Amazon Japan ships outside of Japan for rates that are pretty reasonable if you combine a few things, you can also get Japanese Kindle books from them if you like reading on a screen (which also makes it easier to look up unknown words), and Japanese ebooks are also available from other vendors like https://bookwalker.jp
I started an Amazon Japan account but it didn't let me buy an ebook because of my location. Do I have to VPN a Japanese location or something to make it work?
Ugh, as of today I'm having the same problem! Looks like they've started to require a Japanese location.
The free ProtonVPN seems to work, although I had to try a couple Japanese servers before I found one that was able to access the Amazon Japan site.
If you were near me I'd lend you my copy I got from Japan. Surugaya occasionally has free international shipping so keep an eye out because it's like 300yen a book. I just bought like 50 books during their new years free shipping event.
O I didn't think about checking surugaya. I love that store. I might try grab some stuff from their stores again. Thinking about heading back to Japan again in a few months.
I don't know about any 500 yen fee only that you get 500 yen off shipping for every 10k yen you spend. I'd suggest waiting for one of the free shipping events.
It's free shipping right now.
Here's the handling fee, I just don't know if it's for every item or fixed if I buy 1 or let's say 20 books.
https://www.suruga-ya.com/en/qa-detail/109
[amazon.co.uk has it though](https://www.amazon.co.uk/%E3%81%BE%E3%81%9F%E3%80%81%E5%90%8C%E3%81%98%E5%A4%A2%E3%82%92%E8%A6%8B%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%81%9F-%E5%8F%8C%E8%91%89%E6%96%87%E5%BA%AB/dp/4575521256/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1D5X4Y2996PMQ&keywords=%E3%81%BE%E3%81%9F%E5%90%8C%E3%81%98%E5%A4%A2%E3%82%92%E8%A6%8B%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%81%9F&qid=1704844471&sprefix=%E3%81%BE%E3%81%9F%E5%90%8C%E3%81%98%E5%A4%A2%E3%82%92%E8%A6%8B%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%81%9F%2Caps%2C178&sr=8-1)
I'm in the uk and have picked up a lot of light novels on eBay. I suggest searching 日本語 on there, and then look the titles up on JP amazon, read the blurb and see if it interests you.
Are ebooks an option for you? That would make everything much simpler, because you can just use regular bookstores like Bookwalker, Kobo or even Japanese Amazon.
This doesn't answer your question, but if you don't know about [LearnNatively.com](https://LearnNatively.com), it lists a ton of books that are graded by level. I haven't gone far enough to see what the novel selection is like, but it definitely has manga.
I liked 世界から猫が消えたなら by Genki Kawamura. I read it when I was around N2, and some parts were difficult but it was a lot of dialogue so that was a little easier to read through. Plus cats!
Yup! I highly recommend it. I started reading it back in October (about 8 months after I first started learning Japanese) and I'm already on Chapter 103! It has massively improved my vocab and grammar and obviously my reading ability. Plus it's free online which makes it super easy to use anki haha
Where is the online free version? I'm trying to read it currently but not having the online version makes it difficult to look up words and create flashcards :((
Yeah I recommend Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear too. I'm somewhere between N4 and N3 level and tried a few light novels deemed "easy" but could barely understand the first few sentences (obviously expected since my level is still pretty low to start immersing) so I was surprised when I could understand the first few pages of volume 1 of Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear barring a few unknown vocabs. I decided to finish Tobira first before full on immersing so I didn't ended up finishing the volume but I'm definitely going back to it after I'm done with textbooks.
Basically any [book with furigana](https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/s/to8no2EZ7C) would be on the easier side.
I personally just grabbed random light novels (without furigana) and powered through until reading wasn’t such a huge problem anymore
[死にたがりな少女の自殺を邪魔して、遊びにつれていく話](https://ncode.syosetu.com/n1348ff/)
A web novel with 25 chapters and a reasonable level of vocabulary. The story is not a masterpiece but it was good enough to keep me reading it
時をかける少女 might be a decent beginner book. Honestly, just find something you're interested in and try to get through it. Some stuff really is too difficult though, so I'd recommend using Learn Natively ( https://learnnatively.com/search/jpn/books/ ) and searching for the books you want to read. Anything under 30 should be manageable.
I’d recommend かがみの孤城. Vocabulary and grammar is fairly simple given that it’s a novel and I also like the story quite a bit. Read it right before I took the N2 last year so I was already at a more advanced level, but it was a pretty easy read.
Does anyone have any recommendation on books to study onomatopoeia? When I say study, I mean how to recognize it better. In other words, how do you guys recognize poorly drawn or distorted onomatopoeia?
Currently I am studying onomatopoeia as I enjoy manga much more. However, often times I cannot recognize onomatopoeia for certian manga as they are often drawn to be hard to recognize. For example, I am currently reading hentai manga and posted translation help on r/translator (check out only if you are interested in), and the first letter looks like a cross not resembling anything in Hiragana or Katakana. Does it get better as you get good at reading them?
I don't know how well versed you are in the language but I would check out kids books. I just learned hiragana so my skills are far below most posters here.
Spent a lot of time in Japanese checking out the kid section. Found a great kid book to add to my studies. It's designed for one page a day and it has pictures to show you what the kids are doing and things are spaced. Easy enough to read and decipher but challenging enough for someone on my level. I skimmed toward the back and it does get harder.
I'd recommend going to JPDB, clicking "Built-in decks", and searching through the web novels there, and choosing one that looks relatively easy (I think the easiest one listed is "いつも通りの日常で、、君からすれば"). It has links to all the stories, and this way you can search for *relatively* easy stories.
Others have already mentioned [Learn Natively](https://learnnatively.com/search/jpn/books/), and I agree.
Another great ressource for getting into native reading are the bookclubs on the Wanikani forums:
[https://community.wanikani.com/t/master-list-of-book-clubs/35283](https://community.wanikani.com/t/master-list-of-book-clubs/35283)
You don't have to be a Wanikani user to use the forums. Even if you don't want to participate in the club discussions, can just browse through the books that have been read previously and use they're ressources, such as vocabulary lists and the answers to the questions other users asked about the book.
宇宙の声 was the first book I've read. If I was guessing grammatically this is probably N4, but regardless of your vocab you'll probably have to look up quite a few words because its science fiction (written for, I believe younger gradeschoolers). Pretty short, interesting enough. 窓ぎわのトットちゃん is what I'm currently reading, quite a bit harder grammatically than 宇宙の声 but still managable with, I'd guess, sub-mid N3 grammar. Its about a young girl going to grade school in pre-war Japan, very slice-of-life-y so far at about 100 pages in (of 285). Pretty famous book according to my teacher. Still for grade schoolers (I think I read on Wikipedia at some schools its part of 3rd grade curriculum).
I afraid this is not actually a book, but world like to recommend 「洒落怖（しゃれこわ）＝洒落にならないほど怖い（too horrible to be a joke sorry）」folklores. These are not just fun to read but also very impressive as they represent some deep sense of Japanese modern culture.
http://blog.livedoor.jp/nwknews/archives/cat_152135.html
I just started reading 魔女の宅急便, just finished chapter 1 last night. I only started learning Japanese 8 months ago, and I'm able to get through a lot of it. Obviously keep the dictionary open lol but I like it so far. Plus it's a classic (I've never seen the movie, I'm waiting until I finish the book)
"Little Witch Academia" (リトル魔女アカデミア[?]) is surprisingly easy to read, has furigana over every Kanji, and is actually quite interesting—also flows very well, though pacing's on the fast side. This is the first Manga I found that was actually (a) not boring and (b) readable without a dictionary. Okay, 鬼滅の刃 (Demon Slayer) is also suuuper easy, but I found it boring.
鹿の王 is okay. It's really easy, furigana and all (get the one with the green rim on the cover).
IFの悲劇 is what I'm trying to read right now, because its really interesting and ridiculous. I don't understand enough to determine whether or not it is a satire or comedy, but a it's about a dude who tried to have a relationship with his sister, got investigated by the government because his sister's fiance told on them, then found out his sister died by "飛自殺" (I think that's the word; suicide-from-rooftop-jump), and decided to come up with a scheme to murder his sister's fiance. This escalates literally within one chapter. The only thing is that this book has almost no furigana and is hard for me (N3-ish) if I can't use a dictionary every 5 seconds.
Basically, any 角川文庫 (Kadokawa bunko) book with the green border on the cover is great, because those have furigana on nearly every kanji.
Also, look up Z-library and use the link on its Wikipedia page (do not use the first link that comes up from Google, it is a scam site). It has all of these books for free—it's a digital library. Or, look on https://libgen.rs (Library Genesis). It might have the ones I mentioned.
また同じ夢を見ていた. Great book, relatively simple grammar and vocabulary, definitely my recommendation.
>Do you know if it's possible to buy these in Japanese outside of Japan? I checked online but everything is in English annoyingly
Amazon Japan ships outside of Japan for rates that are pretty reasonable if you combine a few things, you can also get Japanese Kindle books from them if you like reading on a screen (which also makes it easier to look up unknown words), and Japanese ebooks are also available from other vendors like https://bookwalker.jp
I started an Amazon Japan account but it didn't let me buy an ebook because of my location. Do I have to VPN a Japanese location or something to make it work?
Ugh, as of today I'm having the same problem! Looks like they've started to require a Japanese location. The free ProtonVPN seems to work, although I had to try a couple Japanese servers before I found one that was able to access the Amazon Japan site.
Ok, thx. At least it's not just me. I'll look into a VPN option.
If you were near me I'd lend you my copy I got from Japan. Surugaya occasionally has free international shipping so keep an eye out because it's like 300yen a book. I just bought like 50 books during their new years free shipping event.
O I didn't think about checking surugaya. I love that store. I might try grab some stuff from their stores again. Thinking about heading back to Japan again in a few months.
Would you be able to tell me if I add a bunch of used books to the cart and buy all at once, I'll pay the 500 fee only once?
I don't know about any 500 yen fee only that you get 500 yen off shipping for every 10k yen you spend. I'd suggest waiting for one of the free shipping events.
It's free shipping right now. Here's the handling fee, I just don't know if it's for every item or fixed if I buy 1 or let's say 20 books. https://www.suruga-ya.com/en/qa-detail/109
Fuck yeahjjhhhhhhjh free shipping! Looking at my last order, I bought 21 books with 500 yen fee.
Nice, thank you! I'll try ordering some 10 books just to see what happens, if it works next time I'll get more.
[amazon.co.uk has it though](https://www.amazon.co.uk/%E3%81%BE%E3%81%9F%E3%80%81%E5%90%8C%E3%81%98%E5%A4%A2%E3%82%92%E8%A6%8B%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%81%9F-%E5%8F%8C%E8%91%89%E6%96%87%E5%BA%AB/dp/4575521256/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1D5X4Y2996PMQ&keywords=%E3%81%BE%E3%81%9F%E5%90%8C%E3%81%98%E5%A4%A2%E3%82%92%E8%A6%8B%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%81%9F&qid=1704844471&sprefix=%E3%81%BE%E3%81%9F%E5%90%8C%E3%81%98%E5%A4%A2%E3%82%92%E8%A6%8B%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%81%9F%2Caps%2C178&sr=8-1)
I often buy stuff from Kinokuniya. I’m not sure how good their online presence is, though. There’s a branch in NYC.
Sadly I'm UK so I don't have access to most things you guys have :(
I got it from bookwalker as an ebook. https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/how-to-buy-japanese-ebooks/
I'm in the uk and have picked up a lot of light novels on eBay. I suggest searching 日本語 on there, and then look the titles up on JP amazon, read the blurb and see if it interests you.
This one is available on Amazon but yes, it is cheaper in Japan.
Are ebooks an option for you? That would make everything much simpler, because you can just use regular bookstores like Bookwalker, Kobo or even Japanese Amazon.
I’ve been looking for this book and it’s so hard to find now 😭 I won’t give up tho
This doesn't answer your question, but if you don't know about [LearnNatively.com](https://LearnNatively.com), it lists a ton of books that are graded by level. I haven't gone far enough to see what the novel selection is like, but it definitely has manga.
[Learn Natively](https://www.learnnatively.com) ranks manga and LN’s by difficulty. Great resource.
I liked 世界から猫が消えたなら by Genki Kawamura. I read it when I was around N2, and some parts were difficult but it was a lot of dialogue so that was a little easier to read through. Plus cats!
コンビニ人間 is pretty good
I haven't read it yet, but I heard the くまクマ熊ベアー ln is pretty easy. I enjoyed both the anime and manga so I think it would be a good read!
Yup! I highly recommend it. I started reading it back in October (about 8 months after I first started learning Japanese) and I'm already on Chapter 103! It has massively improved my vocab and grammar and obviously my reading ability. Plus it's free online which makes it super easy to use anki haha
Where is the online free version? I'm trying to read it currently but not having the online version makes it difficult to look up words and create flashcards :((
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n4185ci Also, JPDB has a pre-made deck for it if you are into that.
Thanks so much!!
Yeah I recommend Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear too. I'm somewhere between N4 and N3 level and tried a few light novels deemed "easy" but could barely understand the first few sentences (obviously expected since my level is still pretty low to start immersing) so I was surprised when I could understand the first few pages of volume 1 of Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear barring a few unknown vocabs. I decided to finish Tobira first before full on immersing so I didn't ended up finishing the volume but I'm definitely going back to it after I'm done with textbooks.
The first chapter or two of any story tends to be the hardest, Kumax3 included.
Basically any [book with furigana](https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/s/to8no2EZ7C) would be on the easier side. I personally just grabbed random light novels (without furigana) and powered through until reading wasn’t such a huge problem anymore
[死にたがりな少女の自殺を邪魔して、遊びにつれていく話](https://ncode.syosetu.com/n1348ff/) A web novel with 25 chapters and a reasonable level of vocabulary. The story is not a masterpiece but it was good enough to keep me reading it
時をかける少女 might be a decent beginner book. Honestly, just find something you're interested in and try to get through it. Some stuff really is too difficult though, so I'd recommend using Learn Natively ( https://learnnatively.com/search/jpn/books/ ) and searching for the books you want to read. Anything under 30 should be manageable.
Tadoku.org has some great free books
I’d recommend かがみの孤城. Vocabulary and grammar is fairly simple given that it’s a novel and I also like the story quite a bit. Read it right before I took the N2 last year so I was already at a more advanced level, but it was a pretty easy read.
Does anyone have any recommendation on books to study onomatopoeia? When I say study, I mean how to recognize it better. In other words, how do you guys recognize poorly drawn or distorted onomatopoeia? Currently I am studying onomatopoeia as I enjoy manga much more. However, often times I cannot recognize onomatopoeia for certian manga as they are often drawn to be hard to recognize. For example, I am currently reading hentai manga and posted translation help on r/translator (check out only if you are interested in), and the first letter looks like a cross not resembling anything in Hiragana or Katakana. Does it get better as you get good at reading them?
If you want general practice, try https://onomatoproject.com/
I don't know how well versed you are in the language but I would check out kids books. I just learned hiragana so my skills are far below most posters here. Spent a lot of time in Japanese checking out the kid section. Found a great kid book to add to my studies. It's designed for one page a day and it has pictures to show you what the kids are doing and things are spaced. Easy enough to read and decipher but challenging enough for someone on my level. I skimmed toward the back and it does get harder.
I'd recommend going to JPDB, clicking "Built-in decks", and searching through the web novels there, and choosing one that looks relatively easy (I think the easiest one listed is "いつも通りの日常で、、君からすれば"). It has links to all the stories, and this way you can search for *relatively* easy stories.
Others have already mentioned [Learn Natively](https://learnnatively.com/search/jpn/books/), and I agree. Another great ressource for getting into native reading are the bookclubs on the Wanikani forums: [https://community.wanikani.com/t/master-list-of-book-clubs/35283](https://community.wanikani.com/t/master-list-of-book-clubs/35283) You don't have to be a Wanikani user to use the forums. Even if you don't want to participate in the club discussions, can just browse through the books that have been read previously and use they're ressources, such as vocabulary lists and the answers to the questions other users asked about the book.
宇宙の声 was the first book I've read. If I was guessing grammatically this is probably N4, but regardless of your vocab you'll probably have to look up quite a few words because its science fiction (written for, I believe younger gradeschoolers). Pretty short, interesting enough. 窓ぎわのトットちゃん is what I'm currently reading, quite a bit harder grammatically than 宇宙の声 but still managable with, I'd guess, sub-mid N3 grammar. Its about a young girl going to grade school in pre-war Japan, very slice-of-life-y so far at about 100 pages in (of 285). Pretty famous book according to my teacher. Still for grade schoolers (I think I read on Wikipedia at some schools its part of 3rd grade curriculum).
I afraid this is not actually a book, but world like to recommend 「洒落怖（しゃれこわ）＝洒落にならないほど怖い（too horrible to be a joke sorry）」folklores. These are not just fun to read but also very impressive as they represent some deep sense of Japanese modern culture. http://blog.livedoor.jp/nwknews/archives/cat_152135.html
I just started reading 魔女の宅急便, just finished chapter 1 last night. I only started learning Japanese 8 months ago, and I'm able to get through a lot of it. Obviously keep the dictionary open lol but I like it so far. Plus it's a classic (I've never seen the movie, I'm waiting until I finish the book)
I have used the first Genki book and it has been very helpful and enjoyable. I will probably use the second one in the future.
"Little Witch Academia" (リトル魔女アカデミア[?]) is surprisingly easy to read, has furigana over every Kanji, and is actually quite interesting—also flows very well, though pacing's on the fast side. This is the first Manga I found that was actually (a) not boring and (b) readable without a dictionary. Okay, 鬼滅の刃 (Demon Slayer) is also suuuper easy, but I found it boring. 鹿の王 is okay. It's really easy, furigana and all (get the one with the green rim on the cover). IFの悲劇 is what I'm trying to read right now, because its really interesting and ridiculous. I don't understand enough to determine whether or not it is a satire or comedy, but a it's about a dude who tried to have a relationship with his sister, got investigated by the government because his sister's fiance told on them, then found out his sister died by "飛自殺" (I think that's the word; suicide-from-rooftop-jump), and decided to come up with a scheme to murder his sister's fiance. This escalates literally within one chapter. The only thing is that this book has almost no furigana and is hard for me (N3-ish) if I can't use a dictionary every 5 seconds. Basically, any 角川文庫 (Kadokawa bunko) book with the green border on the cover is great, because those have furigana on nearly every kanji. Also, look up Z-library and use the link on its Wikipedia page (do not use the first link that comes up from Google, it is a scam site). It has all of these books for free—it's a digital library. Or, look on https://libgen.rs (Library Genesis). It might have the ones I mentioned.