto Magazine is included with the Samurai and Shogun memberships.
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Sign Up Free- ~A dozen interactive stories in the app
- Weekly sentence breakdown + shadowing
- 2 free courses (Hiragana & JLPT N5 Kanji)
- Kana flashcards, word bank & vocab quizzes
- Exclusive podcast bonus material
- 5% reusable TheJapanShop.com coupon
- Earn & redeem Sakura reward points
SAMURAI
Cheaper than one magazine issue
Save $10/yr · billed $50/year
Get Samurai — Annual- Everything in Free, plus…
- Dozens of interactive stories & full app features
- The Makoto magazine — download & keep every new issue (PDF/ePub/MP3)
- Browse the last 3 issues in web format
- A free eBook to keep, about once a month
- Audio quizzes & haiku / poetry collections
- Other courses at a steep member discount
- 10% reusable TheJapanShop.com coupon
SHOGUN
Everything. Unlimited.
Save $21/yr · billed $99/year
Get Shogun — Annual- Everything in Samurai, plus…
- Hundreds of interactive stories
- Web access to the entire Makoto back catalogue
- All courses free — every current & future course
- Kanji flashcards with spaced repetition (N5–N1)
- The most articles & exclusive content
- 20% reusable coupon + occasional exclusive sales
| Compare everything | Free | Samurai | Shogun |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | |||
| Monthly price | $0 | $5 | $10 |
| Yearly price | — | $50 | $99 ($8.25/mo) |
| 7-day free trial (monthly plans) | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Stories & study (app) | |||
| Interactive stories | ~a dozen | Dozens | Hundreds |
| Weekly sentence breakdown + shadowing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Furigana, dictionary & vocab quizzes | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Word bank (save your vocabulary) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Hiragana & Katakana flashcards | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Audio (listen-and-answer) quizzes | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Haiku & poetry collections | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Kanji flashcards w/ spaced repetition (N5–N1) | — | — | ✓ |
| Makoto Magazine | |||
| Download & keep every new issue (PDF/ePub/MP3) | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Read issues in web format | — | Last 3 issues | Entire back catalogue |
| Courses, eBooks & perks | |||
| Courses included free | 2 (Hiragana & N5 Kanji) | 2 + others at a discount | All courses |
| Free monthly eBook to keep | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Bonus podcast material | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Reusable TheJapanShop.com coupon | 5% | 10% | 20% |
| Occasional exclusive sales | — | — | ✓ |
| Earn & redeem Sakura reward points | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Sign Up | Get Annual | Get Annual | |
Annual plans save you ~2 months · Monthly plans include a 7-day free trial · Cancel anytime · Sakura reward points for every tier.
Makoto Japanese Explorer is Here
Read. Listen. Learn Japanese — the fun way.
Explore stories, vocabulary, grammar, and culture with the brand-new Makoto Japanese Explorer app for Android, iPad, and iPhone. Beautifully designed, fully interactive, and completely free to download.
You can read full stories, listen to line-by-line audio, take quizzes, save words to your Word Bank, and track your progress — all without paying or entering a credit card.
iPhone users: Get it now for FREE.
Android users: Get it now for FREE.
A Powerful Learning App
We built this for our Samurai and Shogun members…but Free members get a full experience, not a limited demo.
**Let our awesome subscribers speak for us**
Geoff
❝ I have every issue of Makoto (70 and counting) and they add so much to learning Japanese. The content is varied and interesting, and everything is broken down so that it's easy to understand how Japanese sentences work and to get a feel for the language. But learning a language is so much more than just vocabulary and grammar. I want to learn about the country, the geography, the history, the culture, the people - and it's all here. It makes learning Japanese a far richer experience. Great work.❞
Jacky
❝ I highly recommend Makoto's Japanese learning website, ebooks, and bundles to anyone interested in learning Japanese. Whether you are a beginner or at an advanced level, you will find these resources invaluable. Their commitment to quality and learner success shines through in every aspect of their offerings. Thank you, Makoto, for making my journey in learning Japanese a truly enriching experience.❞
Thomas
❝ Makoto has enabled me to better understand the Japanese culture and language. The etymology of both words and phrases is a great help. Makoto incorporates modern and historical examples of Japanese grammar, vocabulary, geographical information, and historical anecdotes. I especially love the colloquial language lessons and the use of anime and Japanese video spots to enhance their lessons...❞
Beatrice
❝ Hi! My name is Beatrice and I come from Milano, Italy. I love Makoto +, Shogun was my birthday present and it’ll be that every year! I can find a valid method to learn Japanese from the beginning, and it is various and funny! I am going to have my JLPT N5 exam, so I am sure that also in the future for upper levels I’ll find a lot of things to read and learn. In Italian I can say: mai più senza Makoto + (never again without Makoto +)!!!❞
Annerose
❝ As an upper intermediate Japanese language learner living outside Japan, I enjoy the hard work Clay and Yumi are putting into Makoto+, including the monthly magazine and all the tools available online. Kanji have furigana and the use of romaji is limited to the bare minimum. I appreciate the magazine format, as I saved all of them and can go back to them at will. Magazines can also be used online as a tool with several options.❞
Andrea
❝ Well... I think MAKOTO+ is one of the most valuable set of materials for language learning I have ever met in my life! Why? Because it is complete, exhaustive, rich of interesting contents, easy to read and approach. What's better than an informal "magazine" to improve a foreign language learning? Here we are speaking about Japanese guys! It's not just a "next door" language to learn. But with MAKOTO the distances between ourselves and Japanese become shorter and shorter! What can I say more than compliments to Clay and team? Well done guys!❞
Share your experience with Makoto+. Tell us how this helped your Japanese learning. Click here to write a very short testimonial.
Our New FREE Tier Requires No Credit Card
Monthly Theme with essays, vocabulary, interactive quizzes, and games | Monthly Fun Phrase | Weekly Sentence Breakdown | Two Free Makoto+ Courses | Podcast Bonus Downloads
Join Today and Level Up Your Japanese—For Free!
Get started with engaging lessons and bonus content designed to keep you motivated. While the free membership doesn’t include our full magazine or premium perks, it’s a great way to stay on track with your learning—at no cost!
As a Free Member, You’ll Get:
A new learning email every other week, as well as:
Monthly Theme & Fun Phrase (see below for an example)
One Weekly Sentence Breakdown with Shadowing & Repetition
Free Access to Two Makoto+ Courses
Exclusive Podcast Bonus Material
5% Off Anything at TheJapanShop.com (Reusable Coupon)
No Credit Card Required—100% Free!
No commitment, just fun and effective Japanese learning. 
Join today and start leveling up your skills!
What is Makoto?
Makoto+ is built for adults learning Japanese as a habit, not a sprint. The Makoto monthly magazine is at the heart of it — beginner to intermediate, the cultural and practical Japanese that textbooks tend to skip — surrounded by a growing set of interactive tools that turn reading into something you actually keep doing.
I love this e-zine. It helps me understand the culture and the language. I highly recommend it.
Makoto Subscriber
The magazine.
A monthly digital magazine: short stories with vocabulary and audio, grammar deep-dives, kanji breakdowns, cultural notes, food, folklore, the language quirks no class is going to teach you. Paid members get the current issue and every issue published while they're a member — in PDF, ePub, Kindle, or web format with audio on every sentence. Shogun members also get web access to the full 100+ issue back catalogue.
The (Makoto+) site feels very generous and makes me feel special / appreciated / part of a group of other happy Japanese learners.
Current Makoto+ Member
Read wherever you are.
The Makoto+ app for iPhone and Android puts the stories in your pocket — open one while you're waiting for the train, tap any word for its reading and meaning, save vocabulary as you go. The web version works on every device. Most members do a mix.
Built to actually stick.
- Sentence Explorer — break any sentence down, see exactly why it means what it means
- Daily missions — small goals that keep the streak going
- Sakura rewards — gamified progress for the visual types
- Spaced review — words you saved come back at the right moments: a day later, a week later, a month later
I would like to add that the new shadowing feature is a stroke of genius. My Japanese is nowhere near good enough to attempt a newspaper article, but giving key vocab and structures like this helps with getting to know what's in the news in Japan. Thank you for your excellent work.
Current Makoto+ Member
Courses.
- Hiragana · JLPT N5 Kanji — free with any Makoto+ account, no credit card
- Katakana · Japanese Idioms · Japanese Names — included with Shogun, or available individually; more coming soon
Your website (Makoto+) is easy to use, has lots of authentic, interesting language and I LOVE all of the audio clips for practicing.
Current Makoto+ Member
Try it free, no credit card required.
A free Makoto+ account is enough to see if this is for you — about a dozen interactive stories, the Hiragana course, and the habit-building tools. Paid tiers add the magazine, hundreds more stories, the full Sentence Explorer, and the rest of the courses.
About Makoto+
The Makoto magazine is at the heart of it — a monthly print and digital publication for beginner-to-intermediate Japanese learners, full of the cultural and practical Japanese that textbooks tend to skip: short stories with audio, grammar, kanji, food, folklore, the language quirks no class is going to teach you.
Makoto+ is the membership we built around it: an interactive iPhone and Android app, a sentence-by-sentence study tool, daily-habit features, spaced review, and self-paced courses. Free to try — no credit card required.
Teaching Japanese since 1999.
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