Motivation

Learning Kanji is one of the biggest hurdles for Japanese language learners. I wanted to create a tool that makes reading Japanese content more accessible by providing instant furigana (reading aids) for any text. This app is built natively for macOS to ensure a smooth, high-performance experience.

Key Features

• Native macOS Experience: Built entirely in Swift for maximum performance and system integration.
• Instant Furigana: Adds reading aids to Kanji characters with a single click.
• Local Processing: All tokenization and dictionary lookups happen locally on your machine for privacy and speed.
• Learning Aid: Helps reinforce Kanji readings through consistent visual reinforcement.

Technical Challenges

Building this was a significant “vibe coding” challenge. Managing the dictionary downloads and ensuring smooth, real-time tokenization of Japanese text required careful optimization of Swift’s string processing and local data management.

Comparison

Raw Japanese text without furigana

Text with automatically added furigana

Technology Stack

• Language: Swift
• Framework: AppKit / SwiftUI
• NLP: Natural Language Framework (for tokenization)
• Data: Custom local dictionary management