Japan's Jidai is a series of Japanese readers on the eras of Japanese history, with furigana on every line-by-line sentence and native audio, written for upper beginners to intermediate learners. Each book has two essays with every word explained, the full Japanese text, an English translation, and an unlock code for the Makoto+ Japanese Explorer app.
From Clay & Yumi, teaching Japanese since 2002. Every story narrated by Yumi, a native speaker.
Travel through Japanese history, one era at a time, in Japanese
From the pottery of the Jōmon people to the black ships at the end of the Edo period: ten essays on ten eras, two to a book. Read real Japanese while you learn how Japan became Japan. Buy once and every new volume is added to your bundle for free.
Look inside before you buy
Tap any cover to open a free preview: the cover and the first 30 pages of that book, as a PDF.
More eras are on the way. Each new volume is added to your bundle at no extra cost.
How each book works
Hear a sample
Yumi reads every essay twice: at natural speed, and slowly for practice.
Normal Speed Audio
Slow Speed Audio
What you download
For each of the five volumes:
- The eBook as a PDF (print it if you like), an ePub, and a Kobo eBook (kePub)
- MP3s of both essays, slow and natural speed, read by Yumi
- Anki flashcard decks of the vocabulary
- A Vocabulary Cheat Sheet (PDF) with every word from both essays, sorted by JLPT level
- An unlock code for both essays in the Makoto+ Japanese Explorer app
Some of these essays first appeared in our Makoto magazine; for the books we edited and expanded them. The 2026 edition adds the app, the cheat sheets and the Kobo files, with light edits so every essay matches Yumi's recording word for word.
Each volume sells for $6.99 on Kindle, so the five together come to $34.95, without the MP3s, Anki decks or cheat sheets. Your bundle also gets every future volume free, starting with Volume 6 on the Taishō and Shōwa periods.
Who is this for?
Upper beginners to intermediate learners. If you know hiragana and basic grammar (about the end of Genki II), the line-by-line pages will carry you through, and reading the full essays without furigana will stretch you. Brand new to Japanese? Start with our Beri-Beri Shoshinsha Beginner's Bundle.
Bulk Discount - Remember, buy more to save more. Add two bundles to your cart and get an automatic 5% off your entire digital order; Buy three, get 10% off; Buy five or more and get a whopping 20% off your entire digital order! No coupon is needed!
P.S. All our bundles have:
✅ Multiple formats (PDF, ePub, MP3s, plus many have Anki flashcard decks)
✅ One-time payment
✅ Discounted compared to buying individually on Amazon
✅ Free lifetime updates to this bundle
✅ Instant download gratification
✅ [Satisfaction Guaranteed] - Seriously, if you aren't happy with it because it's too easy or difficult, just let us know and we'll swap it with a bundle better suited for you or we'll refund your money.
➡️ How to read the eBooks in your bundle? Follow the steps in our eBook guide.
NOTE:
- This is a digital download. Nothing is shipped, so there are no shipping charges.
- You'll get the download link by email a minute after purchase. It opens on any phone, tablet or computer, and on a computer you can download everything at once with the Download button at the top right.
- You do not need a Dropbox account or pay anything further to access the files. Learn more here.
- If you don't see the email, please check your spam folder or email us for support.
- Prefer paper? See Clay and Yumi's Paperbacks (not included in this digital bundle; the paperbacks come with the digital files).
- These books are also on Amazon.
