Ever since I started to learn Japanese, I've done a lot of studying on the train to and from work. At first this meant carrying around home-made paper flashcards and a big English to Japanese dictionary, but these days an iPhone can replace both of those and help you do much more – there are apps for flashcards, for learning the stroke order of kanji, and even fully fledged dictionaries.

I've downloaded and tried loads of apps, and even created a few, but here's my personal top five covering everything from basic kana to kanji-lookup.

1 & 2) For learning Hiragana and Katakana

I learned hiragana and katakana before the iPhone existed (sadly – it was a pain), but still need to brush up on my katakana every so often. There are dozens of kana apps, but the best I've found come from a Japanese independent developer called Kenji Hioki (hk2006).

They are rather large to download, but this is because they're packed with audio: the app spells out a word (in the screenshot above right, the audio says: "ku – ku – kuruma… kuruma"), while you tap it out using the kana shown on screen. This helps to build up recognition between the sound and forms, while also teaching you basic vocabulary at the same time.

The hiragana and katakana apps are completely free – I also like his Kanji apps as a quick way to revise basic kanji.

3) For learning Vocabulary

For vocabulary, I've found that nothing works more effectively than flashcards: English on one side, Japanese on the other, so you can learn from Japanese to English first, and then the other way around. There are dozens of flashcard apps, but for me the key thing is ease of adding cards: you need to be able to add them quickly, in bulk, and in either kana or kanji.

It's much easier to do this on a computer, and for that reason I recommend Touchcards 2. This relatively simple flashcards app has one great trick, shown above and to the left: it can import vocabulary from a Google Docs spreadsheet. This means you can easily create and manage huge lists of vocab, then sync them onto the iPhone to learn when you're out and about.

That function aside, it's simple and to the point: you can study cards in both directions, customise the size of the text, study in order or at random, and enable a scoring system when you want.

4) For Kanji, and as a Dictionary

Only a few years ago I had a big, heavy paper dictionary and was tempted to buy a Canon Wordtank. Now, I just use the appropriately named Japanese, by CodeFromTokyo. This great dictionary app is ideal for looking up words by sound (as shown above, you can type phonetically in roman letters), or kanji (by component, SKIP, or handwriting).

It also has a handy lists function (shown above, right), and an extensive flashcard system for learning those. I use this for drilling through kanji – it works for vocab, too, but you can't set kanji or kana display per item or add cards that aren't forms in the dictionary. The app costs $10, but that's ridiculously cheap considering just how much it can do.

4) For Verbs

A huge disclaimer here: I made, and I sell, this app. But the reason for that is that there wasn't a good one available before. There comes a time – after you've picked up kana, and a bunch of vocabulary – where you'll need to start learning various verb forms beyond the simple masu / masen / mashita / masendeshita ones, and I wanted a way to learn these in a flashcard-like fashion. So, here's my Japanese Verbs app, which does just that.

The app is free, with ten basic verbs included, and teaches the masu, dictionary (plain), nai, ta, and te forms of each, along with English translations and classification (Regular 1, 2, irregular). You choose the verbs you want, pick the front and back of each card – English to Dictionary, say – and then drill through the flashcards. A 99c / 69p in-app purchase unlocks 35 more verbs, covering most basic tasks. A second app teaches transitive and intransitive pairs.

So those are the Japanese apps that never leave my iPhone. If you've got a recommendation for another I should try, please leave it in the comments below or tweet it to @tomroyal.

By way of an introduction, here's a very incomplete list of things I like:

• Cats
• Ramen

Armed with this information, you can probably see why a cartoon series called Neko Ramen (noodle-soup-cat – often transliterated to 'neko rahmen', with an 'h', for some reason) appeals to me. And it is quite wonderful. Here's episode one, courtesy of a website that allows embedding – the subtitles are a bit crap, but you get the idea:

I'm researching an article on the history of broadband. A few interesting things I've come across:

• In 2000 a 512Mbps Blueyonder connection cost £50/month
• In 2001 broadband accounted for less than 1% of UK internet connections. 81% were dial-up (ONS)
• By 2005 half of UK connections were broadband (ONS)
• In 2009 56% of UK households have broadband access (ONS), and the average UK connection speed is 3746Kbps (Akamai)
• Virgin is currently testing <200Mbps FTTC, with BT working on VDSL.

Not bad going. But on the other hand: the average connection speed in South Korea, Q1 2009 is 10956Kbps, with SK and Japan both offering >100Mbps consumer products today (SK uses VDSL, Japan has a strange FTTC-like infrastructure). That's fast.

Yes, I'm still obsessed with internet radio. Anyhow, an incomplete list but representative sample:

1. A school that trains postmen/women on how to avoid dog bites
2. Enlarged prostate therapy courses (over 3,000 performed, no less)
3. Diamond gusset jeans (website, includes godawful jingle)
4. A treatment for itchy eyeballs (finally!)
5. A car – with a full tank of gas, no less – for 4$ (and, presumably, a lifetime of repayments)
6. A seminar discussing the merits of dental implants, led by a guy who sells said implants. Mmm, impartial.
7. Kettle roasted peanuts, "as explained by kettle expert Mountain John"
8. A doctor ready to treat anything "from minor trauma to allergies", and specifically injuries from fish hooks
9. The lowest price on Chevrolets and Cadillacs in the Kansas City area – or they give you $10,000! And a 50$ gas card with every purchase! Lower prices and higher standards! An American revolution!
10. &c.

"Internet ad spendings up, you say? I should probably put some clothes on and go to work"

Actually, I feel the Guardian's pain. Every so often over the last few years I've found myself digging through stock photo libraries looking for a photo of somebody using a notebook computer – often with the dreaded keyword "lifestyle" involved, too – and I've discovered a few rules:

1. Men use notebooks up in high-rise offices. Usually three or more men surround the notebook, grinning and pointing like amused chimpanzees. Ties will be loosened and there will be venetian blinds in the background, or an empty office space that resembles an unfinished airport terminal.
2. Women often use notebook computers wearing pyjamas, or, even more commonly, an oversized (normally white, possibly man's) shirt. They often do so on a bed (see above) or a large beige sofa of the type that nobody in the real world owns because they are larger than a normal living room. Sometimes a lone female notebook user will be surrounded by the braying pack of berks described above, grinning and tapping the keyboard ("SEND HELP STOP AM SURROUNDED BY PACK OF STOCKBROKERS STOP")
3. Male or female, the notebook users in stock photos often strike poses presumably chosen to demonstrate victory or success (both arms raised, punching the air etc). The result is to make them look like lunatics or, worse, marionettes.
4. Occasionally the person will clutch a dollar bill in one hand, or stretch it out between both hands with a smug grin. This applies to pretty much any kind of stock photography.
5. No matter when the photo was taken, the notebook in question will always look as ancient as a quill pen and bottle of ink.

Up next at this rate, the top ten reasons why I hate Microsoft Word.