You can use this webapp to help teach yourself to recognize the Japanese Hiragana and Katakana (often referred to as the "kana") syllabaries. It works much like flash cards but without having to have someone hold up a card for you to guess at. Please note that recognizing the Hiragana and Katakana isn't the same thing as being able to read and write Japanese but it's a great first step in that direction.
If you're interested in learning more about the Japanese language (Nihongo), there are many great websites devoted to teaching it. One of my favorite is nihongoresources.com. It has a plethora of information and a great search engine for looking up kanji.
You can skip this tutorial at any time by tapping the skip button.
The kana trainer screen is split into two areas: the kana display and the answer options.
The kana display contains the Options menu link (represented by the gear icon ) in the upper left corner, a timer in the upper right, the number of correct answers in the lower left, and the number of incorrect answers in the lower right. In the center is the current kana you're selecting an answer for.
Tapping the gear icon will open the Options menu. If you tap the kana it will skip that syllable and load the next random syllable.
Tapping the romaji representation of the currently displayed syllable will add 1 to the number of correct answers and load the next random kana. The first time you do so the timer will start. You don't have to worry about the timer if you're just starting out but advanced users may find it useful to guage how well they're doing. The timer will pause if you open the Options menu.
The answers are grouped into their Syllable groups (explained below). You can toggle syllable sets by clicking the check mark (✓) or X (✗). You can also toggle an entire syllable group by clicking the group name.
Tap the gear icon () in the upper left corner of the screen to open the Options menu.
There you will find the following options:
Any changes you make on the Options screen will be reset to the defaults.
You can choose to turn off one of the syllabaries if you prefer to focus on one of the two. By default both Hiragana and Katakana are enabled. You cannot disable both since that would be pointless.
For the purposes of this kana trainer, there are three groups of syllables.
Each set of syllables is represented by the a sound of the set. The full set includes (where applicable) the a, i, u, e, and o sounds. Toggling the set will turn on/off all sounds for that set. This can help focus your training on a specific set that's giving you trouble.
You can also click on the check mark (✓) or X (✗) icons above a set on the trainer screen to enable and disable a set without needing to access the Options menu. The only drawback to doing so is if you're using the timer. The timer will not pause if you use the ✓/✗ to toggle sets.