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Three of Japan's oldest and best-loved folktales — every sentence broken down for upper-beginner readers.

A lazy young man sleeps for three years while his village works the fields — until a drought reveals what he was really doing all along. A kind old man's loyal dog leads him to buried gold, and a greedy neighbor's envy sets off a chain of strange transformations. A young fisherman saves a turtle, spends what feels like a few days in the Dragon Palace beneath the sea, and returns home to find that seven hundred years have passed. This volume presents all three tales in full Japanese with line-by-line vocabulary, grammar notes, native-speaker audio, and a simple English summary for self-checking.

New in the 2026 edition:

Bonus unlock code inside the book — redeem at Makoto Plus to study every sentence from this book interactively, on the web or in the mobile app (search the App or Play store for "Makoto Japanese Explorer")
New illustrations and audio QR codes on every story's opening page
Before-You-Read section for each story, pointing you toward the grammar and vocabulary patterns to watch for
Full Exercises section for each story: Comprehension Questions, Particle Fill-in, Grammar Pattern Hunt, Translation Comparison, and Answer Key
Resized furigana — ruby now sits closer to the base text, the way good Japanese typography should
Running headers, page numbers, and section ornaments throughout

What's inside:

Three folktales, each presented three ways: with line-by-line vocabulary, in plain Japanese (no furigana, for real reading practice), and in English summary
Word-by-word breakdowns with furigana over every kanji
A "Kanji in Focus" appendix after each story
Grammar spotlights, cultural notes, and reading tips throughout
Free MP3 audio downloads — natural speed and slowed down — recorded by a native speaker
Free Anki deck for pre-study
Bonus unlock code for Makoto+ Sentence Explorer and mobile app
No sign-up required to access the audio

The three stories:

The Three-Year Sleeper (?????) — While the villagers toil in the fields, one young man does nothing but sleep — for one year, then two, then three. When drought threatens the village, the truth of his "laziness" comes pouring down the mountainside.
Hanasaka Jiisan, the Blossoming Old Man (???) — A kind old man's dog leads him to buried gold. A greedy neighbor borrows the dog and the luck, and the story unfolds through transformation after transformation — dog to tree to mortar to ashes, and at last to trees bursting into bloom.
Urashima Taro (????) — A fisherman rescues a turtle and is carried beneath the sea to the Dragon Palace. He comes home with a gift and a warning — and discovers that the few days he spent below have been seven hundred years.

Who this is for: Upper-beginner to lower-intermediate learners. You'll need solid kana and a working sense of basic grammar.

This is the tenth and final volume of the Japanese Reader Collection — a fitting close to the series.

Questions or requests for future readers? The authors' personal email addresses are inside the book.

Learn Japanese with Stories Volume 10: Urashima Taro + Audio Download

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