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What you get
6 eBooks + audio + Anki flashcards + app access
It's a digital bundle, so nothing is shipped. Right after checkout we email you a link to download:
How each book works
Prepare, read, listen, stretch
- PrepareLearn the key words and grammar first, with example sentences.
- ReadGo through the easier essay line by line, every word explained.
- ListenHear it slowly, then at natural speed.
- StretchRead the same life again in the longer intermediate essay.
Furigana on every kanji, and every book closes with Kanji in Focus: the key kanji from its essays.
JLPT N4 to N3, CEFR A2 to B1 · Best after Genki II
What's inside
6 eBooks, 6 remarkable lives
Each book tells one life twice: first in easier Japanese, then at intermediate level.
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Step 1
A novelist and the god of manga
夏目漱石, the novelist behind I Am a Cat and Botchan, and 手塚治虫, who created Astro Boy and put the 虫 (insect) into his own name.
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Step 2
Two men who built modern Japan
渋沢栄一, the father of Japanese capitalism and the face on today's 10,000-yen note, and 福沢諭吉, who believed education was the key, and was on that note for 40 years before him.
-
Step 3
A piano maker and a castaway
山葉寅楠, the man behind Yamaha, and ジョン万次郎, a shipwrecked fisherman who sailed with an American whaler and was made a samurai when he came home.
- Volumes 7 to 10 come to you free
Look inside
One sentence, taken apart
本名は手塚治ですが、彼は虫が大好きで「虫」という字を名前につけ加えてペンネームにしました。
本名は手塚治ですが、彼は虫が大好きで「虫」という字を名前につけ加えてペンネームにしました。
“His real name is Tezuka Osamu (without a 虫), but he loved insects and added the character for “insect” (虫) to his name to create his pen name.”
From Volume 2. On its own page, the book explains every word: 本名 (real name), 大好き (to love), つけ加えて (adding), and the で that links the two halves, the て-form of だ.
In the app too
Read and listen in the Makoto+ app
All 6 books, both essays, unlock in the Makoto+ Japanese Explorer app for iPhone, iPad and Android, and on the web. Here is the Tezuka book in the app, and a sentence from its intermediate essay with its notes. One link in your download adds them all.
- Hear any sentence at normal or slow speed
- Turn furigana on or off
- Translations hidden until you want them
- Notes on the grammar of each sentence
- Tap a word for its reading and meaning
What learners say
“By the time you get to the intermediate section suddenly it’s getting easier. Slow and fast sound tracks wrap it up nicely.”
Barry D.
Who it's for
- Pay once, keep them forever
- Free updates forever
- Instant download
- 60-day money-back guarantee
Questions
What do I get?
6 eBooks as PDF, ePub and Kobo files, MP3s of both essays in every book at slow and natural speed, an Anki deck and a vocabulary cheat sheet for each book, and app access for all six.
How do I download it?
Right after checkout we email you a download link. Download everything at once on a computer, or open single books on your phone or tablet. You don't need Dropbox or any other account.
Can I read them on my phone or Kindle?
Yes. The ePub files work in Apple Books, Google Play Books and most reading apps, and the PDFs open anywhere. Our eBook guide walks you through each device.
Which books unlock in the Makoto+ app?
All six, both essays. Your download includes one link that adds them all to the app and the website.
What level is it?
Upper beginner to intermediate, about JLPT N4 to N3. If you know hiragana and basic grammar (about the end of Genki II), the easier essays will feel within reach and the intermediate ones will stretch you. Every kanji has furigana. Brand new to Japanese? Start with Beri-Beri Shoshinsha.
Will there be more books?
Yes. Volumes 7 to 10 are planned, on Kitasato Shibasaburō, Tsuda Umeko, Nitobe Inazō and Noguchi Hideyo, and each one is added to your bundle free.
Is a printed version included?
No, this is the digital bundle, but the PDFs print well if you like paper.
What if it isn't right for me?
Tell us within 60 days and we'll swap it for a better-fitting bundle or refund you in full.
TheJapanShop.com bundles are books you own. Makoto+ is a library you join. See how they compare
We run two main sites: TheJapanShop.com and MakotoPlus.com. Here's the gist:
Books you own
TheJapanShop.com bundles
- Pay once and keep it forever
- Download every book: PDF, ePub and MP3 audio, plus Anki decks with many bundles
- Free updates forever, including new volumes we add to the bundle
- Most bundles also unlock in the Makoto app by themselves, as the full eBook plus interactive sentences
- 60-day money-back guarantee
A library you join
Makoto+ membership
- Free, monthly or yearly plans
- Interactive stories in the Makoto app: about a dozen free, dozens with Samurai, up to 200 with Shogun
- Stories in the membership rotate monthly
- A new Makoto magazine issue every month to download and keep (Samurai and Shogun)
- Members save 10% (Samurai) or 20% (Shogun) on bundles
Join once, for good
Makoto+ Lifetime
- Shogun membership for life, with one payment
- Everything we add to Makoto+ later is included
- Bundle downloads are not included, but your 20% member discount works on them
- Sold only during limited-time windows
Many learners do both. The free Makoto+ Japanese Explorer App (iPhone/iPad and Android) puts them side by side: the books you own and the stories in your membership, in one library.
Try before you buy
Read a Tezuka Osamu sample free
Flip through pages from Volume 2: Tezuka Osamu, exactly as they appear in the book: the key vocabulary, the start of the easier essay line by line, then the whole easier essay in Japanese and in English. Then hear it read at slow and natural speed.
Trouble viewing? Open the sample PDF in a new tab.
手塚治虫 (the easier essay) Slow speed
手塚治虫 (the easier essay) Natural speed
Every book in the bundle comes the same way: an easier essay and an intermediate essay about one life, each with audio at both speeds.
