The short version
I went to Japan at 38 with about 200 words of Japanese. That small vocabulary was enough to order food, grab taxis, ask for directions, and even handle a phone call where the operator spoke zero English.
When I got home I wanted to keep learning, but every tool I tried had the same problem: I'd lose motivation after a few weeks and quit. Anki was powerful but ugly and complicated. Duolingo was fun but shallow. Nothing kept me coming back.
So I'm building WordSen. It's a Japanese vocabulary app with a virtual pet fox (a Kitsune) that you take care of by studying. The goal is simple: learn the first 1,000 most common Japanese words without giving up halfway through.