yomu

Appearance

よむFree Japanese lookup and mining for the web

Tap or hover Japanese text, read manga images, mine subtitles, import dictionaries, and save study cards without paying for a full study suite.

Try Out
Start Here
Video Player
よむ app icon

Friendly first install

Step-by-step setup for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, iPhone, and iPad. No coding knowledge needed.

Built for real studying

Lookup, dictionary import, kanji pages, example sentences, image reading, subtitle mining, and optional JPDB or Anki study tools in one reader.

Free and maintainable

The docs, changelog, and GitHub Pages deployment live in the same repository as the userscript.

Install path: よむ is available today as a userscript. Chrome, Firefox, and Safari extension packages can also be built for local testing and store-review prep, but the userscript is the friendliest normal install for now.

What It Does ​

よむ is a small helper that runs inside your browser. When you point it at Japanese text, subtitles, or manga images, it opens a clean popup with readings, meanings, mining actions, examples, kanji details, and audio.

It is meant for learners who want the useful parts of paid reading suites without turning study into another subscription. You can start with simple popup lookup, add JPDB or local dictionaries later, and connect Anki only when you want flashcards.

New Words In These Docs ​

  • JPDB is an online Japanese study site. よむ can use it for word status, definitions, review buttons, and mining.
  • Yomitan dictionaries are downloadable dictionary files. よむ can import them so lookups keep working from local browser storage.
  • Mining means saving a word, sentence, subtitle, or image context so you can study it later.
  • Anki is a flashcard app. よむ can send cards to Anki when you choose to connect it.
  • OCR means reading text from images, such as manga panels or screenshots.
A よむ popup on a Japanese Wikipedia article, showing JPDB state, pitch, definitions, translation, grammar, and mining controls.
Popup lookup with live JPDB data and mining controls.
A よむ kanji drilldown panel showing JPDB and RTK facts with a rendered KanjiVG stroke diagram.
Kanji drilldown with live KanjiVG stroke data.

Good First Pages ​

  • Getting Started walks through installing a userscript manager, installing よむ, and doing your first lookup.
  • Features explains the main tools with plain-language examples.
  • Video Player opens local browser-supported video and subtitle files from the hosted GitHub Pages app.
  • Local Audio shows the hosted Ultimate Yomitan Audio path first, then the self-hosted server path for people who want local files.
  • Support has GitHub issues, Discord, donations, and the current install links.
  • Changelog shows what changed in each release. It is generated from the repository changelog.

Free userscript now. Chrome, Firefox, and Safari packages are in review prep.

Released under the GPL-3.0-or-later license.