Specs
Reviews
(3/5)It’s fine, but you could also just listen to the audio book on Spotify
I’m pretty solidly N4, but I can still make my way through the written material whenever I see it in stores (I try to choose a random page every time just to make sure haha) I’ve found the audio book on Spotify to be much more helpful for listening. Right now, I’m using to bridge the gap between Japanese words and the actual concrete meanings rather than English equivalents. Trying not to take it too seriously though as I know it’s not the most natural writing in the world lol!
Finally gathered the energy to write a review for this book. Please note that I have (through this book and other books) concluded that short stories aren’t my cup of tea, so please take my review with a tablespoon of salt.
I will start this review with its usage in language learning (which I found was quite good). The book has a good format for encouraging language learning. At the beginning there is a short introduction to the book, and a list with recommended “steps” to take when reading, to ensure that the reader gets as much out of the book as possible. (I did know from the start that I wouldn’t follow those steps, but it was still nice to have and reflect over how I should read the book to make sure that I do get something from it).
The book is divided into different stories, and each story is then further divided into chapters. This meant that the stories could be long, without feeling overwhelming. After each chapter there is a summary of the chapter, a vocabulary list (with words that are marked with bold in the text) and a few multiple-choice questions. These meant that after each chapter the book makes sure that you are following along with the story, which is nice.
I think the reason I picked up this book was because I wanted to start reading real novels in Japanese but felt that it would be too hard and scary. I thought that this book could “hold my hand” as I crossed the bridge between graded readers and books written for a Japanese speaking (reading?) audience. But there was one major problem that made it feel like this book simply left me at the same place as I had started. This book was extremely boring (in my opinion).
I finished about half of the book in a week, but had to take a break because all I felt for this book was dread, and the thought of having to spend another week with it was painful. In the end, after months of this book lying on my bedside table, I finished it only because it was in the way.
One thing that made me not enjoy this book was the lack of reflection and planning from most of the characters. It felt like they encountered a situation, and instead of taking one or two seconds to think it through, they simply went along with it (even if it didn’t make sense or would have been scary if it had happened to most people). One of the reasons for this lack of reflection could of course have been from the fact that the language has to be simple, but I think I would have enjoyed simpler stories (that wouldn’t need the characters to think too much), instead of these stories where the concept of logic felt forgotten.
I also want to comment on that fact that, since I didn’t enjoy this book, I barely learned anything from it. Had it been more entertaining, then maybe I would have tried to understand more, and re-read sentences until I understood them (instead of continuing reading, which is what I did most of the time… my own fault, I know). I also might have been motivated to read each story multiple times, but since reading each story once was painful, I don’t think I could ever make myself re-read this book (unless I want to, in a few years, see how much I have improved, and also see if the stories are more entertaining if you understand more).
Even though I didn’t enjoy this book, I would still recommend it to two kinds of language learners:
- If you enjoy short stories, and want to read easy stories in multiple genres, then you might enjoy this book more than me (because as I wrote at the beginning of this review, I don’t like short stories)
- If you want to start reading real books in Japanese but are too scared to cross the “bridge” alone and want this book to hold you hand (which is the reason why I read this book). Because apart from the entertainment problem, I think this book is really good for language learning. And if you realize that you don’t enjoy it, and didn’t learn that much from it, then my recommendation would be to read a native book that you might enjoy more (no matter how scary it is).
The only reason why I don’t regret reading this book is because it pushed me to read native books, that were much scarier to read, but also way more entertaining.
(Maybe I should learn to write shorter reviews…. But at the same time, did I write anything useful here? Also if you read this: good luck with learning Japanese!)
A Tiring Read
My main takeaway from this book is that if you are at the skill level where you are able to read this book, then you really just owe it to yourself to read native material. The short stories are, for the most part, sooo lifeless, predictable, and poorly written that it really doesn't make sense why anyone would choose this over native material that is frankly much better written (and natural).
This book is strange. The vocab selection is pretty much perfect for the level of reader it is targeted at, but the actual writing is so stilted and choppy that it just becomes unbearable to read. It's as if I were to write the following in English: "Sally went to the store. Sally thought it was strange that apples were so expensive. Sally left the store. Sally got in the car and started the engine." Comparing to something like また、同じ夢を見ていた, the writing here insists on repeating the topic over and over again, which honestly treats the reader like they are a much lower level than they actually are, whereas in the native material, it feels natural and flows, without unnecessarily stating the topic of the sentence ad nauseum.
There are also frequent discrepancies between the audiobook and the written copy that might annoy you.
So yeah, I don't really recommend this book. Glad to be done with it.
Good for N4-N3
The book contains a set of 8 short stories of different genres (SF, history, slice of life, fantasy, ...). Each story is structured in 3 chapters whereas the chapters contain a summary, vocab, and questions for reading comprehension (solutions are at the end of the book). It uses Furigana throughout the book for about 95% of the Kanji. For my taste, it was too much. Difficult words are marked in bold and are translated at the end of the chapter.
The stories were ok - but it was still engaging to read as you are exposed to different genres. I am at around N3, though I think the book is also appropriate for N4. The reading comprehension questions were good as they helped to enforce the understanding. Overall, good structure. I can recommend it.
I liked the lay out of these stories, 3-4 short chapters approximately 5 pages of text with further information on vocabulary and a few comprehension questions to answer to check your understanding. There was a variety of subjects within the book as well as an additional free bonus story available via ebook using the free code within the physical book. The main book has a audio companion available but the bonus story doesn’t.
I personally feel like the vocabulary section could have included some grammar info as well for those unfamiliar with certain grammar structures but overall I did find it helpful even though I’ve not yet reached some of the grammar points used within the book.
I liked the multiple chapters to each story in this rather than the usual 1-6 pages for one story then moving on to a completely different story as in other short story books I’ve read.
Interesting short stories for intermediate readers
This is great collection of short stories for Japanese learners! It covers many genres of stories and manages to write interesting plot while still maintaining an understandable way of speaking for readers with intermediate reading abilities.
There's a glossary of interesting vocabulary, summaries in Japanese, great use of furigana to help you remember the readings and well thought out comprehension quizzes. -1 star because I found some stories a bit silly.
Great for reading practice, less for entertainment
This was one of the first books I read entirely in Japanese. In that sense, I feel like it was a very good "beginning reading" resource that allowed me to get used to certain writing patterns that I hadn't seen often before, such as casual speech. It was challenging, especially at the beginning, and I was happy to have read through it. I thought it was a good exercise.
That being said, I don't know if I can say that I enjoyed reading these stories. Once I had finished the book, I gave it to another classmate.