何時漢字？

Why 何時漢字？

何時 (nanji) means "what time?". The answer here is always: kanji time. Flashcards teach a kanji as a single symbol with a list of readings, but you meet kanji inside words. This game turns that around: you recall words you already know, see which readings they use, combine kanji into compounds and build kanji from their parts. A few minutes a day is enough, and the daily challenge is the same for everyone at your level, so you can compare with friends. Points, a streak and little friends are there to bring you back tomorrow; the real reward is the word you remember next week.

Every day

• Pick your JLPT level (N5 is the easiest, N1 the hardest). Each level has its own challenges.
• There are three daily games: Word Board, Compound Cross and Radical Workshop. Each can be played once for points. New challenges arrive at midnight, Japan time.
• Played already? Replay it later the same day from memory: your first replay of each game earns +10 and shows how you did compared with your first try.
• Practice gives you unlimited extra rounds. They earn points too, but don't count for the streak.

言葉ボード Word Board

You get one kanji. Type words that use it, in Japanese or in romaji (sensei works). Each word scores by its JLPT level:

• N5: 10 · N4: 15 · N3: 20 · N2: 30 · N1: 40 points.
• Other real words that aren't on the JLPT lists: 10 points (type these in kanji).
• The kanji's readings are shown as hidden badges (on and kun). The first word that uses a reading lights its badge for +10. Light every badge for an extra +30.
• Up to 3 hints each show the shape, meaning and level of a word you haven't found. A hinted word scores half its points.
• A word that just adds to one you already have (大学 → 大学生) scores nothing, but doesn't cost a miss either. Find genuinely different words instead.
• A word that doesn't exist or doesn't use the kanji is a miss. 3 misses end the round. Typing a word you already found again is not a miss.
• When the round ends, you see every reading and the words you missed: save the useful ones to your notebook.

熟語クロス Compound Cross

Find the one kanji that makes a word with all four neighbours. Read along the arrows: the top and left kanji come first, the right and bottom ones after it.

• The puzzle starts at 30 points.
• Each wrong pick, and the hint, costs 10. You always get at least 5 for solving it.
• Giving up shows the answer and scores 0.

部首工房 Radical Workshop

Daily challenge: tap the two parts that make up today's kanji. Sometimes it's the same part twice.

• The puzzle starts at 25 points.
• Each wrong pair costs 5 and the hint costs 10. You always get at least 5 for solving it.
• Giving up shows the answer and scores 0.

In Practice, the Workshop is open-ended:

• Combine parts freely to discover kanji. Each kanji you discover for the first time earns +15.
• Kanji are grouped in chapters. The next chapter opens once you have found 8 kanji in the current one.

Points, streak and friends

• Every point you earn adds to your total. Points never go down.
• Your streak counts the days in a row you played at least one daily challenge. Miss a day and it starts again from 1; your best streak is kept.
• Your total unlocks friends who keep you company: Mochi (from the start), Onigiri (150), Dango (400), Neko (800), Tanuki (1500).

Fair scores

Your browser only sends what you did (the words you typed, the parts you tapped). The server replays the round with the same rules and works out the score itself, so editing the page can't change your points.

Notebook and saving

• Save words and kanji you want to remember to your Notebook.
• You can play as a guest straight away, but a guest's progress lives in this browser only and is deleted after 7 days without a visit. Sign in with your email to keep it for good; your guest progress moves to your account.