Japanese Studies

Readers

• Tadoku 多読　E-Books (U-M only)

• 日本語多読道場 Yomujp

• Read and Listen: レベル別日本語多読ライブラリー (Reberu betsu Nihongo tadoku raiburarī, Graded Japanese Readers

  These readers are made especially for new Japanese learners. Each volume is a box-set of very short stories and comes with a CD so you can hear them read aloud.

• チュウ太 (Reading Tutor)

  A selection of short stories and texts, with definitions displayed in a sidebar. Choose "Reading Materials (Eng)" to get the definitions in English or challenge yourself with "Reading Materials (Jpn)".

• Nihongo eな

• Short Stories with "Training Wheels"

  These collections present Japanese short stories together with English translations on facing pages. If you have not read much prose fiction in Japanese before, and constantly stopping to look up words makes you lose track of the story, this is a good way to ease into it.

  • 日本語の短篇小說 : Short stories in Japanese

    Short stories by some of Japan’s best authors, with the Japanese text and corresponding English translation on facing pages.

  • Read and Listen: Read real Japanese fiction : short stories by contemporary writers

    6 short stories along with an audiobook CD. To encourage readers to follow the Japanese, the facing pages feature translations of only the trickier phrases, not the whole text. Also includes a dictionary of all the words used in the stories and detailed translation notes for each story.

• Reading Skills Workbooks

  • 速読用の文化エピソード : 日本語中級速読教材  (Japanese cultural episodes for speed reading)

    A collection of short readings (about a page each) for learners of Japanese, with a vocabulary list and comprehension questions for each reading.

  • 中上級者のための速読の日本語 : Rapid reading Japanese : improving reading skills of intermediate and advanced students

    A collection of reading exercises to build your reading speed and skimming skills. The readings use real-world materials such as ads and news articles. Each one is followed by questions, with the answers in a separate bookl

• Manga

  • Manga in Japanese

    On the one hand, manga (comics) is full of pictures to help you along. On the other, it’s often equally full of colloquialisms and references that won’t come up in your classes.  A good combination of fun and challenge.

    Note that the books are shelved by the subject of the story, so they will not all be in the same place.

    The Language Resource Center (in the basement of North Quad) also has a manga collection. Check out their catalog (choose Print-Manga from the Material Type box.)

  • Educational Manga

    In Japan, these books are aimed at the higher grades of elementary school. Our library has series on history and biographies. Pick a person or subject you are already familiar with and learn to talk about them in Japanese!

    • 学習漫画人物館 Gakushū manga jinbutsukan (biographies)
    • ドラえもん人物日本の歴史 Doraemon jinbutsu Nihon no rekishi (biographies)
    • 学研まんが世界の歴史 Gakken manga sekai no rekishi (world history)
    • マンガ古典文学 Manga koten bungaku (classic Japanese literature

Textbooks From Japan

We have some of the same textbooks used in Japanese schools. Test your grade level!

• Junior High School Textbooks

  • 社会科 中学生の公民 : よりよい社会をめざして (Civics)
  • 社会科中学生の歴史 : 日本の步みと世界の動き (History)
  • 社会科中学生の地理 (Geography)
  • 中学社会新しいみんなの公民 (Civics)
  • 新しい社会 公民 (Civics)

• High School Textbooks

  • 詳說世界史 : 世界史B (World History)
  • 詳說日本史 : 日本史B (Japanese History)

illustrated  children's Books

Note that the books are shelved by the subject of the story, so they will not all be in the same place.

To find these books enter “Juvenile Fiction” in the Subject Field, and set Language to “Japanese” and Format to “Book”   at the bottom.