Japanese Short Stories for Beginners: 20 Captivating Short Stories to Learn Japanese & Grow Your Vocabulary the Fun Way! (Easy Japanese Stories)

Product Information

Japan’s premiere mystery writer, Edogawa Ranpo, knows how to thrill and make the hairs on your arm stand on end. This collection, an homage to Ranpo’s literary hero Edgar Allan Poe, features blood curdling, bizarre, fantastic, and just plain scary stories that will be a pleasure to read for horror fans. Interestingly, this collection actually originated as an English-only collection before being “reverse-imported” into Japanese. 12. “The Elephant Vanishes” by Haruki Murakami

Her stories were written during the Meiji era, so readers should expect to encounter some archaic and old fashioned Japanese, which would certainly be a challenge for beginners or those limited with vocabulary. Because of this, you may want to start with something easier if you’re a beginner.Children’s fables, fairytales and old folktales (昔話, むかしばなし) provide great insight into Japanese culture, as many social lessons are taught through these texts. Popular fables include Momotaro (桃太郎, ももたろ), Shitakiri Suzume (舌きり雀, したきりすずめ) and Tsuru no Ongaeshi (鶴の恩返し, つるのおんがえし). He just moved into her apartment complex. And the rest of the story is all the quirky, dreamy sort of fun you’re imagining.

The hundreds of stories featured here have minimal kanji and lots of helpful audio accompaniments. Read the story first, then listen and read along! Finding herself alone in the house she grew up in, without the warmth and companionship of her guardians, suddenly Yuichi—a young acquaintance of her grandmother’s—appears. He and his transgender mother’s presence is soothing to Mikage… Nankichi Niimi’s well known story “Buying Mittens” is written for children, which is perfect for beginners who have just started to learn Japanese. The enchanting story has a simple plot: a young fluffy white winter fox goes into town to buy a pair of mittens to keep his paws warm. The sentence structures aren’t too difficult to grasp, but a dictionary or grammar reference guide will definitely be useful, especially if you’re a beginner who’s still learning the basics of Japanese grammar and compound sentences. Easy Japanese Manga 10. “Yotsuba&!”Don’t let native Japanese-level texts intimidate you, with the aid of helpful tools like readers, dictionaries and furigana, Japanese reading can be both enjoyable and easy. The central metaphor of the story is about reincarnation and attaining enlightenment, much like devout Buddhists and Shinto followers do. Since Buddhism is Japan’s majority religion, and there are Shinto shrines peppered everywhere around the country, this story gives readers some real insights into the country’s spirituality. But it’s also quite a fun read. 14. “Breaking into Japanese Literature” translated by Giles Murray You can find your favorite storybooks like “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” (はらぺこああむし), and even Disney tales in Japanese. The “Guri and Gura” books written by Rieko Nakagawa and illustrated by Yuriko Yamawaki, are a series of famous children’s books that have been translated into numerous languages.

In addition to the two free amazing online libraries we've introduced so far, I'd like to cover a couple of the most popular paid options. And one of them (as you might've guessed from the title) is a mobile app! There’s probably 400 or 500 stories here, so that’s enough to read one every day for a year plus. If you do that, you’ll surely get better at reading Japanese. Remember, it’s all about consistency if you want to get better! Ameblo – a Japanese personal blogging platform similar to Blogspot or Livejournal. You can browse blogs and articles by topic. As you learn kanji you will also learn vocabulary that use those kanji. Not only will this help solidify those kanji concepts in your mind, but it will also be where you learn the remaining kanji readings. Plus, as you know, this vocabulary will be used to give you something to glue together with grammar later.However, this journey is going to take a lot of effort and hard work on your part. Anyone who tells you learning a language is going to be easy is either misinformed or trying to sell you something. And eventually, after the honeymoon phase of learning wears off, progress feels slower. You burn out. Sh*t hits the fan. If you've ever tried learning something new, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Sakura Tadoku Lab is an online library of graded readers that offers books at eight different levels of difficulty. What this means is that with the added granularity, it's easier to find books suited more precisely to your level. Lastly, let's talk about the most popular (and probably the most accessible) option for physical copies of graded readers. FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons. In the same vein as Giles Murray’s previous book, this collection compiled especially for Japanese language learners and Japan aficionados offers an easy-to-follow collection of truly classic Japanese tales. Each one is chosen to provide insight into Japanese culture, customs, and traditions, while giving readers insight into the Japanese mind.