I have so many books in my Kindle library that I bought and started only to find out that it was too hard and abandon it. For now, it looks like the Miller-san book will be the first one that I actually finish (Shosetsu Miraa-san - Minna no Nihongo Shokyu Shiriizu - | スリーエーネットワーク).
What was the first book that you were able to finish in Japanese?
Well. I didn’t start reading any book. I want to but i am intentionally leaving it for later.
Edit: i am level 10 in wanikani why it still display as 9 ?
Edit: started reading
Hey, It has to do with the level you have done and the level you are in, I think.
I want to read in Japanese I have one romance book I got in Tokyo, but it is just impossible to read for me now.
I have slamdunk number one and Naruto volume 26 in Japanese. I tried to start both, but it seems that Naruto was the one I am able to understand better. But Oh my god what a struggle it is. I need to keep on it, I am on page 5, it seems such a hard task still after hours in WK and Japanese classes with Minna No NihonGo. But who said Japanese is easy.
If bilingual books count, then probably Circus Day in Japan
Then, ignoring graded readers, the first native and fully Japanese thing I read fully was the first volume of the manga Flying Witch. The first proper book I read was The Girl who Leapt Through Time, with the Beginner Book Club.
But if I were looking to recommend a first book to a beginner, I would probably suggest they take part in the upcoming Doggy Detectives book club or read one of the Kitty Detectives book with the help of the old threads. If they wanted a slightly more ‘proper’ book the easiest I’ve read so far is Zenitendou, again with the Beginner Book Club.
The first book I finished in Japanese was 獣の奏者(1) from the 青い鳥文庫 (so, with almost full furigana). Still, that was probably jumping in the deep end. Graded readers sound like a much more reasonable option in hindsight.
I randomly picked up a novel that intrigued me once in a Japanese bookstore called 白河夜船 by one 吉本バナナ. After months of carefully picking through vocabulary in my free time, I finished the first short story in the book. Even though the topic was heavy (a young woman who was exhausted with her day to day), it felt nice to read something written by adults for adults, and one word that I learned from it that struck me as being beautiful was 「ぼんやり思う」- to absentmindedly think (of something).
A tip - draw a vertical line next to words you don’t know and define them in the margins. Use one of those tiny lead pencils from Japan to do it.
I’ve only made it 30% of the way through. Saving the rest for a rainy day after I’m done with Wanikani
Since then, I read the book “Goodbye Tsugumi” by this same author (Yoshimoto Banana). I enjoyed this one a lot and recommend it over the one above, but I think most people like her book “Kitchen” the best.
Yes! This was the first Japanese book I ever checked out from the library. I’m an aspiring children’s book author so I tend to read a lot of picture books…
Yotsuba, volume one, a couple of years ago now, with the bookclub here on the forums. I’ll always remember reading that last page and the amazing sense of accomplishment at having finished my first Japanese book and my first ever manga. A wonderful memory.