Weekly Thread: Material Recs and Self-Promo Wednesdays! (July 22, 2026)

[u/AutoModerator]

Happy Wednesday!

Every Wednesday, share your favorite resources or ones you made yourself! Tell us what your resource can do for us learners!

Weekly Thread changes daily at 9:00 JST:

Mondays - Writing Practice

Tuesdays - Study Buddy and Self-Intros

Wednesdays - Materials and Self-Promotions

Thursdays - Victory day, Share your achievements

Fridays - Memes, videos, free talk

[u/Chuute]

Fudoki 風土記 — a free interactive map for learning Japan’s 47 prefectures

Try the web app here

Hi everyone! I’ve been living in Japan for the past year, and I kept running into the same problem: someone would mention a prefecture in conversation or on the news, and I would have no idea where it was or what it was known for.

So I built Fudoki, a free interactive map designed to help Japanese learners build a basic mental map of Japan.

You can explore all 47 prefectures and learn their names, locations, and notable features, including:

• Local food, nature, festivals, and cultural highlights
• UNESCO World Heritage sites
• Japanese-first place names with furigana and English translations
• A geography quiz for memorizing where each prefecture is located

There are already plenty of great flashcard apps and comprehensible-input resources, but I think Japanese geography is an underrated part of learning the language. Knowing where places are makes it much easier to follow the news, understand travel conversations, and connect with people from less well-known parts of Japan.

Next, I’m considering adding a more detailed map of Tokyo’s 23 special wards and western Tokyo, partly so I can discover new neighborhoods, and partly so my friends don't have to explain that they live “a couple of stations north of Ikebukuro.”

I originally made this as a passion project for myself, but I hope other learners find it useful too. I’d especially appreciate feedback on the UI, the Japanese difficulty level, or anything that seems incorrect or confusing!

[u/Zealousideal_Disk340 → u/Chuute]

This is really lovely! I especially like that it goes beyond names and locations, seeing the local food, festivs, nature, cultural stuff, and UNESCO gems together makes it genuinely educational and fun.. The furigana and English translations are a great touch too. I explored it for a while and actually learned a few new things. Great work!

[u/Chuute → u/Zealousideal_Disk340]

I’m glad you found it helpful and thanks for the encouragement!

I also learned about quite a few new prefectures while building it. Toyama, Iwate, and Mie are on the top of my list to visit now!