John Manjiro

Read real Japanese about the shipwrecked fisherman who became Japan's first "returnee."

In 1841, fourteen-year-old Manjiro was caught in a storm and stranded on a desert island. Five months later, an American whaling ship rescued him. He went on to become the first Japanese person to graduate from an American school, mined gold in the California Gold Rush, and came home to a closed country just before Commodore Perry's Black Ships arrived. Japan needed exactly what he knew.

This reader tells his story twice: once in an easier essay for upper beginners, and again in a longer intermediate essay with more detail. Read the easier version first, then step up.

Inside you'll find:

•Line-by-line reading: every sentence on its own page, with furigana over every kanji and a vocabulary list explaining each word and grammar point
•Key vocabulary and grammar sections before each essay
•The full Japanese text of both essays without furigana, so you can test yourself
•An English translation close enough to the Japanese to check your understanding
•Kanji in Focus: ten important kanji with readings, example words and memory aids
•Native-speaker audio at normal and slow speed, with QR codes that play the recording instantly
•Free bonus material: the audio files, an Anki flashcard deck, and both essays unlocked in the Makoto+ Japanese Explorer app, where you can read, listen and quiz yourself sentence by sentence

For learners who know hiragana and katakana and some basic grammar (around JLPT N4 to N3) and want to read about real history, one sentence at a time.