Earlier this week I swung by my local Kinokuniya branch to look for a physical copy of A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar. They didn’t have it in stock, but I may decide to order it from Japan soon.
As I was browsing through the section with textbooks, dictionaries and graded readers, I stumbled upon this slim volume about Mike Miller from the MNN textbook. It’s the first part of a two-part novel about him and his life in Japan. I’m currently working on Unit 22 of MNN and find it very manageable. You’ll see vocab and grammar points reviewed in 18 texts of four to nine pages. They include topics like マイク。ミラーです、時間を守る、山田さんのうち、電車の広告、花より and more. I don’t expect to be gripping my armrests in suspense, but I know I won’t be bored to tears nor be frustrated because it’s too difficult.
All kanji have furigana which helps with keeping the reading flow going. I bought a physical copy of volume 1 (white/red) and have volume 2 (white/blue) on lay away to take advantage of the discount on the next membership day. You should be able to find it on Amazon Japan and/or Play Asia. I’ll follow up in the comments in a few days to let everyone know how much I like the actual reading experience.
4 comments
Who knew there were more books in the MNN series? Can you confirm this really is 147 pages long?
There is a sample PDF on the publisher’s site.
https://www.3anet.co.jp/np/books/2470/
Just taking the opportunity to ask if anyone know where I can find the videos of him working in an office setting with different scenarios.
First “real” book in Japanese I read. Felt good. Highly recommend.
Some of the later chapters use grammar/vocab that you learn in the second MNN book.
The book itself is fairly decent and provides more cultural insight. To be fair the textbooks too, but I’ve not really covered much of that in the classes.