Introduction
Welcome to the Irodori Elementary 1 word guide at NihongoDoya. This collection lists ~900 Japanese terms from Irodori Elementary 1 (Japan Foundation) (18 task-based units), with kanji, hiragana, romaji and English meanings. The search bar above accepts Japanese, romaji or English — try typing konnichiwa, こんにちは or hello and you will land on the same card. Every entry links back to the matching grammar guide unit and audio practice scene.
What you will learn
- Daily-life expressions for shopping, dining and travel
- Talking about jobs, schools and free-time activities
- Words for asking permission, opinions and recommendations
- Health, hospital and pharmacy expressions for visitors
- Weather, season and event vocabulary for casual chat
- Numbers and quantities used in real Japanese situations
Who this level is for
Irodori Elementary 1 fits learners who have finished Irodori Starter or JLPT N5 and want to move from survival Japanese to confident A2 daily life — shopping, working, asking for help and giving short opinions in Japanese.
A useful weekly cycle for word study
- Scan a new unit and read every entry aloud once.
- Star the items you missed and copy them into a short example sentence.
- Listen on the matching audio practice page so each new term gets a real-world voice.
- Cross-link with the matching grammar guide unit to lock the term into a sentence pattern.
- Review for five minutes daily and run a longer pass once a week.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Mixing polite ます-form and plain-form vocabulary in the same sentence.
- Memorising new words without adding them to a real-life sentence.
- Ignoring counters and small connector words because they "look easy".
- Skipping spaced repetition; A2 word lists grow faster than A1 and forget faster too.
Related study materials
Build a joined-up study cycle by combining this page with the matching Irodori Elementary 1 grammar guide, the Irodori Elementary 1 Japanese word list and the Irodori Elementary 1 audio practice page.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the Irodori Elementary 1 word guide for?
Learners at A2 who want practical Japanese vocabulary for daily life in Japan, including shop, office, transport and travel scenes.
Does this guide overlap with JLPT N4?
Yes — roughly half of the items also appear on the JLPT N4 word list, so learners targeting the exam can use both pages together.
How many new items per day at A2?
Twelve to fifteen is a sustainable pace, with the matching audio scene and grammar guide opened side by side for context.
Are romaji readings shown for every entry?
Yes — romaji, hiragana and English meaning are shown on every card, plus a part-of-speech tag for verbs, adjectives and counters.
What study path comes after this?
Continue to the Irodori Elementary 2 word guide for the upper-A2 themes, or shift to JLPT N4 vocabulary if your goal is exam preparation.