What was your favorite picture book when you were a kid? Now that you’re studying Japanese from the ground up, wouldn’t it be great to have something as simple as a picture book that could help you make leaps of progress?
Japanese 絵本 (えほん — picture book[s]) might be written for kids, but they’re fantastic study tools for beginner to lower-intermediate Japanese learners. Let’s look at the five best Japanese children’s books, the benefits of using 絵本 and how to use them to study.
ぐりand ぐら are two mice who come across a huge egg during their travels.
Naturally, this gives them the idea to make a gigantic cake that will last a long time!
First published in 1963, ぐりとぐら is arguably the best-known Japanese children’s picture book.
Chances are high that any Japanese person you meet will have read it—or will at least have heard of it. It’s been translated into several languages and was eventually spun off into a full-on series of 絵本.
Another famous series loved by both children and adults alike is the 美しい数学 (うつくしいすうがく) series.
The books in this series are famous for their simple stories, gorgeous artwork and unique ability to subtly stoke a love of numbers in those who read them—even the most math-resistant!
These are great books to build your vocabulary and skills with the Japanese number system.
Among the titles in this series, 壺の中 (つぼのなか — “Anno’s Mysterious Multiplying Jar”) is particularly well-regarded for its amazing pictures.
Why Use Japanese Picture Books to Practice Japanese Reading?
Reading these books can improve some key skill areas, but you’ll need to identify them to target them.
絵本 typically features かわいい (cute) characters, many of which are totally bonkers!
For example, a book I read with my daughter recently called ほっぺおばけ (cheek ghosts) is about ghosts who dine on people’s cheeks! Because Japanese 絵本 are so light and fun, reading them feels less like “study” and more like educational leisure time.
They can improve your pronunciation and reading speed.
Because 絵本 are generally written for children who are just getting accustomed to the Japanese language, they focus heavily on natural rhythm and intonation as well as tricky sounds for kids, like ちゃ and っ.
They feature shorter sentences and emphasize key content words.
Content words are 名詞 (めいし — nouns) and 動詞 (どうし — verbs).
This makes it easier for you to skim to get the main idea.
Skimming is a skill that will come in handy as your Japanese develops and you tackle things like 漫画 (まんが — comics)and the JLPT.
The only potential drawback is that 絵本 are usually written in ひらがな (Hiragana). If you’re looking to improve your reading speed while also reinforcing your basic 漢字 (かんじ — Kanji) recognition, you may want to look elsewhere.
They’re great for boosting basic Japanese vocabulary.
絵本 use common words and phrases essential for achieving fluency in everyday Japanese. They’re a great way to fill in any gaps in your basic vocabulary.
You’ll learn more about Japanese society and culture.
Reading Japanese 絵本 will help boost your cultural knowledge in various ways. 絵本 often center around fundamentals of Japanese culture, which their main readers—kids—need to know about.
They might be legends, characters, places or even aspects of society, such as 和 (わ — harmony, friendship).
There are also picture book versions of classic Japanese stories called 昔話 (むかしばなし — folk tales).
These stories are still read and loved by Japanese people of all generations. Knowing them will help you better relate to your Japanese friends or language exchange partners!
A Simple Method for Learning Japanese from 絵本
Skim the book first. Read it as silently and quickly as you can. Try to focus on the most important words in the sentences. If you run into words you don’t know, don’t stop to look them up! Power through and do your best to understand the main idea.
Read it againout loud. This helps you make sure you understood the story right the first time. This is also very good for pronunciation practice. Focus on getting your pronunciation, rhythm and intonation correct. Pause only where appropriate. And don’t be afraid to go back over sentences that were hard—repetition is essential for building fluency!
Record yourself reading. One good tip that has worked for me is to record myself reading the book, play it back a few times, take note of my pronunciation and then try again.
Take note of any new words or phrases. There may be a lot of new vocabulary words for you, depending on the book’s difficulty. It’s not necessary to remember them all. Just focus on the essentials—the ones you’ll most likely use or see again. Record the words in a notebook or app on your phone and review them until you’ve internalized them. Take it a step further by writing your own sentences and repeating them out loud!
Reread the book when you can. Another wonderful thing about 絵本 is that they’re relatively short. You can read them anytime you want. So, after you’ve gone through the steps above, return to the book. This is a great way to review your new words and build confidence. Note how much faster and smoother you can read the story compared to the first time.
With these five titles, you’ll be well on your way to more fluent Japanese reading.
If you’re looking for more books, 絵本ナビ/ehonNavi is the best place to start. It’s an online picture book retailer based in Japan with tens of thousands of 絵本 in its catalog. You can do 試し読み (ためしよみ)—sample reading sessions—for free.
And if you want to supplement your Japanese reading with entertaining videos, FluentU has tons of authentic Japanese content with interactive subtitles.
FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.
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With FluentU’s Chrome Extension, you can turn any YouTube or Netflix video with subtitles into an interactive language lesson. That means you can learn Japanese from real-world content, just as native speakers actually use it.
You can even import your favorite YouTube videos into your FluentU account. If you’re not sure where to start, check out our curated library of videos that are handpicked for beginners and intermediate learners, as you can see here:
FluentU brings native Japanese videos within reach. With interactive captions, you can hover over any word to see its meaning along with an image, audio pronunciation, and grammatical information.
Click on a word to see more examples where it's used in different contexts. Plus, you can add new words to your flaschards! For example, if I tap on 予約, this is what pops up:
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