Makoto Magazine #105 - All the Fun Japanese Not Found in Textbooks

Get the latest issue, and a new one every month, with Makoto+

Samurai members download and keep every new Makoto issue (PDF, ePub and MP3s), read it in the free app, enjoy dozens of interactive stories, and save 10% at TheJapanShop.com. Shogun adds the full Makoto back catalog on the web, every course, and 20% off.

Try it free for 7 days, then from just $5 USD a month.

See Makoto+ plans

Makoto E-Zine Series #105

Recommended for beginner to intermediate learners of Japanese.

Makoto Japanese Language & Culture Magazine Issue 105 (November 2026)

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 (November 2026, Issue 105):

November is rain that starts with a few ぽつぽつ and settles into a quiet all-day しとしと, a mountain at dusk taking the red right out of the maple leaves, and the hard work of saying sorry. The two galactic emperors face an audit that only an apology can pass, a traveling showman arrives with an offer the old couple should refuse in Part 4 of 小川未明's 「赤い蝋燭と人魚」, and a new jogger learns that an old knee has opinions. The grammar section covers ～たほうがいい (advice you should probably take) and ～だけに (all the more because), and we visit Kagawa, Japan's smallest prefecture and its biggest fan of udon. All in the redesigned Makoto format: PDF, ePub, web, and the iPhone & Android apps.

Three stories to read and listen to

Beginner reader

ジョギングその後 (Jogging, and What Came Next)

The narrator takes up jogging, and the knee starts to hurt. An hour a day on a gym machine works for three weeks, until the knee hurts again. Now it's thirty minutes of walking on the treadmill, and a lesson for all of us: 無理は禁物 (don't overdo it). Read it first in spaced hiragana, then in natural Japanese. Grammar notes cover ～てしまいました, ～ことにしました, ～ようにしています, and ～ながら.

Frank and the Obaasan, Season 3

Episode 13: The Power of an Apology (謝罪の力)

The emperors have survived a convenience store that expects payment, a crowded train, and an onigiri wrapper. Now the galaxy is sending auditors, and passing will take something no emperor has ever produced: proof that they made peace with someone they once wronged. Read it in Japanese, then line by line with vocabulary and grammar support. The full episode audio is included.

Japanese reader

赤い蝋燭と人魚 Part 4 (The Red Candles and the Mermaid)

A traveling showman arrives from a country to the south and talks the old couple into selling the mermaid girl. She begs to stay home, but she is taken away. This is Ogawa Mimei's original 1921 text with full vocabulary, grammar notes, and audio, including literary forms such as ～ずに, ～のであります, and volitional + とする.

Also inside

Prefecture Spotlight: 香川 (Kagawa)
Japan's smallest prefecture, where people eat more Sanuki udon per person than anywhere else in the country. Also: Ritsurin Park, the 785 stone steps up to Kotohira Shrine, Marugame Castle and its hand-made fans, and the olives of Shodoshima, where Japan's first olive trees took root in 1908.

Etymology: ロボット
From the Czech robota (forced labor), made famous by Karel Čapek's 1920 play R.U.R., though it was his brother Josef who suggested the word. The first robots were imagined as artificial living workers, not machines.

Haiku Spotlight: 与謝蕪村 (Yosa Buson)
「山暮れて 紅葉の朱を 奪ひけり」: as evening falls, the mountain steals the red from the maple leaves. With five English translations, the seasonal word, vocabulary, and an explanation with audio.

Jokes & Riddles
Including a gambler's famous last words: 「もう二度とギャンブルはやらない…かけてもいい」 ("I'll never gamble again... I'd bet on it.")

Plus:

• Grammar Time (Beginner): ～たほうがいい (JLPT N4) Giving advice, as in 早く寝たほうがいい (you'd better go to bed early), plus the negative form learners often get wrong: 行かないほうがいい, not 行かなかったほうがいい.
• Grammar Time (Intermediate): ～だけに (JLPT N2) "Precisely because," as in 期待が大きかっただけに (precisely because expectations were so high), and how it differs from ～だけあって.
• Onomatopoeia Focus: Rain. ぽつぽつ, しとしと, and ざあざあ: the first scattered drops you can still count, a fine steady rain that goes on for hours, and a full downpour.
• Vocabulary (5 entries, N5 to N1): ちょっと待ってください, お先に失礼します, 話にならない, お世話になっております, and 折り合いをつける. One entry per JLPT level, each with usage notes, an example sentence, and audio.
• Kanji Spotlight (JLPT N5 to N1): 手, 映, 働, 延, and 謙. Readings, meanings, a memory hint, compound words, a stroke-order diagram, and an example sentence for each, with audio.
• Anime Phrase of the Month from あかね噺: 「あの日、落語家 阿良川志ん太は死んだ。でも、終わりじゃない。むしろ、あの日から始まったんだ。朱音の噺が。」 The day one rakugo storyteller's career ended was the day Akane's own story began.
• Katakana Match (Food), and more.

Issue 105: put the kettle on, listen to the rain go しとしと, and read it slowly. 無理は禁物.

As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.