READ real Japanese Today! By choosing short stories, the intimidation factor is greatly reduced. Not only that, but we divide the story up into tiny, easy-to-swallow segments with complete explanations to give you confidence as you read real Japanese page by page.

Recommended for upper beginner to intermediate level students of Japanese.

BONUS! Get FREE sound files of the stories read by a native Japanese voice actress, one read at normal speed and one read slowly. Listen while reading. The link to the MP3s is found on the last page.

BONUS! Get a FREE Anki flashcard deck of most the vocabulary. The vocabulary decks mostly have audio and pitch accent diagrams.

NOW WITH QR CODES — While you can still download the sound files with the link on the last page, we are also including handy QR codes for both the slow and normal speed recordings of the stories. Simply scan the code with the camera of your phone and the audio will begin playing in seconds.

EXTRA BONUS! Included with the sound files, are PDFs of all the vocabulary and grammar points. Feel free to print these out to use while reading.

Now with Furigana! All our readers now have furigana in both the paperback and eBook versions. Furigana is the small hiragana over the kanji--most devices support this new feature. (The Japanese only section has no furigana so you can practice reading the story again in “real” furigana-less Japanese)

Have you studied for a year or two but just don’t feel like you are progressing? This book is for you too. We suggest reading the Japanese only section first (without furigana) and then go through the line-by-line running gloss section to cement understanding and learn vocabulary.

The line-by-line section has furigana (printed version and eBook version on supported devices (most new devices))

Two complete Japanese short stories. Each story is presented in three unique ways.

GLOSS: Read the story with a running gloss—understand completely. Every sentence is broken down word-for-word and with English explanation of the grammar.

JAPANESE ONLY: The full story in Japanese only (without the running gloss) is also provided so you can practice reading without interruption.

ENGLISH SUMMARY: Finally, we have included a simple and mostly literal English translation for you to check your understanding (Don’t cheat! Work through the Japanese first!).

Short stories makes reading full Japanese texts possible.

Download the FREE MP3s to listen while you study.

Download a FREE Anki flashcard deck to learn all the vocabulary found in the stories

THE STORIES IN THIS VOLUME:
The Kicchomu stories are part of a genre called 頓智話(とんちばなし), or “quick wit stories.” He can be a trickster or he can use his wisdom to get out of difficult situations. Often, the village headman or some rich but somewhat arrogant fellow thinks Kicchomu is a fool and tries to trick him and Kicchomu uses his ready wit to turn the tables.
In the first tale in this volume, Kicchomu's attempt to heed sage advice during a village crisis yields unexpected and comical results. In the other adventure, his cunning ruse involving a seemingly magical horse leaves the wealthy headman utterly speechless.

Finally, we invite the reader to contact us with questions or requests for future Japanese readers. You will find our personal email addresses in the book. To your Japanese!

Foreign Language Study