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Real Japanese, taught right — from the makers of Makoto Magazine.

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6,000+ Japanese learners
100+ issues of Makoto Magazine
Teaching Japanese since 1999

 

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— A Makoto+ Member

 

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Everything you get, the moment you sign up

Not a newsletter. A whole free ecosystem for learning Japanese the way it’s actually used.

 

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The Makoto+ App

Free access to 12 full stories on iOS & Android, with native-speaker audio at slow and natural speeds.

 

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Weekly Audio Breakdowns

One real Japanese sentence each week, fully unpacked with grammar notes and shadowing practice you can do in five minutes.

 

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Monthly Vocab Themes

Around 24 new words each month at both beginner and intermediate levels — with matching games, quizzes, and essays.

 

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Member-Only Goodies

Podcast bonus materials, downloadable PDFs, and a 10% shop discount. Our way of saying thanks for learning with us.

 

A real lesson from this month

See exactly what kind of Japanese you’ll be learning.

Every month, free members get a themed vocabulary lesson and a fun phrase — the kind of words real Japanese people actually use, not the polite-but-stiff phrases you’ll find in a 1990s textbook. Here’s what’s live right now:

 

This month, let’s look at

読書の秋 — Autumn, the Season for Reading
読書の秋 — Autumn, the Season for Reading 読書の秋 — Autumn, the Season for Reading
読書どくしょの秋あき means “autumn, the season for reading”: once the summer heat breaks, the cool, long nights of 秋あきの夜長よなが make it the perfect time to settle in with a book. Japan even has a national Book Week, 読書週間どくしょしゅうかん, which runs from October 27 to November 9 and reaches its 80th year in 2026, and the same 〜の秋あき pattern gives you 食欲しょくよくの秋あき (autumn appetite) and スポーツの秋あき (autumn for sports). Beginners can pick up book, library, and evening vocabulary along with simple ways to say what something is perfect for, while intermediate learners can explore why autumn became reading season and how Book Week began after the war.
📦 Download PDF & Sound Files
This Month's Fun Phrase
ほっこり

A warm cup of tea for the heart

ほっこり

ほっこり

Warm and cozy / Heartwarming

JLPT N5 · 漢字
MakotoPlus.com

Kanji Quiz

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    Questions, answered honestly

     

    Is it really 100% free?

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    You’ll get 2–3 short Japanese lessons a week — fun words, phrases, and oddities you won’t find in textbooks, plus occasional news on new books and Makoto Magazine. Every email has a one-click unsubscribe at the bottom. We don’t do spam.

    Do I need to know any Japanese already?

    Not much. To use most of the material, you will need to know hiragana, but your free membership comes with free access to our premium Makoto+ hiragana course. If you are just starting out, begin with the hiragana course. The monthly vocab lessons come in both beginner and intermediate tracks, and the weekly sentence breakdowns include full pronunciation guides. If you can read hiragana — or you’re willing to learn it — you’re ready for all of Makoto.

    What is Makoto+ exactly?

    Makoto+ is the digital home for everything we’ve built over the past 25+ years. We’ve been teaching Japanese online since 1999 (when we started TheJapanesePage.com), publishing Japanese learning books since 2001, and producing Makoto Magazine since 2018. Makoto+ pulls it all into one website, one app, and one membership — with new lessons, audio, and interactive content added regularly.

    Who’s behind it?

    Makoto+ was started by Clay & Yumi Boutwell and is published by The Japan Shop and a small team of Japanese language teachers, native speakers, and learners. Over the years, we’ve put out a hundred issues of Makoto Magazine, over a hundred books, and a long-running podcast. We’re not going anywhere.

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    Published by The Japan Shop · MakotoPlus.com


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