Moekana are a set of cards to help folks learn the basic Japanese syllabary: hiragana. The cards feature the characters of the TV show and website produced by Danny Choo called Culture Japan who are, Mirai Suenaga, Haruka Suenaga and Kanata Hoshikawa.
The pack of 50 different Moekana cards feature cute kawaii illustrations by the Japanese artist Ikkyuu - the adorable artwork alone is enough to help learners learn hiragana but there are many ways one can also use the cards to start learning Japanese.
Also ask your local retailer about availability.
Carry a pack of Moekana around with you to play anywhere - like when you are waiting for food for example! Anyway the rules are...
These are the official tournament rules but you can modify them to your liking (outside of the tournaments) - just as long as you have fun learning!
The more words you learn, the more tournaments you will win.
One of the cards outlines the hiragana order. You can memorize the order with the following cheezy but effective sentence - When I first read it my hairs stood on end from the cheezyness but have never forgotten the order since.
Ah (あ)
Kana (か)
Signs! (さ)
Take (た)
Note (な)
How (は)
Many (ま)
You (や)
Learn (ら)
Wow! (わ)
Moekana comes with 3 character cards which were illustrated just for Moekana by DMYO-sensei.
There are other ways to play Moekana even if you are not good at hiragana. There is a Japanese game called Karuta and the following rules would be an adapted version for Moekana.
Players: 2 players, 1 judge
Requirement: 2 packs of Moekana
Setup
Gameplay
If you are just starting out to learn Hiragana, then I recommend that you carry a pack with you at all times - you can flick through the deck when waiting for a bus or even during class or work when your teacher or boss is not looking.
You can use the top card to cover the romanized reading at the bottom of the card - try to remember the hiragana using the associated illustrations.
Now that you have your pack of Moekana, then how about a Booster pack to go with it to enhance your Japanese hiragana learning? Introducing the Moekana Booster Pack.
Now that you have ordered your Moekana hiragana learning cards, you may want some Moe Sleeves to protect them!
The manufacturer Milestone are brining out two Mirai Suenaga sleeves which fit Moekana, Bushiroad Weiss Schwartz, Chaos and other trading cards which are about 63mm x 89mm.
The Mirai Moe Sleeves will be out in May and the retail price is 630 yen but retailers are discounting further - check this post to see where to buy.
If you think you've gotten the hang of hiragana, then learning kanji with Moekanji is the next step to mastering Japanese!
Moekanji is a set of 87 illustrated cards to help you learn First Grade Kanji which include the “On” and “Kun” readings written in hiragana. First Grade Kanji is what elementary school children in Japan first learn. Retail price is 2500 yen but many retailers are nearly discounting up to 20% ^o^
Mirai Suenaga, Haruka Suenaga and Kanata Hoshikawa are joined by Eiji Seiun, Retrokyu and our new character Kizuna Yumeno makes a couple of appearances too - all adorably illustrated by the same Japanese illustrator Ikkyuu-sensei.
More details at moekanji.com!
Moekana features the mascot of the Culture Japan brand - Mirai Suenaga! Find out more about Mirai-chan and the various collaboration titles that she has worked on with Good Smile Company, Bushiroad, Kadokawa, King Records and so on.
Info for retailers - this is what 1 carton will look like - each carton contains 6 boxes of 6 packs. If you are interested in stocking Moekana then contact one of the official Good Smile retailers listed here.
If you like the Moekana series then show your support by changing your Facebook, Twitter or Google Plus avatar to one of the Moekana illustrations! The full set available here!
I hope you enjoy learning Japanese from the Moekana series just as much as I enjoyed developing them. I'm over the moon that the first production run sold out during the pre-order stage and am currently developing more products in the series which will be announced soon! What sort of products would you like to see?
Hope to meet you in person for a Moekana battle! First stop will be Anime Festival Asia in Malaysia!