But it’s been clear that all of that just hasn’t been enough for you. Some of you say that our stickers are too two-dimensional. The illiterate among you say that our ebooks just aren’t for you. Others say that our vocab packs are just too boring. Where’s the excitement in the Tofugu store?

We’ve gotten all of your e-mails, tweets, Facebook comments, texts, phone calls, letters, telegraphs, carrier pigeons, smoke signals, and flag-based semaphore communications.

And we get it. You crave something more.

That’s why today we’re proud to introduce our very first, one-of a kind Tofugu Action Ningyo into our store.

Specially made at Tofugu World Headquarters by Koichi himself, The Tofugu Action Ningyo truly is an achievement in craftsmanship. It’s completely organic, artisan, fair trade, and extremely deadly.

Don’t be fooled by cheap imitators! The Tofugu Action Ningyo is made from only the finest ingredients. Our competitors only pack enough tetrodotoxin into their product to kill a man, but our Tofugu Action Ningyo contains enough fugu-poison to make an entire herd of buffalo drop dead.

And unlike other toys that are boring, inedible, and possible choking hazards, The Tofugu Action Ningyo is completely edible, biodegradable, and recyclable. It’s so disposable that you might wonder why you’re spending so much money in the first place.

But wait! For this special occasion, we’re cutting the price in half!

Normally, a fine, hand-crafted figurine like this would run for somewhere in the neighborhood of $100,000; but because this is such a rare event, we’re slashing the price 50% to a mere $50,000 (plus shipping, handling, processing, and convenience fees).

And when we say “The Tofugu Action Ningyo,” we mean that quite literally. Only one Tofugu Action Figure will ever be produced, so once it’s sold, it’s gone.

Not only that, but we’re offering The Tofugu Action Ningyo for one day only! After today, you’ll be out of luck.

Happy April Fools’!

He didn’t know how to study Japanese very well…

That’s the basic idea that spawned the idea for the ebook we’re releasing today in the Tofugu Store. I wanted to write something that could help anyone studying Japanese no matter what resource they ended up using. In the end, most resources and classes basically cover the same sorts of things. “To be fluent, you learn X, Y, and Z.” Really, there isn’t a ton of variation on what you learn.

If you want to become fluent a lot more quickly, like years and years faster than anyone else, you don’t need to change what you learn, you need to change how you’re learning it.

Textbooks won’t tell you about this. Why? Because they don’t care how long it takes you to learn. Why would they?

The thing that differs greatly from person to person, and the thing that decides whether someone takes a couple of years to gain fluency or a couple of decades, really boils down to how good they are at learning. With this ebook, I want to help people with the “how” side of things. Here’s how I do it:

“30 Days Of Becoming A Better Japanese Learner”

Our new ebook (titled above) is is broken up into thirty chapters / days (with bonus chapters coming soon!). Each day covers a single topic – a topic that will help you to learn Japanese more effectively. Each chapter will go over:

What: Learn what you should be doing different.

Why: Learn why you should be doing said subject differently.

How: Learn what you need to do to accomplish this.

Do: Actually take action and do the things talked about in the chapter. If you don’t try it, how will any of this help you? I’ll tell you what you need to do and how you do it so you can accomplish Japanese language greatness.

With this setup, you not only learn how to learn Japanese as effectively as you can, but you’ll actually make measurable progress in your Japanese as well. If you go through every chapter and do everything in this ebook, I’ll be surprised if you’re not considerably better at Japanese within 30 days, not to mention the following months where you take these strategies and really run with the ones that work for you.

This Ebook Is Made For…

Well, Japanese learners for starters. If you’re not learning Japanese, chances are this ebook won’t help you as much (though, to be honest, you learn a ton about productivity, memory, and general learning as well, though that’s not what this ebook was specifically made for). All levels of Japanese will benefit from this ebook because it covers how to learn, so you can use it in parallel with whatever Japanese learning resource you choose.

Mainly, though, I think the following type of person will benefit most:

• Someone who feels like their Japanese language progress has stalled.
• Someone who doesn’t feel like they’re learning Japanese fast enough.
• Someone who’s ready to take their Japanese to the next level.

I want you to become a Japanese learning powerhouse – it’s not easy (I’m not going to sugarcoat it), but there are very different things that great Japanese learners do that nobody else does. It’s not a matter of working harder… it’s knowing how to work, and I reveal those secrets in this ebook.

Click the button above to see this ebook’s store page and learn more about what you’ll be getting!

67% Off Introductory Pricing And More!

Since it’s our first ebook, I wanted to make sure it was nice and affordable for everyone. For the first week, we’ll be offering it at 67% off (so, $10 instead of $30). That comes out to around 33 cents per day. I make more than that checking my couch cushions. Plus, you’ll get all the future bonus chapters, future improved versions of this ebook, and access to alpha testing of Viet@Tofugu’s current project, a webapp for learning kanji. It’s not ready yet, but in the coming few weeks ebook buyers will be the first to get invites.

Of course, I’m totally understanding about refunds – if you go through it and it’s not helpful for you, just email me (koichi@tofugu.com) and I’ll get you a refund. Easy as that. I don’t want to sell something that you can’t use.

But, if I can save you five, ten, or even thirty years… well, I’d say that’s pretty useful. That means you’ll be speaking Japanese like a pro well before you turn into skeleton guy up above. It won’t be easy, but it doesn’t have to be slow. Get Our New Ebook Now :) →

So, what’s in the store right now?

Stickers!

Some lucky people (haiku winners, people who’ve beat us in Starcraft, Tofugu day laborers who we pay in stickers) already have these stickers with our fugu logo on it. Now they’re up for sale for anybody who wants to cover every conceivable surface with the Tofugu logo.

Not included: Koichi.

Vocab Packs!

Some of the things in our shop are even educational! (Shocking, I know!) For beginners to Japanese, we’ve got a whole bunch of vocab packs to help you learn essential Japanese verbs, nouns, and adjectives. Apparently, knowing words is important when learning a new language. Who knew?

Not included: adverbs, prepositions, and pronouns.

Admittedly, there isn’t a whole lot in the store right now. We’re taking it slow since the store is still so new, but depending on how things go, we might add new items to the store in the future.

P.S.: Wanna know when we add new things to the store? Follow us on Twitter.

P.P.S.: Are you also a ruthless capitalist? Like us on Facebook

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[box type="note"]As usual, I’m not getting paid to recommend this resource. I don’t get kickbacks if you pay for the service, and I don’t get anything in return for writing this article (except for hopefully getting some of your happiness in return)[/box]

CandyJapan.com

Here’s how CandyJapan works, according to the website:

Every two weeks I’ll select some surprise candy and mail it to you in a standard Japanese envelope. There will be variety and you will get to try all sorts of things only available in Japan. There will be some very cute packaging and some new delicious tastes, too.

The envelopes aren’t huge, but considering the cost of buying the candy and shipping it, I feel like $12 per envelope isn’t all that terrible. Sure, it’s more expensive than buying candy from a store directly, but the goal of this service is to get you candy that’s hard or impossible to find outside of Japan.

Now, there are other services that let you get stuff from Japan (if you know what you want or find it in their directory), but what I like about CandyJapan is that you’re on a subscription, and you don’t actually know what you’re going to get every month. You sort of get the thrill that people get when gambling, except you’re guaranteed to win every time.

I’m not sure why I love this idea so much, but I think it has to do with getting a surprise in the mail every couple weeks. I’m hoping that I’ll subscribe then immediately forget I subscribed in the first place. It’s like when you put a twenty dollar bill somewhere in your room, then several years later you find it while cleaning and then you’re like “hey, cool! $20!” Sort of like that, but you get to eat this surprise every two weeks.

If you like Japanese Candy and you like surprises, go check out CandyJapan! I’m literally going to go sign up for it right now to see how it is. I don’t always eat Japanese candy, but when I do I prefer Japanese Candy.

P.S. Want to know when I get my first envelope of tasty Japanese candy? Follow us on Twitter and we’ll tell you there.

P.P.S. Maybe you want to see a video of the candy instead? You should like Tofugu on Facebook to see some of that action.