ちょっとひとこと is a collection of articles that readers of a newspaper sent in over the years. It is out of print but you might be able to find it in a library or Book-Off. The ISBN is 4257050292 (ISBN-13: 978-4257050292) and it was published in 1982 by 朝日ソノラマ.

It is designed for learners but only uncommon kanji have furigana. Some vocabulary has facing-page translations and readings, as well as comprehension/discussion questions (in Japanese).

E-mail me (link next to my kanji) if you are interested - I have a couple pages I could send you as preview. (Also if you do happen to find this - if you find two I would love to have one!)

Buying a year's worth now seems like a good idea, but you're going to change a lot over a year.  Buy a bunch of stuff you think you'll like, and then just pay the price to buy more stuff online as you need it.

I've never read one so I can't really offer suggestions based on which ones I enjoyed.

The "graded Japanese reader" series might be good if you are lower level though.

A book that I have particularly enjoyed is 弁護士というお仕事 (sugoi).  It is a collection of short stories of interesting legal cases submitted by lawyers and judges.  Some of the stories are very accessible to an intermediate reader (with Heisig background).

I just got back from spending about 3 hours in Junkudo book store. I was about to give up after the first 45 minutes or so, when all of the sudden I hit pay dirt. I spent the next 2+ hours going thru 2 shelves of a single book case. I found about a dozen books that were acceptable for what I want to do.

If you decided to do this on your own, some things to note. All but 2 of these books were Japanese titles with little or no English. Also, few were actually labeled in a way to make it obvious what was inside. So avoid the temptation to ignore books that don’t have “Japanese Reader” printed on the cover:)

One of the dozen books was an “intermediate” English medium textbook, designed for those who already have about 300 hours under their belts, which is supposed to have downloadable dialogues, etc for students who buy the book. Looked like a great book, with English explanations of some aspects of the stories, and English definitions of new vocab. It was a name I never heard, but will go back and see if anybody is interested. I didn’t choose that one because it seemed too big for what I want to do.

Only one of the dozen had a CD. Unfortunately, I was about 90% sure that it was for exercises rather than the stories, so I didn’t choose that one.

3 or 4 had English definitions of vocabulary. Only one had an extra “all furigana” version of the main text. This same book had an index with English definition of all words. Bought that one.

Several had vertical text. 2 or 3 had all vertical text. One of those had a very high percentage of reading pages. It was all stories, with new vocab in the margins. No questions, exercises, etc. If someone is interested, I’ll find out the name for you. I didn’t buy it because I already found a nice book without English definitions, that had pictures and appeared to be more comprehensible at first glance.

One book that looked really good from a reader standpoint was one with about a dozen tombstones on the cover. About a bunch of dead famous Japanese people, I think. English vocabulary lists on the next page. I didn’t buy it because it seemed like a boring subject to me. Be glad to list it for anyone who is interested.

In my time at the store, I kept on going off to the side with a stack of books to rest, and narrow down my selection. This really didn’t work very well, as I wasn’t able to easily decide. After I’d gone through everything, I sat down one last time with 6 books on my lap. I finally put my foot down and swore to only buy 2 books. These were what I wound up with:

1)中級日本語
棟京外国語大学留学生日本語教育センター
ISBN978-4-89358-249-2 C3081
¥2233
paperback, 161 pages (about 60 pages of reading)
21 lessons
Lesson Format: Attention peaking questions. An article. Questions about the article. No furigana.
Indices:  Answers to questions. “New” compounds from the article with furigana. (3) kanji/kana indices.
Level: lower intermediate/intermediate

2) Reading and writing in Japanese for Beginners
ALC Press Textbook Series
ISBN978-4-7574-0242-3 C0081
¥1800
paperback, 165 pages (about 20 pages of reading)
20 lessons
Lesson Format: Varies at first, but settles down to: An article without furigana. Questions/exercises. The same article with 100% furigana. “New” vocabulary list with furigana and English definitions.
Indices:  Answers to questions/exercises. English definition of all vocabulary. Grammar.
Level: lower intermediate/intermediate

Hey, after counting the actual pages of reading, I’m a little shy of my goal of 100. Sweet – looks like I’m going back to the store!

Last edited by leosmith (2010 March 20, 8:31 am)

How about light novels?

In terms of vocabulary, they're above manga but below "real" novels.

They will definitely challenge your kanji ability and often don't have
many furigana (often only on words/readings that are considered difficult).

Probably the most famous light novel out there is "Kino no Tabi" (キノの旅).
"Spice and Wolf" (狼と香辛料) is another famous one.

Both series originally started out as light novels (with new novels still being published).

Here's a summary of both:

Kino no Tabi (Wikipedia):
In Kino's Journey, the protagonist, Kino, accompanied by a talking motorcycle, a Brough Superior motorcycle named Hermes, travels through a mystical world of many different countries and forests, each unique in its customs and people. Kino only spends three days and two nights in every town, without exception, on the principle that three days is enough time to learn almost everything important about a place, while leaving time to explore new lands. Kino says in The Land of Visible Pain that this principle is probably a lie, specifically noting "if I stay any longer, I'm afraid I will settle down." A phrase repeated in the anime and novels is "The world is not beautiful, therefore it is." Kino's Journey explores what the anime director Ryutaro Nakamura described as "a radical sense of 'beauty,"[2] and brutality, loneliness, nonsense, oppression and tragedy are often juxtaposed against compassion and a fairy-tale atmosphere.


Wolf and Spice (Wikipedia):
Spice and Wolf's story revolves around Kraft Lawrence, a twenty-five-year-old traveling merchant who peddles various goods from town to town to make a living in a stylized historical setting with European influences.[6] His main goal in life is to gather enough money to start his own shop, and he already has been traveling for seven years while gaining experience in the trade. One night when stopped at the town of Pasroe, he finds in his wagon a pagan wolf-deity girl named Holo who is over 600 years old. She appears to be a fifteen-year-old girl, except for a wolf's tail and ears. She introduces herself as the town's goddess of harvest, who has kept it blessed with good harvests of wheat for many years. Despite having the responsibility to watch over the town, she wants to go back to her homeland in the north called Yoitsu; she believes the people have already forsaken her and that she has kept her promise to maintain the good harvests. Holo wants also to travel to see how the world has changed while she has remained in one place for years. She manages to bargain her way out of the village by making a deal with Lawrence to take her with him. As they travel, her wisdom helps increase his profits, but at the same time, her true nature draws unwanted attention from the church. Throughout the series, the two slowly fall in love.

I'm sure you could find these cheap at a used bookstore in Japan. A few dollars per issue. At worst, you'd pay $5-$6 for a new issue.

Last edited by chamcham (2010 March 20, 11:57 pm)