Japanese History & Essays Volume 3: 20th Century Japanese Stories

Clay & Yumi Boutwell · Makoto Press

Intermediate JLPT N4–N3 Read it in the app

Hachiko the loyal dog, the inventor of instant ramen, and Kurosawa.

Improve your Japanese with essays on Hachiko, Instant Ramen, and the director, Kurosawa Akira.

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.

Every level on this site was measured from the book's own Japanese rather than assigned by feel. The numbers below are what the measurement saw, so you can judge the fit yourself instead of taking our word for it.

Distinct kanji: 264
Kanji density: 27.2%
Average sentence: 24.9
N5–N3 vocabulary: 73.1%
Pages: 158

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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+ Sentence Explorer, tap any sentence for a breakdown.

The rest of the History & Essays series

Japanese History & Essays Volume 1: Samurai & Daimyo

Japanese History & Essays Volume 2: Ninja, Rōnin, and Daimyō

Japanese History & Essays Volume 4: Essays on Modern Japan

Japanese History & Essays Volume 5: Ukiyo-e

Japanese History & Essays Volume 6: Tunnels

Japanese History & Essays Volume 7: The Shinkansen and the Rails of Japan

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

Learn Japanese with Stories #2: Momotaro

Learn Japanese with Stories Volume 1: Hikoichi

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.