I found this app a few months back on the Google Play Store and have been using it to practice handwriting. I've been a bit rusty lately since I mainly type Japanese on my phone or laptop now, and it has come in handy to practise while 'on-the-go' so I thought I would share it with others.

The app is called 小学生手書き漢字ドリル1006 and covers all 1006 kanji learnt in Japanese elementary school. If you've completed RTK1 and are now onto learning the readings it will be especially useful. Basically it gives you a word or phrase and you need to write the missing kanji on the screen. The first levels are pretty easy but the higher levels are more challenging. This is the only decent kanji drawing/writing app I have found so far and it's free which is even better. It's available on both Android and iPhone/iPad so it's available to everyone

I also reviewed it on my blog if anyone is interested http://nihongohub.wordpress.com/2013/01/...nji-drill/

EDIT: 中学生漢字（書き取り編) has been updated and no longer crashes on android. Please see below for a quick review of this app. http://nihongohub.wordpress.com/2013/02/...-kakitori/

Thanks for posting about this app. It's fun. I wish they covered all the jouyou kanji and included audio of the phrases after the user fills in the missing kanji, but hey, it's free.

mmhorii Wrote:Thanks for posting about this app. It's fun. I wish they covered all the jouyou kanji and included audio of the phrases after the user fills in the missing kanji, but hey, it's free.

Yeah it would be good if there was some audio or something to go along with it, but like you said it is free so we really can't complain. I've been on the search for more apps like this so if I find any I'll update this thread

Thanks for posting this, I have been having lots of fun with it the last few days. I am enjoying learning words relevant to Japanese kids and the names of subjects in their schools, then I learn more about what they learn in these subjects such as 国語 and it is very interesting.

I assume you know this but there is also a 中学生漢字 app made by the same people https://play.google.com/store/apps/detai..._developer sadly it is crashing on my phone when I try to run it. I've sent an email to the developers.

There's also a paid version that the ad says has more questions, vocabulary examples for the kanji, and no banner ads. That's not enough to entice me into upgrading at the moment, though... but if anyone did pay I'm curious about how much better the paid version is.

It's fun to twiddle with, but I don't think I'm going to use it as a regular study tool.

lardycake Wrote:Thanks for posting this, I have been having lots of fun with it the last few days. I am enjoying learning words relevant to Japanese kids and the names of subjects in their schools, then I learn more about what they learn in these subjects such as 国語 and it is very interesting.

I assume you know this but there is also a 中学生漢字 app made by the same people https://play.google.com/store/apps/detai..._developer sadly it is crashing on my phone when I try to run it. I've sent an email to the developers.

Yeah I have installed this previously on my phone as well but it keeps crashing on me too. I am using android. The first time I installed it, it worked ok but then they updated it about 2 months ago and since then it keeps crashing, despite installing and uninstalling it multiple times. I also left feedback. Interestingly I couldn't find it on the iTunes store but that might just be my bad searching skills

Which version of Android do those of y'all having issues use? Just wondering as I don't feel like putting it on my device (ICS) if it's just going to crash.

sholum Wrote:Which version of Android do those of y'all having issues use? Just wondering as I don't feel like putting it on my device (ICS) if it's just going to crash.

I'm using ICS. This is only for the 中学生 version though, the 小学生 app works fine.

SendaiDan Wrote:

sholum Wrote:Which version of Android do those of y'all having issues use? Just wondering as I don't feel like putting it on my device (ICS) if it's just going to crash.

I'm using ICS. This is only for the 中学生 version though, the 小学生 app works fine.

Thanks! I'll probably try it soon. It can't hurt, since I never really write anything.

The developers must have seen our feedback as 中学生漢字（書き取り編) has now been updated for android and no longer crashes. It's not quite as useful as 小学生手書き漢字ドリル1006 as it doesn't introduce any new kanji and really focuses on learning the readings. I think it is still worth the download though.

ya the company would really be on to something if they would
1)get rid of the ads that actually block buttons I want to use so I have to scroll
2)change their ridiculous ninja star input method...takes forever because letters locations are always random... whose idea was that??! just use the normal ten-key
3)made full versions of their many awesome demo apps

you can click on the company's name in itunes and their other stuff comes up. I like other people am waiting for the 中学生手書き漢字ドリル full version, but there is another game that teaches you how to read kanji spellings of common words you already know well, 読めないと恥ずかしい漢字, that I'd recommend.

dtcamero Wrote:ya the company would really be on to something if they would
1)get rid of the ads that actually block buttons I want to use so I have to scroll
2)change their ridiculous ninja star input method...takes forever because letters locations are always random... whose idea was that??! just use the normal ten-key
3)made full versions of their many awesome demo apps

1) the ads are only on the free version. Did you really want a perfect product for free?
2) It's designed to improve your character recognition speed. You'll get quicker.
3) I wholeheartedly agree.

1) I would happily pay to take the pay version if it existed other than for this topic title app... all the others are free only. a couple bucks to not have to scroll a little at the end of each level would be worth it.
2) while that might be true for learners, the apps were designed for native users. do they really need quicker recognition? I mean you could rearrange the keys on your keyboard and get basically the same disorienting effect.

Honestly for me I recognize the symbols immediately, but I might see them in a non-optimal order. for instance for 本格(ほんかく）I might see the ん then か and then ほ... so I click ほ but then I'm playing this whole other memory game about where did I see the ん again now? and if I had ten-key input I would have been able to focus on the reading itself... the point of the whole thing. my two cents...

Got a response from the devs for anybody interested:

Quote:弊社アプリをご利用頂き誠にありがとうございます。
また、お問い合わせを頂き誠にありがとうございます。

言語環境が「英語」の場合、アプリが起動後に落ちてしまう、
という現象を確認しました。

最新のversion1.3.1において、修正が完了しました。
誠にお手数ではございますが、最新版にupdateの上、ご利用ください。

この度は貴重なお問い合わせを頂き誠にありがとうございました。
今後も「はんぷく」学習シリーズをご利用頂けますと幸いです。

Seems the crash may have only affected people with their phones set to English.

My phone's language is set to English so it explains why it kept crashing until they updated the app. It's nice that they sent you a reply about it.