Top Anki Decks for Japanese Learners

So you've decided to learn Japanese and everyone keeps telling you to use Anki. Good call. But here's the problem: when you search for Japanese decks on AnkiWeb, you'll find nearly 1,000 shared decks, and honestly, most of them are pretty terrible. Some have awful audio quality, others are filled with errors, and many just dump thousands of words at you with zero context.

I've spent way too much time testing Japanese Anki decks over the years, and I'm going to save you from that headache. This guide covers the best Anki decks for Japanese learners, whether you're just starting with hiragana or pushing toward advanced fluency. I'll tell you exactly what each deck does well and where it falls short.

Is Anki Good for Japanese?

Yeah, Anki is genuinely one of the best tools for learning Japanese. The language has three writing systems (hiragana, katakana, and kanji), thousands of vocabulary words, and grammar patterns that don't map cleanly to English. You need spaced repetition to make any of this stick long-term.

Anki handles the scheduling automatically, so you review cards right before you'd forget them. This means you can actually retain the 2,000+ kanji and 10,000+ words you need for fluency without spending every waking hour reviewing. The algorithm works, and for a language as demanding as Japanese, that matters a lot.

The real question isn't whether Anki is good for Japanese. It's which decks you should actually use.

Best Japanese Anki Decks for Beginners

Hiragana and Katakana Decks

If you're brand new to Japanese, start here. You need to learn hiragana (ひらがな) and katakana (カタカナ) before anything else. These are the two phonetic writing systems, and they're way easier than kanji.

The Tofugu Hiragana and Tofugu Katakana decks are solid choices. They include audio for each character, stroke order diagrams, and mnemonics to help you remember. You can knock out both writing systems in about two weeks if you're consistent.

Some people use combined hiragana/katakana decks, but I'd recommend learning them separately. Hiragana first, then katakana. Trying to learn both simultaneously just creates confusion for most beginner learners.

Japanese Core 2000 Step 01

Once you've got the kana down, the Japanese Core 2000 Step 01 deck is probably the most popular beginner vocab deck out there. It teaches the 2,000 most common Japanese words using a sentence-based approach.

Each card shows you a sentence in Japanese, the reading, the English translation, and includes native audio. The sentences are ordered by frequency, so you're learning useful words from day one. Words like taberu (食べる), which means "to eat," or iku (行く), meaning "to go."

Here's the thing though: this deck can feel overwhelming at first because you're learning words through full sentences. If you're an absolute beginner, you might want to start with a vocabulary-only version before tackling sentences. But if you can handle it, learning words in context from the start will help you way more in the long run.

Kaishi 1.5k

The Kaishi 1.5k deck is a newer option that's gained a ton of popularity. It covers 1,500 common Japanese words with high-quality audio, example sentences, and pitch accent information. The pitch accent graphs are actually really helpful because Japanese is a pitch-accent language, and most decks completely ignore this.

The cards are cleaner and more modern-looking than the Core decks, which matters if you're going to be staring at these things for months. The deck also has better mobile optimization, so reviewing on your phone doesn't feel like a chore.

I'd say Kaishi 1.5k is the best deck for beginners who want a polished, comprehensive starting point. It's basically an improved version of what the Core decks were trying to do.

Best Anki Deck for Kanji

Learning kanji is the most intimidating part of Japanese for most people. There are over 2,000 characters you need to know for basic literacy, and each one has multiple readings and meanings. You need a good system.

Recognition RTK (Remembering the Kanji)

The Recognition RTK deck is based on James Heisig's "Remembering the Kanji" book. Instead of learning kanji through rote memorization, it teaches you to recognize the meaning of each character using English keywords and visual mnemonics.

For example, the kanji 休 (yasumu, meaning "to rest") is taught as a person leaning against a tree. The radical for "person" (亻) next to the radical for "tree" (木) creates the concept of rest. Pretty cool, right?

The Recognition version focuses only on going from kanji to English meaning, which is faster than the full RTK method. You can learn all 2,136 jouyou kanji in a few months if you're disciplined. The downside is that RTK doesn't teach you readings or vocabulary, so you'll need to pair this with a vocab deck.

All in One Kanji Deck

The All in One Kanji Deck tries to teach everything at once: meanings, readings (both on'yomi and kun'yomi), stroke order, and example words. It's comprehensive but can feel overwhelming.

Each card has a ton of information, and you're expected to learn multiple readings per kanji. For the kanji 生, you'd learn sei, shou, nama, ikiru, and several other readings depending on context. That's a lot to remember per card.

I debated including this deck because it can burn people out. But if you're the type who wants all the information upfront and can handle dense cards, it's thorough. Just be ready to adjust your daily new card limit to something manageable, like 5-10 cards instead of 20.

KanjiDamage

KanjiDamage is an alternative kanji learning system that uses crude, memorable mnemonics and focuses on teaching useful kanji first rather than following traditional orders. The mnemonics are often inappropriate or weird, which actually makes them more memorable.

The deck teaches kanji meanings and one main reading, along with a few vocabulary words that use that kanji. It's less comprehensive than All in One but way more memorable than boring traditional mnemonics.

Fair warning: the humor isn't for everyone. But if you can handle some crude jokes and want kanji to actually stick in your brain, KanjiDamage works surprisingly well.

Vocabulary and Sentence Decks

Core 2000 Step 02 and Beyond

After you finish the first Core 2000 deck, you can continue with Core 2000 Step 02, which adds another 2,000 words. Then there's Core 6000, which extends all the way to 6,000 common words.

These decks follow the same sentence-based format with audio. By the time you finish Core 6000, you'll have a solid foundation for reading native material. The vocab coverage is genuinely good, focusing on words that actually appear in newspapers, books, and everyday conversation.

The main complaint people have is that the audio quality varies and some example sentences feel unnatural. But for free shared decks, they're still among the best options available.

Tango N5 and N4

The Tango N5 and Tango N4 decks are based on the Tango textbook series. They teach vocabulary and grammar patterns through simple, natural sentences that progressively build on each other.

What makes these decks special is the sentence quality. Each sentence is carefully written to introduce one new word or grammar point while using only vocabulary you've already learned. This makes them way easier to understand than the Core decks for absolute beginners.

The N5 deck covers beginner material (roughly 800 words), and N4 takes you to lower intermediate. If you're studying for the JLPT exams, these align perfectly with those levels.

Anime and Visual Novel Vocabulary Decks

If you're learning Japanese to watch anime or play visual novels, there are specialized decks for that. The Anime Vocab decks focus on common words and phrases you'll actually hear in shows, including casual speech and slang that textbooks skip.

Similarly, visual novel vocab decks teach words that appear frequently in games. These decks are great supplements if you're doing immersion learning, but they shouldn't be your only source of vocabulary. They tend to be heavy on specific domains and light on everyday practical words.

I'd use these after you've built a foundation with a Core or Kaishi deck. Then they become really useful for filling in gaps in your comprehension.

JLPT-Specific Decks

The JLPT Tango series I mentioned earlier is probably the best for exam prep, but there are other options too. The JLPT N5, N4, N3, N2, and N1 vocabulary decks cover the official vocabulary lists for each exam level.

These decks are straightforward: Japanese word on the front, reading and English meaning on the back. They're not fancy, but they're comprehensive. If you're specifically preparing for a JLPT exam and want to make sure you've covered all the required vocab, these decks are useful.

The N5 level is beginner, N4 is upper beginner, N3 is intermediate, N2 is upper intermediate, and N1 is advanced. Most people aiming for fluency target N2 or N1.

Full Japanese Study Deck Options

Some people prefer one massive deck that covers everything instead of juggling multiple decks. The Refold Japanese deck (formerly called Jalup) is a popular all-in-one option. It starts with basic hiragana and progressively teaches kanji, vocab, and grammar through over 5,000 cards.

The cards are ordered so each new card only introduces one new element, building on everything you've learned before. It's like a textbook turned into an Anki deck. The advantage is that everything flows together smoothly. The disadvantage is that you're locked into one specific learning path, and if you don't like the deck's approach, you're kind of stuck.

Another comprehensive option is the Japanese Sentences deck, which contains over 6,000 sentence cards with audio. It's similar to the Core decks but with more content and better organization.

Anki Tips for Japanese Study

What Does 1, 2, 3, 4 Do on Anki?

When you review a card in Anki, you rate how well you remembered it using four buttons:

Most people use "Good" for 80-90% of their cards. Only use "Easy" if you genuinely know the card cold and want to see it less often. Using "Easy" too much can create gaps in your reviews.

Customization and Setup

Here's what you should adjust when starting with Japanese decks:

New cards per day: Start with 10-20 new cards daily. You can increase this later, but starting too high leads to burnout. I've seen people try to do 50 new cards a day and quit after two weeks.

Card order: Set new cards to appear in the order they're added to the deck, not randomly. Most good decks are carefully ordered by frequency or difficulty.

Suspend cards you already know: If you already know hiragana, suspend those cards. No point reviewing stuff you've mastered.

Install the Japanese support add-on: This adds furigana (reading hints) and other Japanese-specific features to Anki. Makes studying way smoother.

Use night mode on mobile: If you're reviewing on your phone at night, the white background will destroy your eyes. Most Anki apps have a dark mode option.

Combining Decks Effectively

You don't need to use just one deck. Most successful learners combine a kanji deck with a vocabulary deck. For example, you might do Recognition RTK for kanji meanings alongside Kaishi 1.5k for vocabulary and readings.

The key is managing your daily review load. If you're doing 20 new kanji cards and 20 new vocab cards per day, plus reviews, you're looking at 30-60 minutes of Anki daily. That's sustainable. Doing 50 new cards across three different decks? You'll burn out fast.

I'd recommend starting with one deck until you've built a habit, then adding a second deck after a month or two.

Which Deck Should You Actually Use?

For absolute beginners: Start with a hiragana/katakana deck, then move to Kaishi 1.5k or Tango N5. Both are beginner-friendly and teach you useful vocabulary from day one.

For kanji: Use Recognition RTK if you want to learn meanings quickly, or All in One Kanji if you want everything at once and can handle dense information.

For intermediate learners: The Core 6000 deck or Tango N4/N3 will expand your vocabulary significantly. Pair these with grammar study and immersion.

For JLPT prep: Use the Tango JLPT series for your target level. They're specifically designed for exam success.

The honest truth is that the best deck is the one you'll actually use consistently. A mediocre deck you review every day beats a perfect deck you abandon after two weeks. Pick something that matches your level and goals, then commit to it for at least three months before switching.

Anyway, if you want to supplement your Anki study with real Japanese content, Migaku's browser extension lets you look up words instantly while watching Japanese shows or reading articles. Makes immersion learning way more practical. There's a 10-day free trial if you want to check it out.