Mermaids of Japan, a Japanese Reader: Learn Japanese with Yokai!

★For Upper Beginners Learning Japanese ★

Living in shadows and the in-between world of dreams and reality, yokai thrive in Japanese imagination. What are yokai? They are monsters, ghosts, unnatural beings, and even sentient household items. Yokai can be harmless and amusing, or they can be terrifying.

Now you can learn about yokai and read stories of them while polishing your Japanese. ♥

ABOUT THIS VOLUME

Mermaids in Japanese are called ningyo, but unlike the Western image of a beautiful and seductive creature, the Japanese ningyo can be quite grotesque even. Sometimes the "human" part of the creature looks more bird-like or even ape-like.

Ningyo usually appear at night and come from the sea. They often have amazing abilities, and eating their flesh may result in a very long, long life.

FEATURES

Includes three essays or stories

Each story is presented in three formats: 1) Sentence-by-Sentence with definition and commentary below 2) Japanese only (to test your reading ability) 3) English translation (to confirm your understanding)

The Sentence-by Sentence section of each story presents a small chunk of the Japanese with furigana over the kanji and a complete glossary of all the words; important grammatical patterns are pointed out and explained in plain English

A link to download sound files for the stories is provided (for no extra charge) on the last page of the book

Each story has a slow and normal speed recording of the Japanese read by Yumi

STORIES INCLUDED

① The Nihon Shoki and Mummies

② The 800-Year-Old Nun

③ Amabie

WHO IS THIS FOR?

This book is designed so that both those fairly new to Japanese and those in the intermediate stages can equally find value. The ideal level, however, is for the upper beginner, somewhere around the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) N4.

If you are learning Japanese and are fascinated by yokai and traditional tales of old Japan, click the Buy Now button to begin studying now.

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E-kirja: 30. toukokuuta 2025