Hey y’all. I’m running out of space in my apt for books and I’m thinking of finally making the switch to digital. If I get a kindle with my Amazon.jp prime account, will I have access to English books as well as Japanese ones?
Also, if you have any, what’s your experience with it? Are there better options? Thanks in advance!
9 comments
I find that most English books, at least the one I read (which are mostly non-fictions), are available on Amazon Japan too. A few don’t though.
You could also connect your Kindle to your Amazon US account if you wanted. For English books I think Amazon US has better deals most of the time.
There are also Kobo platform (owned by Rakuten) but I don’t have experience with them.
> If I get a kindle with my Amazon.jp prime account, will I have access to English books as well as Japanese ones?
Any that Amazon sells English editions of, which is most but not all. Search on their site for ones you’re interested in.
> Are there better options?
Nope. It’s pretty good.
The free books on prime are almost all in Japanese.
Amazon has loads of English books, the main annoyance is that the recommendation algorithm is kinda whack since english stuff is all kinda categorized as english/foreign. Not a problem if you get your recommendations elsewhere
I used Kindle for a while but then switched to Boox Leaf because its based on Android so you can also use other android apps (like a better web browser).
Boox has a wide range of eInk devices, so pick the dimensions that’s best for you.
Kindle is shit if you want to sideload anything. (Well, you can jailbreak it.) You are trapped in the Bezos’ Walled Garden. If that is not an issue, than sure. I use a Kobo.
You can also use a US Amazon account with a Japan bought kindle. If you have a library card in your home country, you can likely access free books through overdrive or Libby that way. I read a lot of free books that way.
My recommendation as someone who reads a lot in Japanese and English is to buy 2 secondhand kindles via mercari if you want to read in both languages using the Amazon ecosystem. I have my japanese kindle connected to amazon jp, and my american kindle connected to my american amazon account.
For the English kindle I primarily use the app Libby to download library books (I’ve even been able to add libraries from cities I’ve never lived in, it’s pretty cool) in order to save money. For my Japanese kindle, whenever amazon jp offers me a month of 99 cent kindle unlimited I go on, download everything I want to read, and then put my kindle in airplane mode until I get through everything. not sure if you can do that on a kobo, but if you can I think that’s also a great option since you can also access libby via an american rakuten account
Kindles are awesome (if you don’t need the latest and greatest, you can find them very reasonable priced). Prices on Amazon are very competitive and there are many sales on English books. Can’t see myself ever going back to paper books.