If you are fine with non-hard copy versions of the books, this is perfect.
Only wish they had a set for JLPT N4 and above as well.

Hi, actually I just started to use it. By now I can only say it is a good practice for me from a “reading” point of view, thanks a lot for your help. It is not easy to find this kind of material for starting with japanese language.

This is great! You get the stories, translations, extra explanations of context, plus audio with both fast and slow pronunciation. I have been interested in Japanese for some time, and this has gotten me motivated to learn more than ever. You only need to have learned the hiragana syllabary more or less to get started. Plus, it's a lot more interesting to read these stories than only learning from textbooks or apps.

I have a BA in Japanese but have forgotten so much over the years. I've been wanting to get back into re-learning the language and ran across The Japan Shop.

I love the way everything is broken down and explained in everyday plain English. Which makes it much easier for me to review what I already knew (and have forgotten!). Clay and Yumi have done an amazing job putting all this together. I wish The Japan Shop had existed during my college days. I would have learned so much more!

From my point of view this one is way more begginer friendly than kids books since even they are wholly in hiragana (almost) those books uses words you won't see in daily life or in your studying textbooks, despite having done minna no nihongo 1 and 2 and anki decks for a long time now, I totally found it to be super useful.
A series like this way, gradually increasing difficulty, is what I initially looked for, so glad you did.
I'd definitely recommend this set to people who wants to start reading normal Japanese and not words like "little prince" or using おる.

Book is amazing, shipped promptly with helpful personal follow up from the Japan Shop team.

It breaks down every sentence, highlights grammar points, comes along with MP3 for correct pronunciation in a fast and slow pace. Highly reccomended, I've been looking for some content like this, for a while.

This should be the first reader for beginners who already know hiragana and some basic Japanese grammar and vocabulary. The first chapters are very easy to understand. Later on the level rises but for beginners it's still okay (I guess).

I also like it that the chapters start with the Japanese text before splitting it up sentence by sentence, so there's less temptation to cheat. Please keep this in your next readers as well.

One thing that irritates me is the lecture at the beginnging of each chapter not to look for the roumaji before reading the Japanese text. Here I think, once is enough. Also it might be a good idea not to repeat the the furigana on and on for already introduced kanji, e.g. after chapter 2, you should know how to read 私, so the furigana could be left out. That goes especially for single kanji. Just an idea for future revisions.

All in one it's a great reader.

つづく？

This shirt is very generous in size! I got the 2XL as I’m usually a size 16/18 but I could have gone with an XL for a closer fit. That said, I LOVE the heather raspberry colour and a sloppy fit makes for a comfy study afternoon ;). The package did take over 10 days to arrive in Australia but worth the wait!

All other language learning courses should be like this. Thank you so much for creating all these and also the other stuffs on your website!

They arrived really quickly and look fantastic. More please!

I have been looking for books in Japanese for months to try and help me implement my vocab and grammar knowledge.
I was skeptical of this bundle because it was 1) cheap and 2) it was digital. The reviews were good though and it seemed like a quality product. I decided that worst case scenario, I would be out $10, so I bought the bundle.
I love it!! The stories are broken down into bite size chunks to help with vocabulary understanding, and all kanji have furigana to help with pronunciation. The stories are also in full english or full japanese. I like reading in full japanese first to practice my reading and recognition skills and then move on to the broken down version so that I can practice my understanding.
I definitely recommend this for anyone learning Japanese!

Reading comics book and learn Japanese is so much fun. Doraemon and the gang just makes me smile !!!

I love the books and the tools available to understand it. I feel it helps my progression a lot! Thank you so much!

Worth the price.

This assets are great for beginners like me, it helps you a lot with my reading and understanding skills and the Kindle files are amazing for studying on the go.

Thank you so much for these bundles! Extremely high quality, everything is broken down and the pricing is great! No more boring textbooks that's the most enjoyable way to learn Japanese!

This T-shirt is great! I love it. My son tried to take it from me but no way was I giving it up! Lol

I am learning so much from the dialogues! As with other products from the Japan Shop, the quality of this offering is of the highest order. I especially value the care taken to explain words and expressions in context. It’s like having an insider whispering in your ear during a daily conversation. I love that new and directly applicable vocabulary is supplied in kanji form, with hiragana that enables us to immediately learn while reinforcing our understanding of kanji and kana alike. I look forward to starting each new dialogue, knowing that I’ll learn something new and useful.

Just what I was looking for. Thank you very much! Although I just bought the first 6 issues but I will - eventually - subscribe for future issues.
Did you consider adding QR codes after each hyperlink? I am reading this via my Kindle and listening to the MP3 on my phone. With the QR I could easily open the link without having to type in each time ;)

These books are a fantastic learning aid. The dialogues are extremely useful and well supported. The best part is that they are actually fun to use. You can perform role playing with a partner so two can learn Japanese. The downloads that come with the books are a special bonus. The MP3s are easy to use and provide sound to the written language. Books. MP3 files. What more can you ask for?

The idea to combine stories written in hiragana with an audio recording of the text is a simple idea but very effective. There are kanji in each story too (with furigana) but the story is broken down line by line with explanations for particles, kana and each kanji. The audio recordings are great and the lady who reads them has beautifully precise and crystal clear pronunciation, that is easy to absorb and a delight to listen to! All in all I’m very satisfied and my kanji knowledge has increased with each one. Highly recommended, just bear in mind you will need to be able to read hiragana.

These are amazing! Every sentence is broken down, it comes with audio, but to me the best part is these feel like real conversations. This feels like a natural way to learn a language. Learning through real everyday conversations. Thank you Clay and Yumi!

These stories are much shorter than the Japanese Reader collection, but are just as fun. They are full of grammar, vocabulary and listening comprehension as well. These may be harder for beginners but are a great tool and I will be coming back to them more than once!

This bundle is absolutely amazing in not just monetary value, but in learning value. These are full of vocabulary and every sentence and word is broken down for you. You can look up a specific word if that is all you need or you can look at the translation of the whole sentence. Please get this if you are looking to improve your reading, listening, vocabulary, and cultural understanding. These stories are not randomly chosen, they are stories that most Japanese people will know.

These sticker are so cute and come exactly as described. Perfect for anywhere you want them!

I can’t really give a book review yet, as I am just getting started. However, I can say that it arrived more quickly than expected and is exactly as described. Also, customer support rom The Japan Shop is fabulous!

These stickers are so cute. They will decorate my Japanese language study notebooks and cheer me on! thank you! I hope you make more!

This bundle is amazing value for how much detail and hard work has gone into making it! For beginners or intermediate learners, the combination of reading and listening helps so much to grow language skills. It has really helped me to improve my Japanese, and I want to sincerely thank Clay and Yumi for their amazing work :D ありがとうございます!

The stickers are so cute! I hope there will be more in the future.

Im using right now, and at the moment seems pretty useful

Love the t-shirt, the army colour works really well with the carnivorous bread, nice material, good fit, overall good quality. It's had two washes so far, and washes well, so I'm hopeful the great illustration will last a long time. A fun t-shirt, cute and scary at the same time. I really don't know what I'll do if bread ever turns against me!

If I had the money I'd buy most of the t-shirt range, especially the Panda and Ninja ones... and the stick figure in the rain, and the art ones and...

I can't buy very often as I get charged import VAT and a Royal Mail handling fee, which adds an extra £14.10 onto the order when the package comes into the UK, but when I do have a few things I would like the products and service are always excellent.

Would buy again, thank you :)

I purchased this for my daughter who started Japanese in school. It is a helpful resource for her to polish her Japanese skill.

They made it easy for beginners to understand nihongo

This purchase is definitely worth the money. The layout and information are easy to understand, so it really motivates me to spend more time learning Japanese.