Intermediate Japanese Reader Volume 1: The Trolley Cart

Clay & Yumi Boutwell · Makoto Press

Intermediate JLPT N4–N3 Read it in the app

Akutagawa's トロッコ, line by line, with Yumi's narration

Akutagawa Ryūnosuke's トロッコ (1922), complete: eight-year-old Ryōhei gets his wish to push, then ride, the trolleys on the half-built light railway between Odawara and Atami, and the ride goes farther than he meant it to. Every sentence with Yumi's narration and vocabulary cards.

Buy the paperback on Amazon Digital edition at The Japan Shop

Is this the right level for you?

Intermediate · JLPT N4–N3. Longer sentences, denser kanji, real essay structure.

See where this sits on the Reading Ladder ›

What is in the book

Furigana over every kanji, so nothing stops you mid-sentence.
Native audio at two speeds — slow to follow along, natural to test yourself.
Line-by-line vocabulary with the readings and the grammar notes in place.
A full English version, close enough to the Japanese to decode it with.
Readable in the Makoto+ Japanese Explorer, tap any sentence for a breakdown.

Others at this level

Learn Japanese with Yokai Volume 5: Mermaids of Japan

Learn Japanese with Yokai Volume 3: The Oni

Learn Japanese with Yokai Volume 2: The Tengu

Japanese History & Essays Volume 6: Tunnels

Japanese History & Essays Volume 5: Ukiyo-e

Japanese History & Essays Volume 4: Essays on Modern Japan

Where to buy

Buy the paperback on Amazon Digital edition at The Japan Shop

Clay & Yumi Boutwell are participants in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, which means we may receive a commission when you buy a book through a link on this page. It costs you nothing extra, and it does not affect which books we recommend or where we place them on the levels.