Makoto Magazine #101 - All the Fun Japanese Not Found in Textbooks

Makoto E-Zine Series #101

Recommended for beginner to intermediate learners of Japanese.

Makoto Japanese Language & Culture Magazine Issue 101 (July 2026) — the first issue of the next hundred

Makoto is a monthly digital magazine for beginner to intermediate learners of Japanese. Each issue blends short stories, language lessons, cultural notes, humor, and native-audio recordings — all designed to make Japanese feel natural, usable, and enjoyable.

In this issue (July 2026, Issue 101):

After the fireworks of issue #100, #101 gets to enjoy the quiet luxury of being a perfectly ordinary number — which means it's simply a magazine full of Japanese to dig into. Frank clocks in for a full shift at the diner, a rain-soaked stranger shows up at a castle gate claiming to be a princess, and the etymology section explains why the gods get credit for thunder. All in the fully redesigned format introduced last issue: PDF, ePub, web, and the iPhone & Android apps, all from the same source.

Readers:

• Beginner Reader (Let's Read): 看板を読む子 (Reading the Signs) A bored kid in the back seat reads restaurant signs out the car window — and accidentally gives Mom entirely the wrong idea. Presented in hiragana-spaced and kanji+furigana formats for multiple reading passes, with grammar notes covering の modifiers, 何も～ない, ～ている, ～ことにする, のなら, and て-form sequencing.
• Japanese Reader: えんどう豆の上のお姫さま (The Princess and the Pea) After last month's ghost story, something gentler: Andersen's classic retold in clear, approachable Japanese. A prince wants a real princess, and the queen has a testing method involving one very small pea and a great deal of bedding. Full vocabulary, grammar notes, and audio — watch for ～かどうか (whether or not), ～たり～たり, ～ようで, and the confident conclusion pattern ～にちがいない.
• Frank and the Obaasan: Season 3, Episode 9 A Day at the Restaurant (定食屋の日常) Last month Frank got a job. This month he actually has to do it. A full day at the teishoku diner — morning prep, lonely regulars, and Frank's particular gift for saying goodbye to fish. Includes structured Japanese, vocabulary/grammar support, and Japanese-only reading.

Language & culture lessons:

• Grammar Time — Beginner: ～てもいい (JLPT N4) The everyday permission pattern: "you may ~" / "is it okay to ~?" — with examples across verbs, adjectives, and nouns.
• Grammar Time — Intermediate: ～ものの (JLPT N2) The "although ~" pattern for when the first half of your sentence writes a check the second half can't cash — a contrast connector you'll meet constantly in written Japanese.
• Onomatopoeia Focus: Rain しとしと, ざあざあ, and ぽつぽつ — three ways Japanese hears the rain, from a gentle drizzle to a downpour to the first scattered drops that make you regret not bringing an umbrella.
• Vocabulary (5 entries, N5 to N1): いただきます, 久しぶり, 気になる, 念のため, and 気が置けない — graded across all five JLPT levels, each with usage notes, example sentences, and audio.
• Etymology: 雷 Why is thunder called かみなり? Because to the ancient Japanese, it was quite literally the sound the gods make — a word history that traces the kanji back to lightning spreading across the sky beneath rainclouds.
• Kanji Spotlight (JLPT N5 to N1): 館, 親, 登, 現, and 矛 — readings, meanings, stroke order, compound words, and example sentences for each.
• Prefecture Spotlight: 神奈川 (Kanagawa) Home to Yokohama — one of Japan's first ports opened to foreign trade in 1859 and now home to the country's largest Chinatown — plus Kamakura's Great Buddha and more.
• Anime Phrase of the Month 「同じ気持ちじゃない時、どうしたらいいんだろう？」 from ちいかわ — Hachiware wonders what to do when someone doesn't feel the same way. Small, cute, and quietly devastating, as Chiikawa tends to be.
• Haiku Spotlight: 正岡子規 (Masaoka Shiki) 「ずんずんと夏を流すや最上川」— the mighty Mogami River sweeps summer itself downstream, in one of Shiki's most energetically modern-sounding classical haiku. With five English translations and full analysis.
• Jokes & Riddles, Katakana Match (Nation Names), and more

Includes:

• 106 pages (PDF) in the fully redesigned Makoto format
• 27 MP3 audio files
• 4 Anki flashcard decks
• 2 eBook formats (PDF + ePub)
• Scan-and-listen QR codes for quick mobile access
• Full integration with the Makoto Japanese Explorer app and Sentence Explorer — magazine content is built into the Read tab with inline audio, tappable vocabulary, furigana-on-demand, translations, notes, and vocabulary tracking

Issue 101: no milestones, no fireworks — just a magazine full of Japanese worth digging into. Whether you're testing princesses with produce, learning to hear the rain in Japanese, or just here to see how Frank handles the lunch rush — welcome to the second hundred.