A journey of collecting words

旅の準備

Set up the tools I use to learn Japanese: Anki for flashcards, a pop-up dictionary that turns any word into a card, and tools that make cards from anime, games and books. You don't need any technical skills. Follow the steps and tick each one off as you go.

Where are you starting from?

Chapter one

基礎The basics, for everyone

Do these six steps in order. When you're done, you can review cards every day and add new words with one click.

1

Back up your old AnkiSkip this if you've never used Anki

  1. Open Anki.
  2. Click File›Export…
  3. Choose Anki Collection Package (.colpkg) and tick Include media.
  4. Save the file somewhere safe, such as your Desktop.
2

Install the right Anki versionThe JSchoreels FSRS-7 version of Anki

I use a special version of Anki. It schedules your cards better, and several add-ons below only work with it. It uses the same cards and the same AnkiWeb account as normal Anki.

  1. Close Anki if it's open.
  2. Open the download page:
    Anki download page
  3. Scroll down to Assets and click the file that ends in -win-x64.msi.
    On a Mac with an M chip, take -mac-apple.dmg. On an older Mac, take -mac-intel.dmg.
  4. Double-click the downloaded file and click Next until it's installed.
  5. Open Anki. Your decks are still there.

Tested with version 26.09.3+fsrs7, builds 109 and 110. If a newer build gives you trouble, pick build 110 from the list of all versions.

3

Install the add-onsEleven add-ons in one go

  1. In Anki, click Tools›Add-ons›Get Add-ons…
  2. Click Copy below, then paste into the Code box with Ctrl + V:
    1635024181 218829258 160848019 1798968356 1542952656 1339555413 408592650 1184164376 1771074083 148002038 1151815987
  3. Click OK and wait until it's done.
  4. Close Anki and open it again.

Don't install the normal AnkiConnect (2055492159). It doesn't work with this Anki version. AnkiConnect Extended, which is in the list above, replaces it.

What did I just install?
Add-onWhat it does
AnkiConnect ExtendedLets the dictionary and the other tools add cards to Anki
FSRS HelperSmarter scheduling, and spreads reviews evenly across days
Dynamic Desired RetentionLets common words be remembered better than rare ones
FSRS Dynamic Preset SelectionPicks the scheduling settings for each card
Change FSRS Version for PresetsSwitches all your decks to FSRS-7 in one click
Search Stats ExtendedBetter statistics
Kiku Note ManagerHelper for the Kiku card design in Step 5
backfill-anki-yomitanFills in missing readings, pitch and definitions later
Review HeatmapA calendar of the days you studied
Japanese Pitch AccentShows pitch accent on cards
AJT Media ConverterMakes images and audio smaller
4

Install Onigiri, a nicer look for AnkiUse this fixed version

Onigiri replaces Anki's plain home screen with a modern dashboard. The normal Onigiri crashes on this Anki version, so use the fixed one:

  1. Open the download page:
    Onigiri download page
  2. Under Assets, click Onigiri-jschoreels.ankiaddon.
  3. Double-click the downloaded file. Anki opens and asks to install it. Click Yes.
  4. Close Anki and open it again.

If Anki ever offers to update Onigiri, skip it, because that would bring back the version that crashes. Get updates from the page above instead.

5

Turn on FSRS and add the Kiku card design

Turn on FSRS

  1. Next to your deck, click the ⚙ cog, then Options.
  2. Scroll to FSRS, turn it on and choose FSRS-7. Click Save.
  3. Once you have a few hundred reviews, come back and click Optimize. Do this about once a month.

Add Kiku

  1. Open the download page:
    Kiku download page
  2. Under Assets, click the file named like Kiku_v….apkg.
  3. Double-click the downloaded file. Anki imports it, and you now have a card type called Kiku.
  4. On Anki's main screen, click Create Deck at the bottom and name it Mining. New cards go here.

One Kiku card can test you on a word, a sentence or listening. I make most of mine listening cards, because my goal is to speak. To make a card a listening card, type x in its IsAudioCard field. More help is in Kiku's own guide.

6

Install the pop-up dictionaryHachidori, for Chrome

Hachidori shows what a word means when you point at it on any web page, and adds it to Anki with one click.

  1. Search for Hachidori in the Chrome Web Store and click Add to Chrome. (Project page: github.com/bee-san/hachidori)
  2. Open its settings: click the puzzle-piece icon at the top right of Chrome, then Hachidori.
  3. Add a dictionary under Dictionaries. Jitendex is a good one: download its ZIP file and import it without unzipping it. A frequency list and a pitch accent dictionary are nice extras.
  4. Under Anki, choose:
    1. Deck: Mining
    2. Note type: Kiku
    3. Match the fields. Kiku's names match what Hachidori suggests.
  5. Under Settings›Sharing, turn sharing on and click Download the Anki add-on. Double-click the downloaded file to install Hachidori Relay in Anki, then restart Anki.

Try it: open any Japanese web page, hold Shift and point at a word. Click + in the pop-up, then check that a new card shows up in your Mining deck.

Anki has to be open while you add cards. Otherwise there's nowhere to send them.

That's the basics. Do your reviews every day and add new words with Hachidori. Everything below is optional.

Want to review on your phone too? See kuma3 Anki for Android.

Chapter two

道具 optionalExtra tools: pick what you like

Click a tool to see how to install it.

携kuma3 Anki: review on your Android phoneA phone version of the same Anki, so you can carry on where you left off

kuma3 Anki is AnkiDroid built on the same FSRS-7 version of Anki as in chapter one. Your reviews are scheduled the same way on the phone as on your computer. It also has a review heatmap and the time you studied today on each deck.

Android only. It works on almost every phone from the last few years. There's no iPhone version.

On your computer first

  1. In Anki, click Sync at the top, so AnkiWeb has all your latest reviews.

On your phone

  1. Open the download page on your phone:
    kuma3 Anki download page
  2. Under Assets, tap kuma3-anki-arm64.apk.
  3. Open the downloaded file. If the phone asks, allow your browser to install unknown apps, then tap Install.
  4. Open kuma3 Anki and tap the sync button. Sign in with your AnkiWeb account.
  5. When it asks, choose Download. This copies all your cards from AnkiWeb to the phone.

Every day

Tap Sync before and after you review, on both the phone and the computer. Then you always carry on where you left off.

kuma3 Anki installs next to normal AnkiDroid and keeps its own cards. If you also have AnkiDroid, use only one of them for reviews so you don't get two different histories.

Using RWKV on your computer? (That's an extra option in Deck Options for the FSRS-7 version of Anki.) Make the phone use the same model: in kuma3 Anki, open Settings›kuma3 and choose Small for the model and int4 cards, int8 notes for the state precision. Otherwise the two can pick slightly different cards.

More about kuma3 Anki
声Irodori Audio: natural voices on your cardsReads your sentences aloud with a voice and emotion that fit each one

Great for cards from books and manga, which have no audio of their own.

You need about 10 GB of free space. An NVIDIA graphics card is recommended. It also works without one, just slowly.

Install

  1. In Anki, click Tools›Add-ons›Get Add-ons… and paste this code:
    2078760911
  2. Restart Anki. A welcome window asks to set up the voice server. Click Install and start. This only happens once and takes 5–30 minutes.

Use

  1. Click Browse, select 3–5 cards and click Cards›Generate Sentence Audio (Irodori).
  2. Listen to the result. If you like it, do more cards.
  3. Changed your mind? Edit›Undo removes the whole run.
More help
採Anki Miner: many cards at onceLists the unknown words in subtitles, audiobooks, manga or novels

Tick the words you want, and Anki Miner makes the cards with audio and pictures.

  1. Download …-Setup.exe from the download page and install it:
    Anki Miner download page
  2. If Windows warns you, click More info, then Run anyway.
  3. Open it and click Tools›Setup Wizard. It downloads dictionaries for you.
  4. In Settings›Cards & Anki, choose the Mining deck and the Kiku note type.

The Audiobooks tab makes cards with the real narrator's voice, from an audiobook and its text.

遊GameSentenceMiner: games and visual novelsGrabs the text, voice line and a screenshot from the game

Point at the text with Hachidori and add it just like on a web page.

  1. Download the installer and run it:
    GSM download page
  2. Follow the setup window it opens.
観Anime with a pop-up dictionaryThe mpv player with hachidori-mpv and immersion-mpv

Point at a word in the subtitles to look it up and add it, with the audio and a picture from the scene.

1. Install the mpv player

  1. Download a Windows build from mpv.io/installation.
  2. Unzip it to C:\mpv.
  3. In the installer folder, right-click mpv-install.bat and choose Run as administrator. This makes mpv your video player.

2. Install Node.js (only used during setup)

  1. Download the LTS version from nodejs.org and click Next until it's installed.

3. Install hachidori-mpv

  1. Open github.com/mattias/hachidori-mpv, then click the green Code button and Download ZIP.
  2. Right-click the ZIP file and choose Extract All…
  3. Open the extracted folder. Click the address bar at the top of the window, type powershell and press Enter.
  4. In the blue window that opens, paste this and press Enter:
    powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File install.ps1

4. Install immersion-mpv (optional)

It counts your listening time, gets Japanese subtitles from Jimaku, and marks episodes as watched on AniList. Do the same as in step 3 with github.com/mattias/immersion-mpv. In mpv, press Alt + I to open its settings.

Chrome with Hachidori, and Anki, must be open while you watch.

読Reading books and mangaE-books and manga you can point at
ToolFor
ttsu readerJapanese e-books (EPUB) in Chrome. Turn on Google Drive sync in its settings.
Hoshi ReaderA Japanese e-book reader with a built-in dictionary and Anki mining, as an app:
  • Windows or Mac: download page. Take …_x64-setup.exe for Windows, or the .dmg for a Mac with an M chip.
  • Android: download page. Take the file ending in arm64-v8a.apk.
  • iPhone and iPad: App Store
Mokuro readerManga with text you can point at
選What should I read or watch next?Find works that fit your level
  • Jiten shows how hard thousands of books, games and shows are, and how much of each you already understand.
  • Surasura: add what you want to read or watch, and you get a word list in the best order to learn.
記Immersion Dashboard: see your progressReading, watching, playing and reviews, per day, week, month and year

Your data stays on your own devices.

Chapter three

引っ越しMoving from Migaku

Do chapter one first. Your Migaku cards keep all their review history. You give them the Kiku design, then fill in what's missing.

1

Get the cards out of MigakuWith Migaku-Exporter, a small script that runs on Migaku's website

Migaku has no normal way to export to Anki, so we use the free Migaku-Exporter. It brings your cards, pictures, audio and review history over to Anki.

Migaku changed its website on 31 October 2026, and someone reports that the exporter stopped working after that. Try it anyway. If the Export to Anki button never shows up, it's broken for now. Your cards are safe in Migaku, so check back here later.

Install the script

  1. Install Tampermonkey from the Chrome Web Store. It lets small scripts run on websites.
  2. Let it run scripts:
    1. Paste this into Chrome's address bar and press Enter:
      chrome://extensions
    2. Under Tampermonkey, click Details and turn on Allow User Scripts. (If you don't see it, turn on Developer mode at the top right instead.)
  3. Open the script: Migaku-Exporter script
    A page full of code opens. Press Ctrl + A, then Ctrl + C to copy all of it.
  4. Click the Tampermonkey icon (under the puzzle piece at the top right of Chrome), then Create a new script.
  5. In the editor that opens, press Ctrl + A and Delete to remove what's there. Then press Ctrl + V to paste, and Ctrl + S to save.

Export your decks

  1. Go to study.migaku.com, sign in, open the Memory page and wait until it has fully loaded.
  2. Click the + button at the bottom right, then Export to Anki.
  3. Pick your decks from the list. Leave the quality on the normal preset.
  4. Click Export selected decks and wait for the progress bar. Decks with many pictures and audio files can take a while.
  5. You get a file called Migaku - deck name.apkg in your Downloads folder. Double-click it to import it into Anki.
2

Change them to Kiku

Make a backup first, as in chapter one, step 1.

  1. Click Browse.
  2. In the list on the left, under Note Types, click the note type that came with the export. It has the same name as your card type in Migaku.
  3. Press Ctrl + A to select all of them.
  4. Click Notes›Change Note Type… and choose Kiku.
  5. Match the fields. The left side is Migaku, the right side is Kiku:
    Migaku fieldKiku field
    WordExpression
    SentenceSentence
    Translated SentenceSentenceTranslation
    DefinitionsMainDefinition
    Word AudioExpressionAudio
    Sentence AudioSentenceAudio
    ImagesPicture
    Example Sentences, Notes(nothing)
  6. Click OK.

If you changed the field names when exporting, pick whatever looks closest. If you leave a field out, it just isn't copied. If you have more than one Migaku card type, repeat these steps for each one.

Your review history came along, so FSRS can learn from it right away. Open your deck's Options and click Optimize, as in chapter one, step 5.

3

Fill in what's missingReadings, frequency, pitch accent and definitions

The backfill add-on from chapter one looks the words up in your Hachidori dictionaries and fills in the empty fields.

  1. Make sure Anki is open, Chrome is open, and Hachidori's Settings›Sharing is on.
  2. In Anki, click Browse and select 10 cards to test with first.
  3. Click Edit›Backfill from Yomitan.
  4. Under Preset, choose lapis.json (it works for Kiku too), then click Run.
  5. Look at the 10 cards. If they look right, select all your cards and do it again.

If it says it can't connect, restart Anki, open Chrome, and try again. Hachidori Relay gives the add-on the dictionaries while Anki is running.

Chapter four

他の言語Other languages

Most of this works for other languages too. Do chapter one, but swap these parts:

PartJapaneseOther languages
Card designKikuAnki Miner Note
Pop-up dictionaryHachidoriYomitan, the same idea for many languages
Many cards at onceAnki MinerAnki Miner, about 30 languages: choose yours in Settings›Mining Language
Fill in missing fieldsbackfill + Hachidoribackfill + Yomitan (turn on Yomitan's API in its settings)
GamesGameSentenceMinerGameSentenceMiner, with OCR set to your language

Anki, FSRS, Onigiri and the other add-ons in chapter one are the same for every language.

When you're stuck

困った時Something isn't working?

ProblemFix
Hachidori can't reach AnkiOpen Anki. Check that AnkiConnect Extended is installed, and not the normal AnkiConnect.
Anki shows an error on the home screenYou probably have the normal Onigiri. Install it again from chapter one, step 4.
An add-on says the Anki version is wrongMake sure you installed the Anki version from chapter one, step 2.
Cards end up in the wrong deckCheck the deck in Hachidori's Anki settings.
Irodori is very slowWithout an NVIDIA graphics card, each sentence takes many seconds. That's normal.
Windows warns about an "unknown publisher"These are free tools that aren't code-signed. Click More info, then Run anyway.