[Please go HERE for the frequently updated list that includes the below].
Textbooks:
- A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar
- A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar
- Read Real Japanese Fiction
- GENKI: Integrated Elementary Japanese I and II [beginners]
- An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese
- Gateway to advanced Japanese
- TextFugu [an online textbook]
Dictionaries:
- ALC (I use this everyday)
→Expression encyclopaedia - Goo dictionary
- Weblio
- WWWJDIC (with audio clips)
- JWPce (downloadable dictionary for Windows)
- JEDict (downloadable for Mac users)
- Idiomatic Expressions
- Idioms dictionary [Japanese only]
- Counters dictionary
- Hovering dictionaries:
→Rikaikun for Chrome
→Rikaichan for Firefox
→Floating Dictionary for Mac - Current Affairs dictionary
- Tangorin
- Imiwa? (a dictionary for the iPhone)
- Tagaini Jisho (downloadable for Windows, Mac and Linux)
For kanji.
- Jisho (I use this for spelling kanji for if I can’t read it)
- Yamasa (I use this for learning to write)
- A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters
- Associative Kanji Learning (stroke orders)
Online reading:
- Hukumusume Fairytales
- 竹取（Bamboo-Cutting） (vertical writing)
- 吉田秀幸の日記（Hideyuki Yoshida’s Diary） (recipes)
- Chokochoko’s reading texts to help with JLPT
- TED Talks (with Japanese subtitles and transcripts)
- Learning through Films [Japanese subtitles/scripts]
- Blue Sky Library (public domain books, explained here)
Manga.
- Free online manga
- Vomic (free online manga with voice actors)
- Sound Effects (in manga, etc)
Improving your speaking:
- Japanese pronunciation guide
- Interactive Hiragana Pronounciation table
- Topics for Language Exchanges.
- Bubbly (a Twitter-like app where you can record yourself)
- Audioboo (similar to Bubbly, but also a website)
Listening:
- “Real World” Japanese
- 泣きたいときのクスリ 2007 - ‘08 (radio drama)
Writing practice:
- Lang-8
- www.Japan-Guide.com
- 原稿用紙の使い方 (How to write an essay with Japanese writing paper)
- Shiritori (Japanese word-chain game)
News:
- NewsWeb Easy
- NHK News (audio news with speed controls)
- Mainichi Primary School student Newspaper
Podcasts:
YouTube:
- Afternoon Hirusagari
- Jet Daisuke
- バイリンガール英会話
- Analog TV Forever (collections of adverts)
- Real Japanese Studio
- Japancast
- Tofugu
Japanese sign language.
TV:
- Japanese subtitles for anime
- KeyHole TV (to stream Japanese TV and radio)
- 風雲LIVE日本語（Feng Yun LIVE Japanese） (to stream TV)
- 映画で学ぶ実践英会話
Tumblr:
- Kanji-a-Day
- Holy crap Japanese
- Nihongo ga Suki
- Jumpstart Japanese
- Nihongolog
- Nadine Nihongo
- That Japan Addict
- ChilliMuffin
- Japanese through Fandom
- F-Yeah Native Japanese
- J-Vocab of the Day
- ぶらりめし [Japanese only]
- Peaceful Chef [Japanese only]
Those studying in Japan.
- Japanicking in Yamanashi (at Yamanashi University)
- Samxuel (at Kyushu Sangyo)
- Katy in Japan Town (at NUFS)
- Chocotastie (at Seinan Gakuin)
- Kim in Sapporo (at Hokkaido University)
Blogging:
Learning websites:
- JapaneseClass.jp
- The Japanese Page
- Tae Kim’s Guide to Learning Japanese
- Erin’s Challenge (with listening and reading practice)
- Maggie Sensei
- Tofugu
Other resources:
- Lots of threads with a variety of resources for Japanese learning
- JLPT Resources
- Anki (flashcards for your computer, phone and online)
- DJT and Okra’s pastebins (lots of resources and textbooks for download, etc)
- Japanese.Livejournal (including tips on using IME)
If anyone has anything they would like to add, let me know!
snowflakes receive my hope ../ i wanna try to draw kouha winter’s clothes for long time..but..my color tone and speech should be improved:(
there’s a sort of terminal between timelines, and two time-travellers’ paths cross- both of whom repeat and redo and trap themselves in a hell of their own choosing in order to bring happiness to their beloved.
and when their god is in their heaven, everything is all right in the world.
I have a lot of feelings about Shinji and Kaworu.
I know that Kaworu’s insertion has been criticized as deliberate and ridiculous yaoi-fodder, but I think that’s a really myopic view of his purpose in the series.
Shinji is cripplingly terrified of relationships with others. Though he has constructed this elaborate delusion where his self-loathing and isolation are a form of martyrdom, he is very self-centered, and desperately wants validation and security from those around him on his terms and under his control. Unfortunately, self-loathing and abandonment trauma kind of throw a wrench into any prospects for intimacy.
Kaworu fulfills Shinji’s desire for a safe, human connection. Since it has already been suggested that Shinji’s sexuality w/r/t women frightens and occasionally repulses him (see: all his interactions with Asuka, Rei, and Misato), Kaworu’s gender establishes him as uniquely nonthreatening. His professions of love elevate Shinji at the expense of Kaworu’s own identity and autonomy (“I was probably born to meet you”), making Shinji the center of his universe. Kaworu is full of gentle but boundless praise and love. He caters completely to Shinji’s selfish and unrealistic interpersonal needs.
Which is why Kaworu’s death at Shinji’s hands is so symbolically necessary. Kaworu is too good to be true. His existence as an angel is the ultimate betrayal, and a confirmation of Shinji’s deepest fears: that no emotional investment is without risk. When Shinji kills Kaworu, much to his own anguish, it is him finally and fully confronting this fact. He must kill his fantasies and distorted self-perception, because they have stunted him totally and because they harm him and harm others. He must realize that truly selfless love involves the death of self, and that while he envisions this as comforting, it is in fact horrifying: it is a personal, violent precursor to Third Impact and Instrumentality.
