Foreign Languages Resource Guide

Japan is a mountainous island nation in East Asia. It is an archipelago made up of thousands of islands, although the majority of the country is comprised of the Home Islands (or main islands) of Hokkaido, Honshu (mainland Japan), Shikoku, and Kyushu; these four islands comprise nearly all of the country's total land area.

Japanese Language, agglutinative language spoken by the inhabitants of Japan and by Japanese living in Hawaii and on the North and South American mainlands, especially Brazil. It is also widely spoken as a second language by Chinese and Korean.

Includes books, e-books, and videos.

Missouri residents can request books from MOBIUS.

A program of Japanese language lessons produced by Japan's public broadcaster, NHK WORLD RADIO JAPAN. You can learn basic grammar and useful expressions through lessons designed in audio-drama style. You can download audio and texts for the lessons free of charge.

Publishes articles that have Japan Studies (both the country and the people) as a specific focus or as a point of comparison in a discussion involving other countries.

Japan's largest newspaper.
View in Japanese or English.

In this program, Yui and Yayoi, two Japanese teens, share aspects of their daily life in Japan. Viewers learn about their school and the subjects they study, what they do in their spare time, what they eat, and their families and friends. Yui and Yayoi also provide step-by-step instructions for the correct use of chopsticks, and for preparing okonomiyaki (Japanese pancakes). The video is entirely in Japanese, and without English subtitles, making it an ideal resource for middle to senior level students.

Business Culture: Japanese business executives use a Q&A format to teach the basics of doing business in Japan. Understanding cultural differences is key to participating in the global economy. Topics include language, attire, etiquette.

Building on its long history of research results, the newly established National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics conducts large-scale theoretical and empirical studies as an international research hub in collaboration with domestic and overseas universities and research organizations, aiming to illuminate all aspects of the Japanese language and deepen our understanding of human beings through language study.
View in Japanese or English.

The National Museum of Japanese History, known popularly in Japanese as Rekihaku, is a general museum of Japanese history that houses and displays some 200,000 artifacts of historical importance and cultural value that together help to tell the story of Japan's past.
View in English or Japanese.