Tuition for Maplopo is ¥12,000 for individuals. This rate will increase and return to USD pricing in 2025. Learners who complete the 15-week program with an overall achievement score of 80% or higher receive a cash back rebate of ¥20,000 (company sponsored learners receive a cash back bonus of ¥10,000).

Companies enrolling employees can purchase bundles at the rate of ¥420,000 for a minimum of seven seats.

More information about Maplopo pricing can be found on our pricing page.

Because we offer extensive opportunities to test out the course with video material on YouTube, numerous worksheets on the site as well as on LinkedIn, and the Maplopo podcast) there are no refunds offered once you enroll in any given Maplopo session. If you’re not yet sure of whether or not Maplopo is right for you, please check out these materials first.

If you’re currently enrolled in Japanese language classes (or, have completed your language studies within a semester prior to enrolling with Maplopo), you may be eligible to enroll under our education partner program.

The partner program for educators and students offers a completion bonus to any student enrolled at an accredited college or university anywhere in the world who completes all requisite coursework for the entire course within one year and with an overall achievement score of 80% or better.

Visit the Maplopo Partners page for more information. Have your favorite faculty member, teacher, or language lab manager reach out to us from using the form on that page. High school educators and students are also welcome!

As of July 2024, all prices are listed in Japanese Yen. However, we will revert back to USD pricing on January 1, 2025. When our programs began in 2022, enrollments were handled in U.S. Dollars. However, given the decreasing performance of the yen, we decided to price in our local currency to make the course more affordable to those living in Japan. As stated, we will be moving forward with USD pricing from January 1, 2025 onward. 

If you live outside Japan, you’ll recognize this provides you with a wonderful opportunity to enroll in an advanced Japanese language course within blended, immersive learning at a price point you will not find anywhere else.

The conversion to your currency happens as a natural part of the transaction once you enroll.

For individuals:

At this time we do not offer any discounts or free trials. On certain occasions, we may create a special offer exclusively available through one of our partners, but only in such instances do we make exceptions.

If you are a college or university student (or, high school student) currently enrolled in Japanese classes (or have taken classes as recently as a semester prior to enrolling with us), please refer your favorite professor to our Maplopo Partners page.

There, they can reach out to enquire about our Educators program which offers a completion bonus to students who finish the course. All students meeting the requirements of enrollment in coursework at any accredited college or university anywhere in the world are eligible for the program. As stated above, high school educators and students are also welcome.

For teams: 

Businesses purchasing seats for multiple users are provided with a significant discount on individual pricing. We are interested in developing relationships with firms interested in empowering the growth of their employees, and are willing to do so at rates that are affordable to make that happen at scale. If that sounds like you, please reach out.

We interface with Stripe for all payments, so we accept all the major ones: American Express, China UnionPay (CUP), Discover & Diners, Japan Credit Bureau (JCB), Mastercard and Visa, Alipay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Link, WeChat Pay, Bancontact (Belgium), EPS (Austria), giropay (Germany), iDEAL (the Netherlands), Przelewy24 (Poland), etc.

First, Maplopo is for readers. We attract learners who love to read all sorts of material, from manga and magazines, to poetry, literature, contemporary fiction, and non-fiction. At the core of what we do is help students learn the language through story. So… our biggest audience is those who love story.

When it comes to the specifics of language, we find Maplopo works best for intermediate and advanced learners of Japanese; those learners of the language who have a firm grasp of grammar, but need and want more—and in that same set of students—those who recognize they want structure that helps them understand the language in a fashion they cannot find in a classroom.

Some have set personal goals to pass the JLPT and have often already passed the N3 or N2… sometimes, the N1. But, many more students have never taken the exam and are studying Japanese with different personal and professional goals in mind. Most learners tell us they join because they believe their Japanese has become a bit stagnant—a particularly true concern for those who live outside Japan and are several years removed from a collegiate experience. 

Translators and aspiring translators of Japanese, often join us… largely because they want to learn more about the art and craft of translating. Those students want to tap into one of the most unique parts of Maplopo… us as translators. Uniquely, during our summer 2024 session we welcomed an American Japanese language teacher who joined our summer program to further hone her own Japanese, and soak up interesting angles of learning and subject material she could later share with her high school learners. 

Learners living in Japan join us to refresh or build upon a near fluency they feel could use improvement. They find communicating at work and around town fairly routine, but often just that. These students come to us to learn more deeply what the language is about… the nuance of grammar expressions they may only know on the surface, and to add depth and breadth to their vocabulary.

Maplopo learners also come to us from around the world, in all age groups and with many different personal interests and drivers. We’ve welcomed students from America, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, Vietnam… from where do you hail?!

Some things are, and some things aren’t.

Our spring, fall and summer sessions run just as if you were in an in-person classroom. We cover the material week-by-week for the entire 15-weeks of the program. Students work through the program as they would a typical college or university cohort. That said, the entire program is available to students to skip around if they wish. The nature of our StoryTeaching™ methodology, however, tends to keep folks on the weekly course quite well.

If you can read in English, and understand spoken American English, you should be in good shape. Our videos and worksheet materials do have spoken and written Japanese, but the entire course is taught in English. Each of our videos is also manually subtitled in English.

We have non-native English speakers from Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Singapore, Spain and Vietnam in Maplopo who are performing as well (and often better!) than those who grew up speaking English as a first language.  The trick is having a good grasp of English.

While you do have “forever-access” to the course, Maplopo programs run on a 15-week course to ensure all students learn as much as  possible and complete the course successfully.

We’ve designed the course with a host of pedagogical practices in mind, and we move you forward in a way that helps you feel excited about your progress so you complete the course on time, and so your learning sticks. That said, life does get in the way of progress sometimes, and because of that, your access to the course is yours. Should you get too busy to complete a session, we can move you to a future session so you can complete the program at that time.

If questions pop up, we are in the private Discord server to help you every day of the week. Other students are there as well with any questions you may have. Of course, we’re always reachable via email as well.

Additionally, we personally review every learner’s worksheets (50 in all) and writing assignments (15 in all), and we hold seven live group sessions. 

Nowhere else will you find this sort of opportunity to engage with Japanese literature translators and language teachers at this sort of price point. Nowhere.