Japan Trip = Books! Request for "wishlist" recommendations for learner

Japanese
#1

Okay, I’m three months out from our family vacation to Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka. We’re starting to get into the real granular planning, and everyone’s super-excited!

I’ve got a different reason to be excited, though. I’m finally going to be able to easily buy some books. Living in Miami, one distressing part of my Japanese journey is that there’s so small a local Japanese community that you can’t really buy Japanese-language books anywhere. Online seems pretty limited, too.

But in three months, that will change! I’ll be able to get anything! The problem is, I’m overwhelmed for choice! I’ve looked at various lists of books, and it’s too overwhelming.

So - quick question. Is there a book or two (YA novel, manga, whatever) that you wished you had read when you were just starting out? By the time of my trip, I’ll likely be just edging into N3 territory (as measured by Bunpro) - so a very beginning reader, but perhaps ready for something native. Is there one or two things that you really loved reading at that level?

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#2

At that level you can read a good chunk of shonen mangas, especially if they come with furigana, and especially if they cover more slice-of-life-y topics. I think you’re well past the point where recommending Yotsuba makes sense.

So here are some shop recommendations instead…

Akihabara:

I recommend walking into Shosen Book Tower and just look at the testers. Probably the best selection of current stuff. Also, not just Manga. What’s more is, they get a ton of tourists simply by being in Akihabara so they actually have a lot of things targeting learners.

Book Off if you want older stuff (second hand).

Mandarake also has a massive second-hand department with quite some interesting finds. They also have a very big and famous … uhm… naughty manga department. They know their target audience, they have some fully furigana’d doujin.

Ikebukuro:

Animate. Though it’s especially famous for their BL section. If you plan to go to the Ikebukuro animate you can probably skip the one in Akihabara.

Do it like me: just get them all and forget reading half of them

How good is your kanji recognition? WIth novels, this could be the limiting factor. Even if YA. You will occasionally find books with a thick green border on the cover though. Look out for 角川つばさ - they print novels with full furigana.