WAORI is a shrine, and three yokai who have been watching people for a very long time. You visit, you talk, and they teach you the language — along with the part textbooks have no room for: why it came to mean that.
Real Japanese, real culture, taught in conversation by characters with a life of their own.
Set phrases and what sits underneath them, gods and nature and the seasons, onomatopoeia, the history folded into a single word. Her words are courteous and her face is honest, and the two do not always agree — that is the first lesson.
FREE
The Japanese of the city: what people say against what they mean, shifting up and down through keigo, the words young people actually use, and turning anime lines into something you can say out loud in front of other humans. Cool by choice, feline by accident.
OMAMORI
The kanji behind technique names, four-character idioms, archaic turns of phrase, the grand declarations manga villains live on — he keeps them all. Ask him about your favorite series. He will deny enjoying the conversation.
OMAMORIWrite in your own language — about anime, daily life, or that word you half-remember. They answer in it, and every Japanese word arrives with its reading and its meaning.
The words they give you are kept in your notebook of words. Every visit is counted, and some of them are marked. They remember the name you give them.
Know a word Kuro doesn't? Teach him. He writes it in his book — and nothing he is taught is passed on to anyone until it has been checked.
Talking with Chiyo is free. The Omamori, a protective charm, is an optional subscription that opens the rest of the shrine.
Prices are shown in the App Store and Google Play before you subscribe. The subscription renews automatically until you cancel it in your store's settings.