Looking for textbooks used by the Japanese

amaethon2000 New member

From: USA Registered: 2009-04-29 Posts: 7

Did a few quick searches, but I'm having some difficulty finding what I am looking for. I would actually like to obtain the textbooks that Japanese children study from in school. It isn't necessary that they be current, but hopefully they are no older than a couple decades. Anyone know of a place that can source these and ship them to the US?
My goal is to eventually read about Japanese history in its native language, and it would be terrific if I could just start reading the MEXT approved textbooks at elementary level and work my way up.
Just a few more weeks to finish core6k and I want to be prepared!

Thanks in advance, and my apologies if this has already been answered elsewhere.

Rob

Last edited by amaethon2000 (2013 September 30, 2:43 am)

SomeCallMeChris Member

From: Massachusetts USA Registered: 2011-08-01 Posts: 787

I can't tell you where to get such textbooks but I can tell you it isn't going to be easy. My understanding is that official school textbooks aren't available through general booksellers, they are provided directly to and through schools by special contract. I'm afraid I didn't care enough about the details to note them, but that was the gist of the answer from natives to a question similar to yours. Perhaps out-of-use editions are available on the used books from the Japanese amazon or similar (and the Japanese amazon does ship to the U.S., though not cheaply.)

amaethon2000 New member

From: USA Registered: 2009-04-29 Posts: 7

Thanks for the quick reply, Chris. Its a bummer, but I half-expected that answer. We have a Toyota manufacturing plant about half an hour from here and I hear they have a school nearby that teaches the visiting families of their executives to keep them up to speed with their classmates back home. I suppose I will just have to be brave and go talk to them.
But what if they try to talk to me in Japanese?! I only know how to read, lol. I guess I can just tell them they are for my friend...who for whatever reason didn't come do this himself. My paraplegic friend...that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

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buonaparte Member

Registered: 2010-11-25 Posts: 797

Not exactly what you're looking for, but close enough, or even better.
http://www.nhk.or.jp/school/
http://www.nhk.or.jp/kokokoza/sitemap.html

patriconia Member

From: 日本 Registered: 2009-06-07 Posts: 59

Even if you can't find the actual textbooks, there are still several books targeted to towards school age children for review in the subjects. For example, I have a couple books called くわしい国語 and くわしい国文法 designed to cover middle school Japanese. In the bookstore close to me, there actually are quite large sections for elementary, middle, and high school study books, which you could probably find online.

Womacks23 Member

From: 恵比寿 Registered: 2008-01-10 Posts: 596

You'll only be able to buy subject study books from bookstores. The good news is that these are plenty available, the bad news is that they are extremely boring and only designed to reinforce rote memorization.

AFAIK, actual textbooks are wholesale only and I've never seen them on sale for individuals. There is simply no market for individual sales and homeschooling is illegal in Japan.

You might have luck visiting (or writing) a local Japanese board of education and asking if they have any old textbooks you can have.

Last edited by Womacks23 (2013 September 30, 5:31 am)

RawToast お巡りさん

From: UK Registered: 2012-09-03 Posts: 431 Website

You can search for these an Amazon.jp and ship to your own country:

I saw a post by Aijin (http://forum.koohii.com/viewtopic.php?p … 34#p129434) recommending various books for beginners. After doing some research on the series that are meant for Japanese children in elementary school I found these...

• 10分で読める：There are various sets of these that go through grade 1-6. They are お話、伝記、物語、and 名作. There are also some individual books that are not assigned a specific grade level such as こわい話 and すいり・たんていの話。
• なぜ？どうして？：There are two sets that have book that go from grade 1-6. The sets are 科学の話 and 身近なぎもん。Like the other series, there are also individual books without a grade level listed. Two examples of these are 宇宙のお話 and 動物のお話。
• 知ってびきり！：As far as I know there are only individual books that are written for elementary school children. The 漢字はじまり物語 and ことばはじまり物語 look like they would be especially interesting for Japanese learners.

From: http://forum.koohii.com/viewtopic.php?id=11703

I want to pick up the entire 10分で読める set when I get paid. Lots of reading for the price of one graded reader in the UK. Useful to pass on aswell

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