I’m in Sapporo right now and failed at buying graded readers in Kinokuniya and I want to give Bookoff a shot anyway.
Anyone got any tips about buying books and manga that I ought to be able to digest in the painful phase?
Whenever I’ve been into a Bookoff, the staff have been really helpful. I believe the books in Book Off are second hand, so I guess the stock will range from store to store.
Bookoff is absolutely fantastic, they (almost?) always have a section dedicated to children/teenagers. I always recognized the easier books by the vibrant green covers (it’s a series of “graded readers”, but I forgot the name, think the logo is a bird though?)
You can find almost any book or manga for 108yen if you search hard enough across shops, which makes it ideal for anyone wanting to buy some study material. I still regret not being able to take more books back home on my last vacation 
As for suggestions… Yotsubato, Non non byori, Aria and other manga from the beginner book clubs? Maybe the above mentioned teenager books? I’ve seen books from game series like proffessor layton / phoenix wright there, in case that peaks your interest.
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Well Tsubasa Bunko books always have that bright green (I mean seriously luminous) framing, if that’s what you’re referring to? They’re not exactly graded readers I don’t think, but they’re certainly for kids.
Aoi Tori books are for even younger kids and they have a consistent blue framing style too.
I agree that looking out for those is a great idea if you don’t have any particular titles you’re looking for.
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Exactly! 
what a coincidence!
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That’s the one! I saw racks filled with books in that series at most bookoffs.
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Cool! I thought that must be what you were referring to, but I wasn’t sure about the graded reader aspect.
They are extremely noticeable on the shelf
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I might suggest steering away from this one. We could read it in the beginner book club, sure, but in general, we found it fairly… tiring.
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Plenty of advice in terms of children’s books already. As far as manga, well… I wouldn’t expect you to be able to understand any manga well in the painful phase. Even at level 35, it’s still a struggle to work through much of anything for me. (Of course, I’ve neglected my grammar for wanikani, so your mileage may vary. I’ve only barely finished Genki I.)
That said, I’d recommend picking up manga of stories you already know, to help you make educated guesses on what’s being said. Maybe something you’ve watched the anime for already, so it’s not 1:1. Otherwise, just pick up what’s interesting to you, even if you can’t read it now! I’m assuming you’re visiting japan for a short period and not living there for a while, so take the chance while you can. Having a stack of books you want to be able to read is solid motivation. As long as you keep learning, you’re gonna be able to read them eventually.
A couple suggestions of mine:
Pokemon Adventures: Lots of simple language, furigana for everything iirc. The manga was aimed at a younger crowd, so you’d expect it to be pretty digestible.
Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge: I was surprised at how readable this was at my level. I read it around level 25, and understood a large amount of it. More excitingly, every time I opened it up, it felt like I noticed a kanji I’d just recently learned.
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