Makoto 104

MAKOTO Japanese e-Zine #104 — October 2026

Learn Japanese through stories, grammar, vocabulary, culture, kanji, humor, and plenty of real-world examples.

Makoto is designed for learners who want more than isolated vocabulary lists and textbook sentences. Each issue gives you engaging Japanese to read, detailed explanations to help you understand what you're reading, and audio support so you can listen along and practice pronunciation. Whether you're a beginner building confidence or an intermediate learner looking for more natural Japanese, there's something here for you.

In this issue:

Explore Tottori Prefecture
Visit Japan's least populous prefecture, famous for its massive sand dunes, juicy pears, snow crab, Mount Daisen, and the yōkai manga legacy of Mizuki Shigeru.

Discover the origins of どんちゃん騒ぎ
Why does this colorful expression mean a rowdy party or noisy commotion? Follow the sounds of drums and traditional percussion back to the word's surprisingly literal origins.

Learn Japanese food onomatopoeia
Get hungry while learning もちもち, さくさく, and とろとろ—three wonderfully useful words for describing chewy, crispy, and melty textures.

Enjoy an autumn haiku
A persimmon falls. A dog startles. Evening settles in. Explore the vocabulary, grammar, seasonal imagery, and poetic nuance behind a beautifully simple autumn scene.

Study grammar from beginner to intermediate
Learn how to use ～ながら for simultaneous actions and ～かねない for warning that an undesirable result might occur.

Build kanji and vocabulary
Study useful vocabulary from JLPT N5 through N1, along with kanji such as 山, 駅, 橋, 険, and 礎.

Read three Japanese stories

•鹿と梨の木 — The Deer and the Pear Tree
A beginner-friendly JLPT N5 story presented first in spaced hiragana and then in natural Japanese with kanji and furigana.
•Frank & the Obaasan — Episode 12: The Emperors Experience Japan
Two rulers of millions of worlds discover that surviving everyday Japan requires skills they never learned while governing the galaxy: paying at convenience stores, riding crowded trains, giving up priority seats—and opening an onigiri wrapper.
•The Red Candles and the Mermaid — Part 3
Continue Ogawa Mimei's haunting classic as the mermaid girl begins painting beautiful pictures on candles, bringing unexpected fame to the little candle shop.

QR codes throughout the issue let you listen to Japanese sentences and stories as you read.

Read. Listen. Learn. And enjoy Japanese that goes well beyond the usual textbook fare.

The issue's table of contents confirms the vocabulary, Tottori, etymology, onomatopoeia, haiku, kanji, grammar, and three reader sections. The opening also highlights Tottori, どんちゃん騒ぎ, the three food-texture words, and the autumn persimmon haiku. The two longer story features are The Emperors Experience Japan and The Red Candles and the Mermaid — Part 3.