Hands up who knows Rikaichan? Yup, thought so. The browser plugin that pops up furigana readings of kanji and their definitions has long been a favorite with Japanese learners, so it’s fantastic to see the same technique finally hit the iPhone and iPad.
The action comes courtesy of developer Long Weekend, which dropped the iPad version of its Rikai Browser on us a few months back, and the iPhone iteration just the other day. The idea is simplicity itself: hit a Japanese website, mouseover (with your finger, natch) some text you’re having trouble with, and you’re in like young Master Flynn.
Rikai Browser comes in two flavors on each platform: free with ads on the bottom from time to time, and a premium, ad-free version at ¥450.
Bonus fact: Long Weekend also make the stunningly good Japanese Flash app—¥900 for the best vocabulary flash cards on the iPhone (and iPod touch; no ’net connection needed).
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One Comment
A shame this company chose to use the name “rikai” for this and charge money but have no relation to the original rikai, or rikaichan/rikaikun/etc (which are based on code originally released as free-software by me). It’s confusing.