So there's this thing in Japan called 'ASA NO DOKUSHO UNDOU', or just 'ASA NO DOKUSHO'

morning reading exercises.

For elementary, middle school and high school in Japan, the idea is that

you start every morning before your classes

by reading a little bit everyday.

So I was reading through Japan's top rated titles for this year and found

[chuugakusei bumon ichi-i wo totta daininki na shiriizu, to iu mono ga aru n desu kedo] the number one title for middle school students!

it's the holy grail of books, that I've been looking for, for years!

If it's good enough for Japanese students, it's good enough for us!

So I thought today I'd share...

The books that I've been into recently,

what's in my Japanese book bag, and which of these I'd recommend to you!

[watashi no tsuisakki souji shita bakkari no toshoshitsu e yokoso!] Welcome to my library, THAT I ONLY CLEANED FOR THIS VIDEO!!

334 yen...

95 yen!

[BOOK OFF dato hontou ni geki-yasui n dakedo] Book Off is so crazy cheap

[kaigai da to, sonna ni yasuku kaenai desho ne!] But you can't get em this cheap outside of Japan!

I checked and the majority of these you can get on Amazon Japan

I checked on CD Japan and import services like that

but the fees to get these books out of Japan is just ridiculous!

I do realize that not all of you are going to have access to all of these

so today I partnered up with some of my old friends

I partnered up with the gang at Satori Reader

to show you guys one more quick tip to help you guys get reading!

No matter where you are or what your budget

I want to make sure that all of us can get in on the book club

so before we get into these books let me share a little tip first.

You guys may remember I introduced Satori Reader a few videos back

I love the feel and smell of a real book

But when you're reading a book in a foreign language

it's really easy to get distracted or frustrated by words/kanji you don't know.

So the guys at Satori Reader have put together a service that combats this

it gives you fresh, real, native content

in the form of books, short stories, articles

dialogs and transcriptions of real world conversations

they have a full range of stories that you can read in Japanese along with full audio support.

You can read the story and actually learn to read aloud, and start building your muscle memory for some of these words!

You can read these really thorough definitions of the words

but recently they added this new feature that I really want to share with you guys

let me show you what I'm looking at!

There are thrillers, mysteries, news

I recently took my dog to the vet and struggling in a second language is the last thing you want to do at a reception desk

so I find this one specifically helpful!

Let's start with something basic...

[kyou wa dou nasaimashita ka?] What brings you here today?

[sore de wa, kochira no MONSHINHYOU ni gokinyuu wo onegaishimasu.] Ok, please fill out this MONSHINHYOU.

MONSHINHYOU..??? What is that word?

You can actually change the settings to turn off the furigana

Let's say for example that you didn't know what this word was.

If you click the word, it tells you that it means:

MONSHINHYOU, a medical questionnaire/history form

So I'm going to add this too my study list, and HERE's where it gets cool!

Once you're done reading, go to the menu and click 'REVIEW'.

If you hit REVIEW YOUR CARDS NOW

you can see this new card that I just put in

Do you remember what this word means?

Show the answer!

So let's say, maybe you kind of knew it but weren't exactly sure

Let's click 'HARD'

and it tells the card to reappear in your study list in one day.

In one app, not only do you have the content

if you subscribe to the paid version you have access to regularly updated new articles

and you now have this card feature

with the audio context, the sound bite of what it actually sounded like

this way you can read the stories and enjoy them

but you can also study afterwards, all in one place!

and you can export all these files as a .CSV

it's the standard MS Excel file that you can upload into other apps

you can use it to study on your own and make your own notes

enjoy reading, enjoy studying afterwards without frustrating yourself

export, and keep learning in other ways as well

thanks to the guys at Satori Reader for sponsoring this video today

but also for making this app, that can help a lot of us get over that awkward intermediate plateau.

so we can just enjoy reading and studying as well!

I like to hear real people talking so I really like the transcriptions and dialogs.

For those of you already on Satori Reader, comment to let me know what you're reading!

So, HOW do you read!?

Whether it's digital or old school paperback,

how you pick content can be the most important step

in making sure you actually finish reading and learn something!

Here are my 3 criteria that I usually use:

1: I use books where I'm already familiar with the story

2: for almost every story, even if it's one I've read before,

I prefer to read stories that are WRITTEN IN FIRST PERSON.

You can tell this pretty easily if you look for the kanji WATASHI [私] BOKU [僕] or ORE[俺],

look for these key pronouns!

3: It has to be something that I'm personally interested in learning about.

In the past I read a lot of cook books in Japanese

but recently I'm more into apps, IT, business

it's fun to read the same topics in Japanese, too.

But my most important criteria is materials written in first person!

For example, the first time I tried to read Harry Potter in Japanese

it was actually really hard to read in Japanese

because it's not written in a style that you use anywhere else.

Japanese is pretty easy if you're good at memorizing

because you just need to learn the clear-cut ways of talking in specific situations.

You speak a certain way, you write emails a certain way

you read in a certain way and tell stories in a certain way

and all of these maybe the same language, but the style is very different!

and when books are written in 3rd person, story-telling mode

there's a lot of flowerly grammar and vocabulary

that are very different than what you find in real world speech

so while it's interesting and fun

I find that I can't use these words most of the time

so I try to avoid third person, story-telling style

and stick to first person because it's actually closer

to what I use otherwise everyday.

Enough chit chat.

These are the books I picked via those 3 criteria!

The first book is KIMI NO NA WA (yep, I forgot to say 'wa' here. :P )

it was only 108 yen, or $1 basically!

KIMI NO NA WA was a beautifully made movie

and there's a book form where you can read the same story.

It's a story that I already know, and guess what!

It's written in first person... TWICE!

Because there are the male and female main characters

It's written in first person, short, non-past form.

current, and you're kind of immersed in the scene

[ORE WA MUSUBI-NARETE-KITA NECK TIE WO SHIME, SUUTSU WO KIRU] "(boy)I'm finally getting the hang of tying a tie, put on my suit and ---"

"(girl) -- I opened the door to my apartment--"

"(boy)-- I shut the door to my condo, and in front of me there's..."

The girl's dialog literally interrupts the guys

they have these parallel stories that interrupt each other

but it's written in first person, short form, non-past form

so it's very current.

This is actually very close to language you would use in real life.

So it's really easy to read, and also really useful!

Really immersive and interesting, so I've been enjoying this one a lot.

'Norwegian Wood" by Haruki Murakami.

I opened it, checked the first page and realized

while this is very imaginative and fantasy like

it's still written in first person!

[boku wa san-ju-nana-sai de, BOEING 747 no shiito ni suwatteita.] I was 37, riding on a Boeing 747.

I mean, that's the first sentence!

I noticed that in most of his books

he tends to write these fantasy, riveting stories

in first person, stream of consciousness style

but it's also in short, past form!

When you speak Japanese and tell stories with your friends

You tend to speak in short, past form.

[ne! kiite! Kono aida sugoi koto ga ATTA n dakedo, ] Hey! So, the craziest thing happened!

[suupaa ni ittekite sa,] so like, I went to the grocery store

[chikaku ni aru atarashii mise ga DEKITA n da yo!] and there was a new shop nearby!

[poutine to iu kanada fuu no poteto furai to meepuru no koohii mo ATTA n desu yo!] They had Poutine, this Canadian-style loaded fries and maple coffee!

[natsukashikatta! oishikatta yo!] What a throw back! It was so good!

Murakami's stories are very interesting,

but they're written in a way that's useable in your own story telling.

This is the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

there's a lot of books like this in the bestseller section of Book Off

business books, told through manga!

In Japan, what better way to present information, than in a manga!

So it talks about the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

in 7 different chapters, using manga characters.

then at the end of each chapters, they summarize in Japanese

it's like a cliffnotes of the original text

with the addition of new manga characters!

I mean there were marketing and other books,

I don't believe business acumen is something you learn in a book

but it is fun to supplement, in something as fun as this!

This is something I'd enjoy reading in the park,

or even in my own ASA NO DOKUSHO

Really looking forward to getting more into this one!

And now, to the meat of the story! To the holy grail!!!

There are these series of books that have become really popular recently

that have numbers in the titles.

The GOFUN-GO NI IGAI NA KETSUMATSU series (5 minute plot twist series)

Really quick reads that make you giggle because

the endings are just so weird and unexpected.

This word, DONDENGAESHI in Japanese actually means 'plot twist'.

One of them is called my First SNS (social media)

It's a kid who's not allowed to have a cellphone or computer at his home

but he secretly started his own twitter account

started getting into the deep, dark side of the internet... and thennnn...

DONDEN-GAESHI! The plot twist!!

which I'm not going to spoil for you guys!

So perfect and appropriately leveled

The stories in this book are about 5 pages long

unlike the other books I mentioned, this one has furigana

the stories are in first person, they're in short form

"My First Twitter Account" and "Insomnia"...

these words are just a little bit too real

I really appreciate that. That's what makes it interesting.

I feel like "Your Name" is going to be the most popular with you guys

but if I could recommend any book to you guys, it would be this one!

The 5 minute plot twist series

there's a whole series of them.

WhErE WaS THIS when I WaS LeArning JapaNeSe?!?!

In terms of how to read it, here are my quick tips.

Whether you're using a paperback or app like Satori Reader

First, just SIGHT READ.

Just read through it, and if you see something you don't know, just skip it.

If you can generally understand what's going on, when, and to whom

then you probably picked a book to your level

keep sight reading, and skip over words that are too difficult.

DO NOT STOP!

If you stop you're going to frustrate yourself and get annoyed

if there's a confusing word, underline it with a pencil

skip it, and just keep going.

If you're using Satori Reader, just tap it to add it to your study cards

and come back to it later, but keep going!

Usually the first page introduces the names of the characters,

the themes, the place and the where/when

the general words you need to get through the story,

So next, try to only translate the first page.

If you're using Satori Reader and this is your second pass

I would start using the audio at this point!

If you can, start shadowing along with it!

At the very end, when you're done, THEN start studying the words you marked.

That's how I would do it.

1. Sight Read