Make friends.
Learn Japanese.
You don't need another flashcard app
Streak counters that guilt you. Grammar tables that put you to sleep. Vocabulary ripped from context and forgotten by Tuesday. There's a better way to learn a language—the same way you'd learn it in Japan. Through people.
Boring drills
Repetition without meaning. Your brain checks out after three minutes.
Streak guilt
Miss a day and the app punishes you. Learning shouldn't feel like an obligation.
No context
Words without stories are hard to remember. Your brain needs narrative to anchor new language.
How Tomo works
Your daily loop. No textbooks.
Meet your tomodachi
Your first friend is Yuki—a barista and filmmaker in Tokyo. She speaks casually, like a real friend would.
Listen to their story
Every day, a 60-second audio message arrives. Yuki shares what's happening in her life—in Japanese, calibrated to your level.
Reply in your words
Respond to each message and shape what happens next. Your replies make every story personal—no two learners hear the same thing.
Words stick naturally
Vocabulary from your conversations feeds into spaced repetition. You remember because the words mean something to you.
Why Tomo works
Not a game. A relationship.
Daily messages
60-second stories, every morning
Wake up to a personal audio message from your friend in Japan. Each one advances their story and introduces vocabulary calibrated to your level.
Yuki · The Cafe Next Door
Smart review
Words stick because they mean something
Science-backed spaced repetition, but every word comes from a story you care about. Not random flashcards—real context.
Your story
Reply, and the story changes
After each message, reply in your own words. Your response shapes what happens next—every conversation is personal, and every story is yours.
Any level
Calibrated to you
Complete beginner or already conversational—Tomo adjusts vocabulary, grammar, and kanji to exactly where you are.
No streaks. No guilt.
Learning without the anxiety
Miss a day? Your friend won't punish you. They'll pick up right where you left off. Real relationships don't have streak counters.
Meet your tomodachi
Real characters. Real stories.
Yuki
25 · Barista & filmmaker · Koenji
Warm, curious, and a little restless. Yuki films mini-documentaries about her neighbourhood and talks to you like a close friend—casually, honestly.
「ねえ、今日カフェに面白いお客さん来たよ！」
"Hey, an interesting customer came to the cafe today!"
Kenji
68 · Retired garden designer · Gion
Gentle, thoughtful, and never in a hurry. Kenji speaks in seasonal metaphors and treats you like a curious younger person worth teaching.
「庭の石は、急がないものですよ。」
"The stones in a garden are never in a hurry."
More friends coming
New characters · New cities
Your social circle in Japan will grow. New characters mean new personalities, new speech styles, and new stories—each one a different way to learn.
Sign up to be first to meet them →
Coming soon
Take your friends with you
The Tomo mobile app is on the way. Get notified when messages arrive. Listen on your commute. Reply naturally with your voice. Learn Japanese wherever life takes you.
What learners say
"I actually look forward to studying"
"It feels like checking messages from a friend, not doing homework. I've learned more vocabulary in 3 weeks than 6 months of flashcards."
— Early beta tester
"Kenji's garden metaphors actually help me remember grammar patterns. I never thought I'd say that about a language app."
— Early beta tester
"I missed two days and Yuki just picked up where she left off. No guilt trip. That's when I knew this was different."
— Early beta tester
"The audio messages are so much better than listening exercises in textbooks. Each one feels like a real conversation."
— Early beta tester
Science-backed
Built on how memory actually works
Tomo uses spaced repetition—the same technique behind the most effective learning research of the last 50 years. But instead of abstract flashcards, every word is anchored to a character and a story. Emotional context is the strongest memory hook there is.
Japanese first. More soon.
We're starting with one language done right
Rather than spread thin across 30 languages, we're going deep on Japanese first—every character, every narrative arc, every cultural nuance. More languages are coming, built with the same care.
Pricing
Choose how you want to begin
Opening soon
Join the waitlist for launch-day access and build updates as we go.
Monthly
Start the story. Cancel anytime.
billed monthly
- •Daily episodes from Yuki, Kenji & Hana
- •Explore, practice & converse modes
- •Full SRS review deck
Two years
Help us build the city. Keep your rate forever.
$8.29 / month · one-time payment
- •Everything in Annual
- •Locked at $99/year for life after year 2
- •Every future language included, forever
- •Akira — a friend only founding members ever meet
- •Monthly founder's journal from Alan
- •Your name in the credits
Annual
A year in the city. Save 34%.
$9.92 / month · billed yearly
- •Everything in Monthly
- •Priority access to new characters
- •34% off the monthly rate
These are the prices when we open. Join the waitlist for launch-day access — founding members are the first 100 to sign up once we're live.
Questions
The usual ones, answered
Why no free tier?
What is the founding membership?
What if I'm not ready to commit to two years?
What is the launch offer?
If I buy Annual at the launch price, do I lock in $89 forever?
What if I start with Annual and then want to upgrade to Founding?
What's Akira?
Your first friend is almost ready
Tomo is in final build. Leave your email and we'll send build updates as we go — and a note the moment Yuki has her first message for you.
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