Your Month‑Long Kana Foundation
🔗 Subscribe on YouTube for livestreams & VODs
Read how to set up Anki (including the Mortician plugin)
Why Kana?
The Japanese writing system uses three scripts: kanji (characters of Chinese origin), hiragana and katakana, collectively known as kana. Each kana syllabary has 46 basic characters—71 if you include diacritics and small kana—and unlike kanji they represent sounds rather than meanings. Kana were created during the Heian period by simplifying kanji: hiragana emerged from cursive script and is used for native words and grammar, while katakana was created by Buddhist monks to transliterate foreign words and emphasize certain terms. Because Japanese sentences mix kanji and kana, mastering both syllabaries is essential before moving on to vocabulary and grammar.
Why a Month?
Some guides claim you can learn all kana in two days. While it’s possible to memorize the characters quickly, that approach isn’t realistic or necessary for busy learners. This Bootcamp spreads the workload over one month so you can learn kana thoroughly and retain them long term. By the end of this course, you should recognize kana instantly without hesitation and be ready to progress to vocabulary and sentence mining.
🎯 The Goal
- Learn all hiragana and katakana (including small kana, voiced marks and combinations).
- Recognize each symbol instantly without hesitation.
- Retain around 80% or more of your cards in Anki.
- Build a lasting foundation that supports all future Japanese study.
🗓 The Bootcamp Schedule (4 Weeks)
| Week | Focus | Daily Task |
|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1–2 | Study ~20 new cards per weekday (Mon–Fri) | Reviews 15–30 min each morning |
| Weeks 3–4 | Reviews only (no unseen kana) | Reviews 15–30 min each morning |
👉 Weekends are for reviews only.
👉 You don’t manually add kana; you simply study the deck in order.
✅ The Deck We’ll Use
We’ll use the shared Anki deck:
🔗 Ankidrone Kana Recognition
How to use it:
- Import the deck into Anki.
- Make sure each card shows kana → reading; test audio if available.
- Apply these Anki settings (see the setup guide for details):
- 20 new cards/day (Mon–Fri).
- Graduating interval = 2 days.
- Leech rules: Mortician plug‑in set to 3 lapses for review cards and 5 lapses for new cards (auto‑delete, no notifications).
- Custom hotkeys: h = Again, k = Good.
🧩 What “Mature” Means
In Anki, cards pass through stages. Learning cards are new; young cards appear every few days to weeks; mature cards appear every 3 weeks or more and represent long‑term memory. For Kana Bootcamp, you don’t need 100% mature cards. Once roughly 80% of kana feel instant, you can move on—continued exposure during later study will mature the rest naturally.
🧘 Keep It Simple — No Stress
During this month:
- No other exposure is necessary.
- You can watch anime or listen to Japanese for enjoyment, but don’t treat it as study.
- Your only job is to memorize kana.
Learning kana is like learning an alphabet. Once it’s automatic, you can focus on vocabulary, grammar and immersion.
⏱ Daily Time Commitment
- Weeks 1–2: 20 new kana/day (Mon–Fri) plus reviews (~15–30 min).
- Weekends: Reviews only (~10–15 min).
- Weeks 3–4: Reviews only (~15–30 min).
👉 Total: about 2–3 hours per week for one month.
🚀 After Bootcamp
When kana feels natural, it’s time to build your vocabulary. The next step in the 9 to 5 Japanese system is the JP1K Starter Deck, a frequency‑based set of roughly 1,000 words that prepares you for mining real content. You’ll add about 20 new words per weekday—so roughly 100 words per week—and take weekends off from new cards to focus on reviews. This balanced pace allows working adults to make steady progress without burnout. After about 10 weeks, you’ll have seen almost all 1,000 cards and can expect to retain around 800 of them comfortably.
The “100‑words‑per‑week” philosophy mirrors the Bootcamp rhythm: weekdays are for learning new material, and weekends are for review. This pattern sets you up for the full 9 to 5 system, where Saturday becomes your mining day and Sunday is for reinforcement. By the time you complete JP1K, you’ll have a solid core vocabulary and be ready to start the weekly loop of mining, rewatching and immersion.
👉 To begin the next phase, check out The Starter Deck – Using JP1K for 1,000 Words Before Mining. It outlines the 20 new cards/day schedule, weekend review routine, and why a core vocabulary makes sentence mining more productive. After finishing JP1K, you’ll transition to the Weekly Hub Overview, where you begin the mining loop (Saturday mining, Sunday reinforcement, weekday immersion).
✅ Kana Bootcamp Checklist
- Import the Ankidrone Kana Recognition deck into Anki.
- Study approximately 20 new cards per weekday for two weeks.
- Weeks 3–4: reviews only.
- Recognize kana instantly without hesitation.
Take the month easy. Learn kana. Don’t stress about anything else. Once kana is automatic, follow the 100‑words‑per‑week philosophy to build your core vocabulary. After that, you’re ready for mining — and then the real fun begins.
9 to 5 Japanese 