Leveraging Experience
I had the original idea for the kanji browsing tool in 1995 when I spent a year in Japan and was completely blown away by the Japanese Kanji and their connections. Upon my return, I had also brought back a large collection of paper flashcards with content that I didn't want to just forget - I also needed a system to help me organize my never-ending Kanji revision process in a fraction of the time! My project brought together these two key features in a truly fascinating combination, at a time when Windows couldn't even display Japanese texts natively, I knew I had something special.
Hard to believe, but true: almost thirty years have passed since then. The world has changed, and I have changed with it. I've started a family, had children and built a house. Of course, all this has reduced my time for programming, but I now have a wonderful family and great children who enrich my life. Technologies like Pocket PC and Palm Pilot have come and gone, but that's another story.
My passion and fascination for the Japanese language, learning processes, and computer technology have never wavered. The project is still very much alive, and today we use the latest and greatest technology, such as handwriting recognition for practicing and testing kanji writing skills, text-to-speech engines to imitate natural conversation situations, and even the Apple Watch to repeat Japanese kanji at every glance on the watch.
