Utaakari 歌灯り

Learn Japanese with music videos. The lyrics light up word by word as they're sung.

What it is

Utaakari (歌灯り, "song light") is a free web app for learning Japanese from the music you like. A music video plays with its lyrics below it, synced to the singing word by word, in Japanese with furigana, in romaji and in your language. Tap any word to look it up while the song keeps playing. No account and nothing to download: it runs in your browser.

Questions or suggestions: hello@utaakari.com.

What you can do

• Read along word by word. Each word fills as it's sung; the line you're on is always in view.
• Choose what to show: Japanese, furigana (the reading over each kanji), romaji and a translation, each on or off.
• Translations in English, Catalan, Spanish, French and Simplified Chinese.
• Tap a word for its dictionary form, reading and meanings, with each kanji's stroke order drawn for you.
• Hear it said: Listen plays a native speaker's recording of the word.
• Save words with the heart, with the lyric line you found them in, and review them with flashcards.
• Learn more about a word: its kanji (meanings, on and kun readings), the other songs in the playlist that use it, and example sentences.
• Practise a line: loop it, or step to the previous or next line.
• Print the lyrics on one or two pages, with furigana, romaji and translation as you choose.
• Share a song: every song has its own link.
• Phones too: on a small screen everything stacks, and focus mode shows only the video and the lyrics. Install app (at the top of the page) puts it on your home screen like any other app.

Keyboard shortcuts

• Space play or pause
• ← → previous or next line
• Shift+← → previous or next song
• L loop the current line

Songs in the playlist

• 春を告げる (THE FIRST TAKE)
  yama
• JANE DOE
  米津玄師, 宇多田ヒカル
• 新宝島
  サカナクション
• 赤いワインに涙が・・・
  ブランデー戦記
• さよーならまたいつか！
  米津玄師
• B級 (B-List)
  ちゃんみな
• lemonade
  Chilli Beans.
• ドライフラワー (THE FIRST TAKE)
  優里
• 革命道中 - On The Way
  アイナ・ジ・エンド
• ないものねだり (THE FIRST TAKE)
  KANA-BOON × ネクライトーキー
• PONPONPON
  きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ
• かむかもしかもにどもかも！ (MONO NO AWARE cover)
  ハク。
• Coming-of-age Story
  ブランデー戦記
• One Last Kiss
  宇多田ヒカル
• Cheese ft. Manaka
  Litty
• 群青 (THE FIRST TAKE)
  YOASOBI
• ワールドエンドガールフレンド
  RADWIMPS
• SAWARUNA
  coco. & Hanemii
• 打上花火
  DAOKO × 米津玄師
• ただ君に晴れ
  ヨルシカ
• Going feat. Litty
  Manaka
• Last Live
  ブランデー戦記
• ナイーブ女の子
  ハク。
• Bling-Bang-Bang-Born
  Creepy Nuts
• ワタシ
  ハク。
• スパークル [original ver.]
  RADWIMPS
• NIGHT DANCER
  imase
• 才能
  サバシスター
• 海のまにまに
  YOASOBI
• The End of the F***ing World
  ブランデー戦記
• inside you (THE HOME TAKE)
  milet
• ベテルギウス
  優里
• 27:00
  ブランデー戦記
• なんでもないよ、
  マカロニえんぴつ
• Never Grow Up
  ちゃんみな
• きらり
  藤井風
• 正しくなれない (THE FIRST TAKE)
  ずっと真夜中でいいのに。
• 明日も
  SHISHAMO
• Pretender (Acoustic ver.)
  Official髭男dism
• 青と夏 (LIVE)
  Mrs.GREEN APPLE
• 拝啓、少年よ
  Hump Back
• New me
  YOASOBI
• 秒針を噛む
  ずっと真夜中でいいのに。
• 裸の心 (LIVE)
  あいみょん
• Mela!
  緑黄色社会
• 恋
  星野源
• シンデレラボーイ
  Saucy Dog
• 一輪花
  tuki.
• お気に召すまま
  Eve
• キリエ・憐れみの讃歌 (THE FIRST TAKE)
  Kyrie (アイナ・ジ・エンド)
• TOKYO GIRL
  Perfume
• カワキヲアメク
  美波
• Habit
  SEKAI NO OWARI
• Subtitle
  Official髭男dism
• ダンスホール
  Mrs.GREEN APPLE
• 悪魔の子 (Anime Special Ver.)
  ヒグチアイ
• 宿命
  Official髭男dism
• IRIS OUT
  米津玄師
• 狂乱 Hey Kids!!
  THE ORAL CIGARETTES
• Black Catcher
  ビッケブランカ
• 晩餐歌
  tuki.
• ケセラセラ
  Mrs.GREEN APPLE
• 紅蓮華
  LiSA
• KICK BACK
  米津玄師
• I LOVE...
  Official髭男dism
• 感電
  米津玄師
• だから僕は音楽を辞めた
  ヨルシカ
• ドラマツルギー
  Eve
• あの夢をなぞって
  YOASOBI
• ビバリウム (Vivarium)
  Ado
• Addiction
  羊文学
• ふたり基地
  ハク。
• ゆめのはじまりんりん
  きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ
• オリオン / Orion
  YOASOBI
• more than words
  羊文学
• 革命道中 (THE FIRST TAKE)
  アイナ・ジ・エンド
• 回転してから考える
  ハク。
• 誰が為にCHAKAPOCOは鳴る
  ネクライトーキー
• ハレンチ
  ちゃんみな
• Nightmarish
  ブランデー戦記
• 忘れられないの
  サカナクション
• グランドエスケープ
  RADWIMPS
• ヨークシャテリア
  Litty
• アイ・アイ・ア (THE FIRST TAKE)
  Ado
• それしか言えない
  ハク。
• I hate this love song (Acoustic Session)
  ちゃんみな
• 炎 (THE FIRST TAKE)
  LiSA
• うっせぇわ (THE FIRST TAKE)
  Ado
• 言って。
  ヨルシカ
• たぶん
  YOASOBI

Support Utaakari

Utaakari is free, with no ads and no tracking, and it stays that way. It's made by one person in their spare time. If it helps you learn, you can leave a tip to help pay for hosting and new songs.

Questions

Is it free? Do I need an account?

It's free and there's no account. Your settings and saved words stay in your own browser. If you'd like to help keep it running, you can leave a tip on Ko-fi.

Where do the videos come from?

They're played from YouTube with its official player. Utaakari never draws over the video.

Is my data sent anywhere?

Saved words stay in your browser. Looking up a word sends only that word to the dictionary and example services listed below, never the lyrics. Utaakari counts visits anonymously on its own server (which songs are played and for how long, which words are looked up, and which country visits come from, worked out on the server from the IP address, which isn't kept), with no tracking cookies (the only cookie remembers that you typed the entry key), no third-party trackers and nothing that identifies you; browsers with Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control aren't counted.

Does it work on phones?

Yes, in any modern browser.