diff --git a/ext/bg/background.html b/ext/bg/background.html
index e68c665b..c490df81 100644
--- a/ext/bg/background.html
+++ b/ext/bg/background.html
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
     <script src="../lib/handlebars.min.js"></script>
     <script src="../lib/dexie.min.js"></script>
     <script src="js/templates.js"></script>
+    <script src="js/util.js"></script>
     <script src="js/dictionary.js"></script>
     <script src="js/deinflector.js"></script>
     <script src="js/translator.js"></script>
diff --git a/ext/bg/js/dictionary.js b/ext/bg/js/dictionary.js
index 8f04c458..3fceef65 100644
--- a/ext/bg/js/dictionary.js
+++ b/ext/bg/js/dictionary.js
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ class Dictionary {
     importTermDict(indexUrl) {
         const indexDir = indexUrl.slice(0, indexUrl.lastIndexOf('/'));
 
-        return Dictionary.loadJson(indexUrl).then((index) => {
+        return loadJson(indexUrl).then((index) => {
             const entities = [];
             for (const [name, value] of index.ents) {
                 entities.push({name, value});
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ class Dictionary {
                 for (let i = 0; i <= index.refs; ++i) {
                     const refUrl = `${indexDir}/ref_${i}.json`;
                     loaders.push(() => {
-                        return Dictionary.loadJson(refUrl).then((refs) => {
+                        return loadJson(refUrl).then((refs) => {
                             const rows = [];
                             for (const [expression, reading, tags, ...glossary] of refs) {
                                 rows.push({expression, reading, tags, glossary});
@@ -135,12 +135,12 @@ class Dictionary {
     importKanjiDict(indexUrl) {
         const indexDir = indexUrl.slice(0, indexUrl.lastIndexOf('/'));
 
-        return Dictionary.loadJson(indexUrl).then((index) => {
+        return loadJson(indexUrl).then((index) => {
             const loaders = [];
             for (let i = 0; i <= index.refs; ++i) {
                 const refUrl = `${indexDir}/ref_${i}.json`;
                 loaders.push(() => {
-                    return Dictionary.loadJson(refUrl).then((refs) => {
+                    return loadJson(refUrl).then((refs) => {
                         const rows = [];
                         for (const [character, onyomi, kunyomi, tags, ...glossary] of refs) {
                             rows.push({character, onyomi, kunyomi, tags, glossary});
@@ -159,13 +159,4 @@ class Dictionary {
             return chain;
         });
     }
-
-    static loadJson(url) {
-        return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
-            const xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
-            xhr.addEventListener('load', () => resolve(JSON.parse(xhr.responseText)));
-            xhr.open('GET', chrome.extension.getURL(url), true);
-            xhr.send();
-        });
-    }
 }
diff --git a/ext/bg/js/translator.js b/ext/bg/js/translator.js
index 8af0e31b..30045378 100644
--- a/ext/bg/js/translator.js
+++ b/ext/bg/js/translator.js
@@ -31,9 +31,9 @@ class Translator {
             return;
         }
 
-        Translator.loadJson('bg/data/rules.json').then((rules) => {
+        loadJson('bg/data/rules.json').then((rules) => {
             this.deinflector.setRules(rules);
-            return Translator.loadJson('bg/data/tags.json');
+            return loadJson('bg/data/tags.json');
         }).then((tagMeta) => {
             this.tagMeta = tagMeta;
             return this.dictionary.existsDb();
@@ -240,18 +240,4 @@ class Translator {
             return 0;
         });
     }
-
-    static isKanji(c) {
-        const code = c.charCodeAt(0);
-        return code >= 0x4e00 && code < 0x9fb0 || code >= 0x3400 && code < 0x4dc0;
-    }
-
-    static loadJson(url) {
-        return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
-            const xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
-            xhr.addEventListener('load', () => resolve(JSON.parse(xhr.responseText)));
-            xhr.open('GET', chrome.extension.getURL(url), true);
-            xhr.send();
-        });
-    }
 }
diff --git a/ext/bg/js/util.js b/ext/bg/js/util.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..97906eda
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ext/bg/js/util.js
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2016  Alex Yatskov <alex@foosoft.net>
+ * Author: Alex Yatskov <alex@foosoft.net>
+ *
+ * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ * along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ */
+
+
+function loadJson(url) {
+    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+        const xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
+        xhr.addEventListener('load', () => resolve(JSON.parse(xhr.responseText)));
+        xhr.open('GET', chrome.extension.getURL(url), true);
+        xhr.send();
+    });
+}
+
+function isKanji(c) {
+    const code = c.charCodeAt(0);
+    return code >= 0x4e00 && code < 0x9fb0 || code >= 0x3400 && code < 0x4dc0;
+}
+
diff --git a/ext/bg/js/yomichan.js b/ext/bg/js/yomichan.js
index fd9b84d3..716c622a 100644
--- a/ext/bg/js/yomichan.js
+++ b/ext/bg/js/yomichan.js
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ class Yomichan {
         Handlebars.registerHelper('kanjiLinks', function(options) {
             let result = '';
             for (const c of options.fn(this)) {
-                if (Translator.isKanji(c)) {
+                if (isKanji(c)) {
                     result += Handlebars.templates['kanji-link.html']({kanji: c}).trim();
                 } else {
                     result += c;