こつこつ日本語 · Kotsukotsu Nihongo

She teaches you all day.
She reads you to sleep.
She's waiting when you wake.

Learn Japanese as a journey up Mt. Fuji. Land at Narita, build real sentences from your very first minute, and end every night with おやすみなさい. Free to start. Launching soon on Android.

Early climbers get founder pricing at launch.

Mio, your coach Mio is waiting at the trailhead.

The first minute

Build a real Japanese sentence in 30 seconds.

No alphabet drills first. No matching pairs. You get word blocks, and you build. Your sentence, your first minute, zero prior knowledge. We'll explain the rules later. By then, you'll have already used them.

わたしwatashi はwa 東京Tōkyō にni 行きますikimasu

✓ I'm going to Tokyo.

That's a real sentence. You'll build one just like it before the app asks you for anything.

The app teaching a new word: watashi, I or me, with the mountain progress above
The first badge, Ippo: you just built your first sentence in Japanese

The story

A year of your life in Japan, told in Japanese you can actually read.

Seventy-nine chapters of graded, real Japanese. You don't study a textbook. You live a story, and the language arrives exactly when the story needs it.

Chapter 1 at Narita immigration: greet the officer and give your name
Mt. Fuji seen from a plane window
The window seatThe first time you see the mountain.
Tokyo Tower at sunset through a taxi window
First night in TokyoThe city through a taxi window.
A konbini clerk handing over bottles of water
The konbiniYour first purchase, in your first Japanese.
A friend smiling on a train platform with her phone
On the platformTrains, tickets and new friends.
A picnic under cherry blossoms with a bento
HanamiSpring under the cherry blossoms.
Fireworks over a river crowd at night
Summer fireworksA night by the river with the whole city.
A friend raising a beer in a lantern-lit izakaya
The izakayaKanpai, and the words that go with it.
Two sumo wrestlers in the ring
SumoA day at the tournament.
An elderly tea master whisking matcha
The tea houseAn old master and a quiet cup.
Snow monkeys bathing in a hot spring
Winter in the mountainsSnow monkeys in the hot spring.
A woman in a scarf under winter illuminations
Winter lightsThe city glows in December.
Tokyo at golden hour with Mt. Fuji on the horizon
Golden hourAnd the mountain on the horizon.
A hiker pointing up the trail on Mt. Fuji
The trailEvery lesson is altitude.
An old climber resting at the summit torii at sunrise
The summitSunrise at 3,776 metres.

Try it

Three things no flashcard app does.

Hear the pitch that changes a word, watch the brush write, earn a stamp you can't buy. Each one is the real thing in the app, beside its real screen.

high low

Same sounds, three meanings. はし is chopsticks, a bridge or an edge, depending only on the pitch. In the app each sound lights up as you hear it. You repeat the word, and the pitch engine shows you how your accent compares. An offline word check makes sure you said the right word, so humming won't pass. 169 words to master.

Pitch Karaoke in the app: hashi ga, bridge, low high low, with Mio below

The world

The mountain is alive.

This isn't a menu with a mountain painted behind it. The trail is drawn, animated and scored: three altitude biomes, seasonal events, and a sky that keeps your local time.

Mt. Fuji in daylight
Your lunch break
Mt. Fuji at sunset
Your evening session
Mt. Fuji under the Milky Way
Your midnight climb
Mt. Fuji at sunrise
Your first alarm
  • The seasons reach the mountain: autumn colours turn the slopes red, and Mio dresses for the weather.
  • The soundscape climbs with you, forest to wind to thin air. A koto when you're right, a shakuhachi when you're not.
  • Book a time and Mio calls you to class over your lock screen, like a real alarm.
  • Run out of energy and you rest at camp. Reviewing your mistakes is always free.

Your companion

Meet Mio.

Duolingo gives you vocabulary. Mio gives you Japan. Every lesson is taught in her one real voice. She texts you culture notes between sessions, dresses for the weather on the mountain, and remembers what you promised yourself.

Portrait of Mio, dark hair, dark jacket with a blue stripe

Between lessons

そろそろだよ。Sorosoro da yo. It's almost time.
知ってた? Konbini onigiri has a pull-tab wrapper so the nori stays crisp. Today you learn to buy one.

When you booked class and forgot

Incoming call · Mio · 19:00

She calls you to class over your lock screen, like a real alarm. A promise is a promise.

09:00
Mio, looking for you

MIO IS LOOKING FOR YOU

🔥 12 days

8 old friends waiting · 5 new too

On your home screen

She lives on your phone, not in it.

Put Mio on your home screen and she keeps your day with you. Not studied yet? She's looking for you. Evening comes and she's reading. Done for the day, she unwinds, and on a milestone she's proud of you. Pick a moment:

Tap her: she looks a different way each time you pick up your phone.

She dresses for the day: seventeen outfits

Mio in a hiking shell jacket
Trailhead
Mio in an orange running jacket
Sunrise
Mio in a warm puffer jacket and snow boots
High altitude
Mio in a cream jumper with a tote bag
Café
Mio in a blazer and pencil skirt
Office
Mio in an ochre blouse and pleated skirt
Errands
Mio in a cardigan with a travel bag
Travel
Mio in a varsity jacket and cargo trousers
Shibuya
Mio in a pink blouse and white skirt
Hanami
Mio in a navy yukata
Matsuri
Mio in a plaid jacket for karaoke
Karaoke
Mio in a leather jacket
Night out
Mio in a little black dress
Bar
Mio in a red evening dress
Date
Mio in a long camel coat and scarf
Winter date
Mio at home in a soft jumper
At home
Mio in a dark jacket with a blue stripe
Tokyo night

Streaks keep you coming back for a week. A companion keeps you coming back in March.

The flagship · おやすみ放送

The goodnight broadcast.

When you get into bed, the app goes dark and quiet, and Mio reads back everything you learned today, plus the phrases you'll need tomorrow. English first, then Japanese, then Japanese alone as you drift.

おやすみ放送

水を ください。

mizu o kudasai

Water, please.

Today's 12 words · pass 2 of 3 · English fading

Reviewing right before sleep is when memory does its quiet work. Mio just turns it into a ritual you'll never want to skip: your own day, read back to you in her voice, under a sky full of stars.

The last thing you hear is her saying おやすみなさい.

And when you wake, she's there.

Mio reading in an armchair
Learning that ends each night with おやすみなさい.

Focus

Study without your phone pulling at you.

You choose which apps go quiet, and you start the session. The rest is the mountain.

  • Focus mode pauses the apps you pick, for the sessions you start.
  • Iron focus pins the app to your screen until the lesson is done.
  • Answer Mio's call with Begin Lesson and focus starts with it.
  • Finish a session and you earn onigiri for the climb. Your mistakes and your reviews are always free.
A rest camp on the mountain at night

The depth

Made for people who already speak three languages.

ドキドキ

The onomatopoeia dojo

The 4,500 words Duolingo will never teach you. Doki doki, pera pera, giri giri: the words Japan actually thinks in.

歴史

History as altitude

The climb doubles as 1,500 years of Japan. Every rest camp tells you where you are, in the country and in its story.

記憶

Honest memory science

Modern spaced repetition (FSRS) under the hood, and honest mastery on top. The app never tells you that you know a word you don't.

生きる

Survival Japanese

The phrases that save you at the station, the pharmacy, the izakaya. Learned before the day you need them.

書く

You produce, always

You type from memory and you speak out loud. Recognition quizzes are a warm-up here, never the goal.

話す

Real conversations

Multi-turn spoken conversations in real voices, with the why behind every line. Order the coffee before you land.

And more

Also in your pack.

  • Kana taught through her phone messages
  • A placement test that drops you at your true altitude
  • Word Camp: five new words a day, a two-minute ritual
  • Mystery-box companions found along the trail
  • Choose your climber from 42 portraits: 21 men, 21 women, many faces
  • Six themes, from sakura to midnight
  • Kōans and proverbs unlocked at altitude
  • Pitch Karaoke: hear a word, say it back, and see how your pitch compares

Be first on the mountain.

The trail opens soon on Android, and early climbers enter first, with founder pricing. After you sign up you get a personal trail link: bring a friend, and you both move up the waitlist.

Questions

When does it launch?

Soon. We're in the final stretch of polish. Android first, and the waitlist email is the starting gun: early climbers enter before everyone else.

Is it free?

Free to start. The full N5 route, your first mountain, is free at launch. Higher mountains arrive later as premium, and early climbers get founder pricing.

What about iPhone?

Android first, iOS after launch. Join the waitlist either way and we'll tell you the moment iOS opens.

Do I need to know any Japanese?

No. Your first sentence assumes zero knowledge, and reading help (rōmaji) stays available as long as you want it. If you already know some kana or vocabulary, the trail adapts.

Is it only in English?

It launches in English. More languages follow. The Japanese, of course, is the point.

What happens with my email?

It goes into one list, used for one thing: telling you when the trail opens. No sharing, no ad audiences, unsubscribe in one tap, delete on request. Details in the privacy policy.