Trying to get some sweet ear time with Japanese can be hard when you are on the move or tasked with doing something else. Whether you are just starting out, or fluent in Japanese, radio stations are a good source of listening to new content on a daily basis.
Why the radio when there is Spotify?
There are three great reasons why you would want to listen to Japanese radio.
Finding those little gems.
Tech has made access to great music from all over the world so easy and you can store it to have it playable at anytime. You may have Spotify or iTunes with all of your favourite songs put in to great playlists. The problem there is, you will only ever be able to listen to music that you know about. you can spend hours looking online for new bands and new songs but with a radio you can just let it play and come across great songs passively.
Introducing yourself to different genres.
Slightly similar to why you would want to find new songs but with genres it opens things up vastly of what you may end up liking. You could be a die-hard J-Pop, J-Rock fan, however you’ll only be stuck in that bubble forever. Playing a radio station that has a wide variety of genres will open up new content for you all the time. Who knew that you could like tracks from 1960's Japan.
It's all about the chat.
This is more for people that are learning Japanese or already speak Japanese. Radio has always been a great place to listen to new content on a daily basis. The Radio Host or DJ will always have something new to talk about and also there is the news that will change with current events. The best thing about this is you are not listening or watching the same videos, podcasts or lessons over and over. If you are a beginner to Japanese language then listening is still beneficial as it helps with picking up new words and nuances. Once you start picking up grammar then you will no doubt start to hear it al the time.
So here is a list of top apps worthy of downloading. They all share similar names so icon images are also shown.
Japan Radio
This radio app is available on iOS, Android and Google Play
With around 70 stations, there is a great variety of content to choose from. The stations are grouped into regions which is handy if you want to find out what is going on in certain regions of Japan.
It has a great interface for both mobile and tablet and has more than just radio stations. Opening up the menu section shows a learning, podcasts and TV tab. The podcasts are from various Japanese channels and popular websites. the TV tab only hosts NHK world news, NHK world tv and Channel Japan, which are hosted and presented in English which is still good to learn about culture and current affairs.
This also has a chat thread for each radio station which is pretty cool so you can chat to theres that like that station.
Ads on the app but no annoying popups.
Connects fine to all radio stations
Doesn't have artist or song title information
Japan Radio
Hosts around 40 Japanese stations and about 10 other Asian stations. They concentrate more on the J-Pop, J-Rock side of music with a list of Anime mix radio stations.
The stations are just streamers which means there is no Japanese talking. Good if you just like the music and no host chat.
All the stations connect fine and show the current song and artist which is great if you want to find out more about the artist and their other work.
No ads what so ever on this app.
Radio Japan
Hosts around 100 Japanese stations so lots of variety with hosted stations so you can listen to Japanese conversation throughout.
All the stations connect fine but the app does not show the current artist or song title
No ads what so ever on this app.
Stations can be favourite tagged so you can easily come back to your most liked station.
Radio Japan
With over 300 radio stations, finding great content is easy.
There is a mix between streamed music stations and hosted radio stations.
the hosted radio stations tend not to show artist and song titles where as the streamed music stations do.
No ads on this app.
Stations can be favourite tagged so you can easily come back to your most liked station.
it has a search tab so you can look for specific radio stations.
So if you are on the move and you want to listen to something other than your playlists then one of these radio apps are most certainly worth a download. Depending on what you are looking for with a radio app one of these four will definitely suit your needs
Trying to get some sweet ear time with Japanese can be hard when you are on the move or tasked with doing something else. Whether you are just starting out, or fluent in Japanese, radio stations are a good source of listening to new content on a daily basis.
Why the radio when there is Spotify?
There are three great reasons why you would want to listen to Japanese radio.
Finding those little gems.
Tech has made access to great music from all over the world so easy and you can store it to have it playable at anytime. You may have Spotify or iTunes with all of your favourite songs put in to great playlists. The problem there is, you will only ever be able to listen to music that you know about. you can spend hours looking online for new bands and new songs but with a radio you can just let it play and come across great songs passively.
Introducing yourself to different genres.
Slightly similar to why you would want to find new songs but with genres it opens things up vastly of what you may end up liking. You could be a die-hard J-Pop, J-Rock fan, however you’ll only be stuck in that bubble forever. Playing a radio station that has a wide variety of genres will open up new content for you all the time. Who knew that you could like tracks from 1960's Japan.
It's all about the chat.
This is more for people that are learning Japanese or already speak Japanese. Radio has always been a great place to listen to new content on a daily basis. The Radio Host or DJ will always have something new to talk about and also there is the news that will change with current events. The best thing about this is you are not listening or watching the same videos, podcasts or lessons over and over. If you are a beginner to Japanese language then listening is still beneficial as it helps with picking up new words and nuances. Once you start picking up grammar then you will no doubt start to hear it al the time.
So here is a list of top apps worthy of downloading. They all share similar names so icon images are also shown.
Japan Radio
This radio app is available on iOS, Android and Google Play
With around 70 stations, there is a great variety of content to choose from. The stations are grouped into regions which is handy if you want to find out what is going on in certain regions of Japan.
It has a great interface for both mobile and tablet and has more than just radio stations. Opening up the menu section shows a learning, podcasts and TV tab. The podcasts are from various Japanese channels and popular websites. the TV tab only hosts NHK world news, NHK world tv and Channel Japan, which are hosted and presented in English which is still good to learn about culture and current affairs.
This also has a chat thread for each radio station which is pretty cool so you can chat to theres that like that station.
Ads on the app but no annoying popups.
Connects fine to all radio stations
Doesn't have artist or song title information
Japan Radio
Hosts around 40 Japanese stations and about 10 other Asian stations. They concentrate more on the J-Pop, J-Rock side of music with a list of Anime mix radio stations.
The stations are just streamers which means there is no Japanese talking. Good if you just like the music and no host chat.
All the stations connect fine and show the current song and artist which is great if you want to find out more about the artist and their other work.
No ads what so ever on this app.
Radio Japan
Hosts around 100 Japanese stations so lots of variety with hosted stations so you can listen to Japanese conversation throughout.
All the stations connect fine but the app does not show the current artist or song title
No ads what so ever on this app.
Stations can be favourite tagged so you can easily come back to your most liked station.
Radio Japan
With over 300 radio stations, finding great content is easy.
There is a mix between streamed music stations and hosted radio stations.
the hosted radio stations tend not to show artist and song titles where as the streamed music stations do.
No ads on this app.
Stations can be favourite tagged so you can easily come back to your most liked station.
it has a search tab so you can look for specific radio stations.
So if you are on the move and you want to listen to something other than your playlists then one of these radio apps are most certainly worth a download. Depending on what you are looking for with a radio app one of these four will definitely suit your needs