Japanese readers with furigana
and native audio

S · before N5

Hiragana

Master the first step in learning Japanese.

S · before N5

Japanese Grammar 100 in Plain English

One hundred beginner grammar points in plain English, each a five-minute lesson with example sentences read by Yumi.

S · before N5

Japanese Sentences: Beginning Phrases

Twenty-one everyday sentences, built up word by word.

S · before N5

Katakana

Related to Japan

Master the second step in learning Japanese.

A · N5–N4

Inazuma 1: Japanese Honorifics & Pronouns

San, chan, sama, say what? A flash lesson on honorifics and pronouns.

A · N5–N4

Frank and the Obaasan - Volume 2

Frank and the Obaasan 2

Ten more episodes of an alien loose in Japan, told almost entirely in dialogue.

A · N5–N4

Chiyo-ni

Haiku

A · N5–N4

Learn Japanese Through Haiku: Basho

Haiku

A · N5–N4

Learn Japanese Through Haiku: Further Journeys with Bashō

Haiku

A · N5–N4

Learn Japanese Through Haiku: Kobayashi Issa

Haiku

A · N5–N4

Learn Japanese Through Haiku: Masaoka Shiki

Haiku

A · N5–N4

Learn Japanese Through Haiku: Yosa Buson

Haiku

A · N5–N4

Learn Japanese with Stories Volume 11: Kachi Kachi Yama

Learn Japanese with Stories 11

Crackling Mountain: the rabbit, the tanuki, and a famously unsparing revenge.

A · N5–N4

Learn Japanese with Stories 14 - Kicchomu

Learn Japanese with Stories 14

Kicchomu of Kyushu catches a falling star and sells crows to the gullible.

A · N5–N4

Learn Japanese with Stories 17

Learn Japanese with Stories 17

Kicchomu's ferryboat, and the mouse he carves so well it comes to life.

A · N5–N4

Learn Japanese with Stories 18 - Kicchomu's Big Rock

Learn Japanese with Stories 18

Kicchomu moves an immovable rock, and settles who owns a rice cake.

A · N5–N4

Japanese Onomatopoeia 1

Related to Japan

Learn Japanese through everyday sounds and impressions

A · N5–N4

Japanese Word Origins 1

Related to Japan

Stories behind the words and ways to use them today

B · N4

Biographies of Great Japanese Figures - Kitasato Shibasaburou

Kitasato Shibasaburou, the "Thunder Old Man" of modern Japanese medicine.

B · N4

Jidai Series Vol 5: The Sengoku & Edo Periods

A century of warring lords, then 260 years of Tokugawa peace.

B · N4

Learn Japanese with Stories Volume 1: Hikoichi

Learn Japanese with Stories 1

Four Hikoichi stories, the trickster of Kumamoto who outwits his lord every time.

B · N4

Learn Japanese with Stories #2: Momotaro

Learn Japanese with Stories 2

Momotaro the Peach Boy, plus the song, the dumplings, and what an oni actually is.

B · N4

Learn Japanese with Stories Volume 3: The Inch-High Samurai

Learn Japanese with Stories 3

Two of Japan's oldest tales: the thumb-sized samurai and the princess from the moon.

B · N4

Learn Japanese with Stories 4 - The Mouse Bride

Learn Japanese with Stories 4

The Mouse Bride's search for the greatest husband, and the wit of Ikkyu-san.

B · N4

Learn Japanese with Stories Volume 5: The Cut-Tongue Sparrow

Learn Japanese with Stories 5

The Cut-Tongue Sparrow and Kobutori Jiisan, two tales of greed rewarded in kind.

B · N4

Learn Japanese with Stories 6 - Yuki Onna

Learn Japanese with Stories 6

The snow woman who spares a young man's life, and the temple bell of Anchin and Kiyohime.

B · N4

Learn Japanese with Stories 7 - The Little Match Girl

Learn Japanese with Stories 7

Hans Christian Andersen's match girl, retold in Japanese.

B · N4

Learn Japanese with Stories 8 - Hikoichi Revisited

Learn Japanese with Stories 8

Three more Hikoichi tales: the wondrous box, the trickster tanuki, and the oni's mask.

B · N4

Learn Japanese with Stories 9 - The Fountain of Youth

Learn Japanese with Stories 9

The Fountain of Youth, the Hundred Tales Game, and The Wise Child.

B · N4

Learn Japanese with Stories 10 - Urashima Tarou

Learn Japanese with Stories 10

Urashima Taro and the turtle, with the Three-Year Sleeper and Hanasaka Jiisan.

B · N4

Learn Japanese with Stories 12 - Celestial Maiden's Feathered Robe

Learn Japanese with Stories 12

Princess Uriko and the amanojaku, plus the celestial maiden's stolen robe.

B · N4

Learn Japanese with Stories 13 - Hikoichi

Learn Japanese with Stories 13

Two Hikoichi and the fox stories, where the trickster meets his match.

B · N4

Learn Japanese with Stories 15 - Hikoichi Strikes Back

Learn Japanese with Stories 15

Hikoichi sits in the middle of the eight, and goes fishing for a kappa.

B · N4

Learn Japanese with Stories 16 - The Bowl-Wearing Princess

Learn Japanese with Stories 16

The bowl-wearing princess, and the courtroom wisdom of Ooka Echizen.

B · N4

Learn Japanese with Stories 19 - Kicchomu's Horse

Learn Japanese with Stories 19

Kicchomu and the fire, and Kicchomu's horse.

B · N4

Learn Japanese with Stories 20 - Bunbuku Tea-Kettle

Learn Japanese with Stories 20

The tanuki who becomes a tea-kettle, and cannot quite stay one.

B · N4

Learn Japanese with Yokai Volume 1: The Kappa

Yokai 1

What the kappa is, a kappa mummy, and a kappa repaying a debt.

B · N4

Learn Japanese with Yokai Volume 4: The Fox and the Tanuki

Yokai 4

The nine-tailed fox, the Killing Stone, and the fox's wedding.

B · N4

Learn Japanese with Yokai Volume 6: Yamanba, the Mountain Witch

Yokai 6

The mountain crone in two full folktales, including the three magic charms.

C · N4–N3

Intermediate Japanese Reader Volume 1: The Trolley Cart

Fiction

Akutagawa's トロッコ, line by line, with Yumi's narration

C · N4–N3

Japanese History & Essays Volume 1: Samurai & Daimyo

History & Essays 1

The Warring States: its warlords, Sakamoto Ryoma, and Miyamoto Musashi.

C · N4–N3

Japanese History & Essays Volume 3: 20th Century Japanese Stories

History & Essays 3

Hachiko the loyal dog, the inventor of instant ramen, and Kurosawa.

C · N4–N3

Japanese History & Essays Volume 4: Essays on Modern Japan

History & Essays 4

The Reiwa era, Japan's rainy season, and the giant hornet.

C · N4–N3

Japanese History & Essays Volume 5: Ukiyo-e

History & Essays 5

Ukiyo-e in three parts: how it was made, who made it, and how it reached the world.

C · N4–N3

Japanese History & Essays Volume 6: Tunnels

History & Essays 6

Tunneling through Japan, including the Blue Tunnel and the Seikan.

C · N4–N3

Learn Japanese with Yokai Volume 2: The Tengu

Yokai 2

The tengu: what it can do, where it came from, and the stories it appears in.

C · N4–N3

Learn Japanese with Yokai Volume 3: The Oni

Yokai 3

The oni in games and idioms, its descendants, and the Namahage of Akita.

C · N4–N3

Learn Japanese with Yokai Volume 5: Mermaids of Japan

Yokai 5

Japan's mermaid: the Nihon Shoki sighting, the 800-year-old nun, and Amabie.

D · N3–N2

Japanese History & Essays Volume 2: Ninja, Rōnin, and Daimyō

History & Essays 2

Ninja, the 47 Ronin, and why the Takeda clan fell so fast.

D · N3–N2

Japanese History & Essays Volume 7: The Shinkansen and the Rails of Japan

History & Essays 7

Japan by rail: the 1872 line, the Shinkansen, and the Chuo maglev.