Book recommendation - (N4 and potentially below)

Japanese
#1

意味がわかるとゾクゾクする超短編小説
54字の物語

While not directly a learning resource, this is very accessible for reading practice, so I hope posting here is okay.

This book has funny stories (read: dad jokes) in Japanese with a simple explanation. The explanation does give deeper meaning to the stories and such, but in general, the stories themselves are understandable of their own merit and accessible at nearly any level with a dictionary.

The level so far is N4/N3 with some additional vocabulary (explanations included). Of course take this with a grain of salt as it is easy to take comprehension for granted. I am a good n3/pass some sections of N2 and I will find very few new words. The sentences are read without any thought at my level due to their simplicity and abundance of furigana.

On that note, I would regard this book as accessible to even a patient N5 level learner.

The mobile page won’t let me upload pictures, but I did find a ‘look inside’ link on Amazon.

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#2

ふらいんぐうぃっち is pretty easy for a manga (and much easier than Yotubato due to lack of childish slang imo). It’ll use some grammar from N3+, but with all of N5 and most of N4, and enough daily life vocab, you’d be able to read it with minimal stops.

Likewise, I’d put 新米姉妹のふたりごはん in that same category, with most of it being fairly straight-forward grammar and daily life vocabulary.

Both of these would still to tough for someone at N4, but definitely a surmountable, “level+1” challenge for most.

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#3

This thread on the WaniKani forums might also be a good resource for you

Every book here also has a unique thread with people asking questions about certain grammar points in certain sentences, so if it gets hard at some points, you can always refer to that.

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#4

I can’t make a Japanese Amazon account because I’m American and that’s a big big big fraud. :frowning:
Just think, what if the FBI found out?

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#5

Dude…the FBI has more important things to do. And you’re paying for the books, so it’s not that you are committing any crime.

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#6

Having a Amazon.co.jp (or other country, like the uk) account as a non-Japan resident is not fraud. In fact, they actively advertise “Amazon Global” items when shopping on amazon.co.jp when coming from a non-Japanese IP address, and have options to use English on the entire site.

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#7

They put those items up to catch you.
As soon as you try and buy it. :boom:

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#8

I think they meant buying digital products with a fake Japanese address. That could cause Amazon to dislike you if they don’t have a license to sell the content outside Japan and find out they violated their license because you lied to them, or that they failed to pay taxes on a transaction because of it.

Physical books are no problem of course. I’ve only had good experiences with books from Amazon Japan.

#9

Even then, they don’t really care about that, or else they would have more stringent checks, and alternative services like Bookwalker don’t block foreign purchases either (except a few series like ダンまち which are uniquely marked)

#10

Bookwalker specifically targets foreign customers (they have a lot of content in English too) and belongs to a publishing company (Kadokawa), so that’s an entirely different situation than Amazon’s.

#11

It’s usually not Amazon’s choice; a lot of it would be expected to be due to licensing that is out of Amazon’s hands, and be on the publishers listing the content on Amazon, and the publishers don’t really care to figure it out when it’s easier to keep the default “for sale in Japan only”.

Also, Bookwalker does not specifically target foreign customers; you could say they also do, but not specifically, as their main store front is still for Japanese language customers, with a few publishing shops and content creators still setting the “for sale/download in Japan only”, but most leaving it on what I would assume is the default.

#12

No, Bookwalker tried twice to get access to the international market with offers in English (the second time it worked), so I’d say they’re pretty deliberately targeting the international market.

And it doesn’t matter whose choice it is. If the publisher doesn’t give Amazon a license to sell the content outside Japan then Amazon can’t decide on their own.

#13

You used the word “specifically” about Bookwalker, which is what I corrected, not that Bookwalker doesn’t also target an international market. “Specifically” would imply Bookwalker’s intended market was only the foreign market, and not that they target the foreign market as an addition to their original domestic market. Saying “specifically targets foreign customers” is like saying 外国人向け, which is untrue, was my point about Bookwalker. (Now, you could say “specifically” if talking about their English global site, though.)

And my point about Amazon is that while they don’t control what publishers set, they don’t really actively try to prevent it either, other than a simple “did you set your mailing address to an unverified Japanese address? Yes? Cool with us then.” Amazon nor their content providers seem to be angry or trying to close some loophole or another (and why would they, if you’re willing to lie to give them money instead of pirating the content, other than legal contracts with western companies afraid of competition with the original sources).

This is starkly different from other companies like Netflix, who actively try to block access from VPNs and other common tools used to access content from regions other than one’s home region, and ban accounts caught trying to see Japanese content from a non-Japanese location.

#14

This thread is really confusing and seems to provide a lot of misinformation. This is not legal advice, if you have questions contact someone who isn’t a stranger on the internet.
First, it is 100% legal to purchase goods from other countries, you can find the details here Internet Purchases | U.S. Customs and Border Protection

You can buy almost anything legally from Japan, though I would suggest using a forwarding address service if you are buying from anywhere other than Amazon. That way you can correctly fill out the customs declaration, ensuring compliance.

This is not fraudulent. Fraud would be pretending to be someone in Japan by putting in a fake name and address. Using your real name and your own forwarding address is perfectly legal, and there is even a legal protocol in place for this. (You will go through this protocol when you sign up for one)

Finally, for licensing, who cares? They are giving a good faith effort to meet their licensing standards. How is the consumer, who cannot view the license, responsible for the license? Further, as long as you are accessing the site in good faith, that is, not bypassing technical restrictions or lying about your address, it is not a crime to break the terms and conditions. This has been held in court, see https://www.eff.org/files/filenode/facebook_v_power/facebookvpowerorder.pdf

TL;DR buy away friends.

#15

This thread is just confusing because it was initially about buying books digitally on Kindle from the Japanese store which requires an account that’s based in Japan. I.e. what you call fraud, if those of us who don’t live in Japan do it.

I’m not sure this is enough for fraud, I would be more concerned about the seller closing an account with digital purchases if they find out that you made them violate a license or fail to pay taxes due on online sales in your country by lying about your address. Nobody will get sued for buying Kindle books under a false name but losing such an account can be painful.

Bookwalker is also a digital store, but they sell to people outside Japan, so there is no problem there.

For physical goods licensing works differently, allowing things like forwarding by default, but Amazon sells physical books outside Japan so there is no problem here either in the first place.

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#16

Digital books are definitely a tricky situation, you are correct. An individual seller could remove your account for really any reason, so that is definitely a risk. Especially for foreigners like us, where you don’t have easy recourse. (Once again as a random stranger on the internet who doesn’t give legal advice) However, if you set up a forwarding address in Japan (which is both free and legal) and provide that address with your real name, it could not be classified as fraud. (Maybe if they require you to check a box that says something like “I am a Japanese citizen”) That’s what I am currently doing and they all accept the forwarding address happily. Though side note, it took a couple of weeks to set up the forwarding address, you also need to provide proof of identity.

I will update if I am ever banned or have an account deleted for using a forwarding address, though I highly doubt they will.

Edit: TL;DR no need to lie about your address, forwarding addresses seem to work for most places (that I have tried at least) and are free.

#17

Oh back to the original topic, besides yatsubato (which someone else mentioned) I am also going to read along with the absolute beginner’s book club, (I am N4 level) Teasing Master Takagi-san 😝 ・ Absolute Beginners Book Club ・ Starting May 1st! - Reading - WaniKani Community

#18

They do make you choose a “country of residence” and register a “residential address” for digital purchases…

Btw, the reason I hesitate to call this fraud is that there may be no injury to another party (without which it’s pretty much just a lie). I think the term “fraud” only appeared in this thread because the first person who used it chose it for comical exaggeration. After that people started talking about physical goods and it got confusing.

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#19

Satori Reader is an app that has short stories and articles. I think it’s pretty good. It has translation and grammar explanations.

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