| Month | New/day | Total cards | Daily reviews | Notes | |-------|---------|-------------|---------------|-------| | 1 | 10 | 300 | ~50–80 | Focus on sentence comprehension | | 2 | 12 | 660 | ~90–120 | Pitch accent becomes natural | | 3 | 15 | 1,110 | ~120–150 | Slight burnout risk – take breaks | | 4 | 15 | 1,500 (done) | ~160–200 | Then switch to pure review + immersion |
The deck is an essential tool for any serious beginner, offering a streamlined, modern, and high-quality approach to building Japanese vocabulary. By focusing on the right 1,500 words, it sets you up for rapid success, making it arguably the best starting point for Japanese vocabulary in 2026. If you are interested, I can: Explain how to set up the Anki app . Provide tips on how to optimize SRS for faster learning. Suggest good complementary grammar resources . Let me know how you'd like to proceed !
Each card shows:
: The deck is highly modular; users can easily enable or disable features like pitch accent notation , furigana, and images through the card template. Key Advantages
The Kaishi 1.5k is designed to be completed in . It gives you just enough vocabulary to start "sentence mining" – i.e., watching a raw episode of Pokémon or Doraemon and adding 5-10 new words you encountered naturally. If you try to brute force a 15k pre-made deck, you will spend 45 minutes on reviews every day for two years, lacking the dopamine hits of real-world comprehension. anki kaishi 15k
When reviewing, don't just memorize the English translation. Pay attention to the example sentence, the pronunciation, and the kanji usage.
: One learner who completed the deck compiled "a handy list of common words not in the Kaishi 1.5k deck," acknowledging that "there are definitely some refinements... that can be made" | Month | New/day | Total cards |
Cards are designed to show how words are used in real-world contexts, rather than just abstract definitions.
Explanatory notes or nuances (e.g., distinguishing synonyms). Step-by-Step Guide to Optimizing Kaishi 15K Provide tips on how to optimize SRS for faster learning
When you flip the card, you're presented with everything you need:
: Each card typically includes the target word, native audio, an example sentence with its own audio, and often a relevant image.
