I keep searching for some reading or listening material to solidify my current understanding of Japanese, but none of the topics I encounter interest me. Are there any history books in simple Japanese?
I thought about reading some easy history books too. I’d imagine Japan’s education system assigns history books throughout the school years so it would be easy to pick a school year and read their history book for that year. Like elementary school history books, middle school, etc. Depending on your level. I haven’t gotten around to looking up lists of the history books, however, so I cannot suggest any.
The Tales to Read in 10 Minutes books have history versions for various elementary grades. Might be able to pick one of those up.
It’s quite easy to read but it rarely have furigana. I think it’s aimed for Japanese high school students who have a spotty knowledge of Japanese history. The book tries to tell history like a long continuous story rather than bore you to death with too much details and dates.
The grammar and sentence structure so far is straightforward but I already finished Tobira like a year ago so I can’t say if you can read it at N5-N4.
Just check out the preview for yourself if it’s readable enough for you.
This one is super comfy to read with cute/funny cat drawings. I think this’ll fit your level but beware that there will be rare instances of N2 and N1 grammar but that’s just a google search away. If you can handle NHK News Web Easy articles then this book will be a piece of cake.
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I thought about reading some easy history books too. I’d imagine Japan’s education system assigns history books throughout the school years so it would be easy to pick a school year and read their history book for that year. Like elementary school history books, middle school, etc. Depending on your level. I haven’t gotten around to looking up lists of the history books, however, so I cannot suggest any.
The Tales to Read in 10 Minutes books have history versions for various elementary grades. Might be able to pick one of those up.
I’m currently reading the first chapter of [一度読んだら絶対に忘れない日本史の教科書](https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/gp/product/4815601453/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1).
It’s quite easy to read but it rarely have furigana. I think it’s aimed for Japanese high school students who have a spotty knowledge of Japanese history. The book tries to tell history like a long continuous story rather than bore you to death with too much details and dates.
The grammar and sentence structure so far is straightforward but I already finished Tobira like a year ago so I can’t say if you can read it at N5-N4.
Just check out the preview for yourself if it’s readable enough for you.
If that’s too hard then you may also try [ねこねこ日本史でよくわかる 日本史大事件](https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/4408415073/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1).
This one is super comfy to read with cute/funny cat drawings. I think this’ll fit your level but beware that there will be rare instances of N2 and N1 grammar but that’s just a google search away. If you can handle NHK News Web Easy articles then this book will be a piece of cake.