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Japanese website reader app Rikai Browser comes to iPhone

Dec. 3, 2010 07:30 am JST 13 Comments

TOKYO

Rikai Browser, which helps language learners read Japanese websites, is now available on iPhones. Previously only for the iPad platform, a new version of the app released on the Apple App Store also works on the iPhone and iPod Touch, announced developers Long Weekend LLC.

"People kept asking us when we'd do an iPhone version. We'd always wanted to do it, but our challenge was to figure out how to make the app work well on the iPhone's smaller screen," said Ross Sharrott, director at Long Weekend LLC.

The app is a complete web browser with a twist: when a user selects a Japanese word or kanji on any website, the app automatically displays the reading and the definition from its 145,000-word built-in dictionary.

“The iPhone brings a new use for the app. When you're out in Tokyo and want to look something up online in Japanese, you're not going to pull out an iPad,” added Sharrott. “You'd have your phone in your hand.”

Rikai Browser costs 450 yen and is compatible with all iOS devices. It is available on the App Store at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id380853144?mt=8.

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13 Comments
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ebisen
Dec. 3, 2010 09:56 am JST

There will soon be more android phones than iPhones in Japan. I think is quite dangerous to exclusively support apple products, as somebody else will implement it sooner or later for Android as well.

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yasukuni
Dec. 3, 2010 10:59 am JST

Who said they are going to exclusively support apple products. Some people just seem to get upset with any news about apple. btw, There maybe more android phones soon, but people will only buy them because the iphone came out first and showed them what was possible.

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sveinnyves
Dec. 3, 2010 11:10 am JST

I just downloaded the rikai 450￥, in the product description, it states that "reading japanese on your ipad, iphone and itouch just got easier!" But when i downloaded it it I couldnt sync it with my iphone! and was placed in the 'Ipad' app section in my itune.

want my money back...

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ronaldk
Dec. 3, 2010 01:15 pm JST

It is surprising to me that we are unwilling to pay anything for Rikai on the Internet, but quickly shell out for the iPhone for a lesser product.

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goddog
Dec. 3, 2010 03:40 pm JST

Why not just go to jisho.org on Safari? It is free.

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fuiuchi42
Dec. 3, 2010 04:22 pm JST

Misinformation. The iphone App isn't up as of this post - Only the iPad version.

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Smorkian
Dec. 3, 2010 05:09 pm JST

Rikaichan is free for Firefox on a normal OS, why should we pay for an iPhone/Pad version?

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DocC
Dec. 3, 2010 08:30 pm JST

Actually I would have my iPad with me, and the iPad version is free….

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iPhone4wht32gb
Dec. 3, 2010 09:37 pm JST

Yes, the iPad version is free. But I need it for my iPhone too :)

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aleef
Dec. 3, 2010 09:59 pm JST

Ironically, this new app not available in the Japanese store. The link in the story is for the US store, and a search of the Japanese App Store yields nothing but the free iPad version.

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rsharrott
Dec. 4, 2010 05:41 am JST

Thank you all for your comments and I apologize for the confusion.

The paid version of Rikai Browser with iPhone support should be out in a few days. We had to go through Apple's review process for longer than expected. It is currently available on the iPad.

There is a free version - which is ad supported - and available now on iPhone. Japan Today is not allowing links in comments, but a search for Rikai on the app store will find it.

Thanks again for your interest.

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merukado
Dec. 4, 2010 11:50 pm JST

I do the basic functionality directly from mobile safari.

Here is how:

Open mobile safari

Create a bookmark (any website is fine)

Edit your Bookmark name: "jp->en"

Edit your bookmark address. Instead of "ｈｔｔｐ：／／．．．" TYPE the following address without quotation, and in plain roman characters:

"ｊａｖａｓｃｒｉｐｔ：ｑ＝ｌｏｃａｔｉｏｎ．ｈｒｅｆ；ｉｆ（ｑ）ｌｏｃａｔｉｏｎ．ｈｒｅｆ＝'ｈｔｔｐ：／／ｗｗｗ．ｐｏｐｊｉｓｙｏ．ｃｏｍ／ＷｅｂＨｉｎｔ／ＡｄｄＨｉｎｔ．ａｓｐｘ？ｄ＝７＆ｕ＝'＋ｅｓｃａｐｅ（ｑ）"

(I had to write it in Full-width Kana due to a "potentially offensive content" error when posting. Being this my first post in this forum I really don't know which is the offensive part ;-)

Edit your bookmark accessibility: try to put your bookmark somewhere you can access easily.

End

You've just created a bookmarklet

How to use it: Open a Japanese website, then open this bookmarklet.

Cons: Can't save any kanji. Doesn't work offline.

Enjoy

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gagaga9002
Dec. 9, 2010 10:43 pm JST

I have been using Wakaru on the iphone which is better than Rikai because it can also read text files and it can remember all the words you've searched. Cost me 230 yens.

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