Meet the kappa.

Green, about the size of a small child, with a shell on its back and a dish of water balanced on its head. It turns up in warnings about swimming in rivers, in the name of a sushi roll, and in a proverb about how even an expert can come unstuck.

This first volume of Learn Japanese with Yokai uses the kappa to carry you through three readings in real Japanese.

First, a guide to the creature itself. What a kappa looks like, where it lives, why it loves cucumbers, and why a Japanese speaker might call a strong swimmer a kappa. Then the account of a sake brewery in Saga that has been in business for nearly three hundred years, and the strange thing the family found in a box in the attic. And finally an old folktale about a hardworking farmer, a lunchbox that will not stay where he leaves it, and the afternoon he decides to watch it closely.

Every part is taught in seven passes, so your understanding builds one layer at a time.

1. Story introduction.
2. Vocabulary. The key words in Japanese, then English, with room to repeat after a native speaker.
3. Slow speed. The full text read slowly and clearly.
4. Line by line. Each Japanese sentence broken into bite-size phrases with their English meanings, then rebuilt.
5. Normal speed. The same text at natural pace. Hear how much more you catch the second time.
6. Comprehension questions. You will hear the question, then a pause so you can answer out loud, then the answer in Japanese and in English.
7. English version. Japanese narration is by native speaker Yumi Boutwell, with the English read by Clay Boutwell, from the family behind TheJapanShop.com, helping people learn Japanese since 2002.

No textbook needed and no pages to turn. Press play in the car or on a walk and let the repetition do the work. By the final pass you will not just follow these readings, you will own the vocabulary and grammar inside them.

Perfect for upper beginners at JLPT N5 to N4.