There is a world of difference between reading Japanese that has been specially contrived for students and reading real Japanese--that is, real-world Japanese written for native speakers. The contrived variety might be called schoolmarm Japanese: standard to the point of insipidity, controlled to the point of domestication, restricted to the point of impoverishment. The Read Real Japanese series provides the real thing--lively writings by contemporary authors. Read Real Japanese Essays presents short works by eight established writers, including Haruki Murakami and Banana Yoshimoto. The essays are by turns humorous, insightful, and biting; all are stimulating works that will teach you a wealth about Japanese writing and motivate you to read more.
Following the form of real Japanese writing, the text runs from top to bottom, right to left. To guide you in your reading, each double-page spread features translations of nearly every sentence or phrase, making it possible to understand the meaning at a glance. Moreover, in the back of the book is a tailor-made Japanese-English dictionary covering all the words appearing in the essays, and a series of notes that elucidate issues of nuance, usage, grammar, and culture. Best of all, the book comes with a free audio CD containing narrations of the works, performed by a professional actress. This will help you to get used to the sounds and rhythms of Japanese, as well as the speed at which the language is normally spoken.
For intermediates and beyond; for the classroom and for the car; for the intellect and for the ears: Read Real Japanese Essays is your gateway to the pleasures of reading first-rate nonfiction by Japanese authors--in the original.
