Japanese Audio Books on HearJapan

Posted on 08. Jul, 2009 @ 3:06 pm by in Books, Media Views: 1,826

HearJapan.com is now offering audio books!

Their first book is 大人のための残酷童話 (Otona no Tameno Zankoku Douwa) by Yumiko Kurahashi. The book title translates into something like, “Fairy Tales for Adults.”

Some of the stories from this book were required reading in my fourth-year Japanese class back in my University days (10, count them, 10! years ago now) and I loved it.

Otona no Tameno Zankoku Douwa is made up of short stories like Snow White (白雪姫) that are familiar enough to make the kanji-filled Japanese medicine go down smoothly… Yet the “adult twist” to the stories makes them just surprising enough to make sure you’re really paying attention to what you’re reading. Seriously, these really are “for adults.”

I just downloaded the 17.8 MB 人魚の涙 Ningyo no Namida story – it cost 299 yen (about $3.00 USD) for the 20 minutes of audio in the story. Great deal if you ask me. Best part is, since I own the actual book I can read along with the audio. If you’re in Japan I’m sure you can find Otona no Tameno Zankoku Douwa in Book-Off or some other used book store for 400 yen or so. Go get it!

The audio quality is great and the performance is completely professional. I think this is actually the audio book that is on sale in Japan, and HearJapan just happened to acquire the rights to sell it.

Great stuff – I’m going to fill my iPod with these things.

Harvey

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  • http:///www.takenomori.com Wim

    Can you give any indication around which level japanese you must be to enjoy this audio book ?

  • http://www.japannewbie.com Harvey

    Good point completely slipped my mind. It’s upper intermediate though. At least 3rd year college level, unless you’re super hardcore (which you should be!)

  • http:///www.takenomori.com Wim

    Thanks for the additional info :)

    though i feel i’m still at lower intermediate so this one will go to my language bookmarks ^_-

    (though the book sounds a delight to listen to)

  • http://slashandburn.typepad.com/yakihito/ Adam

    I think you mean, 人魚の涙, not, 人形の涙. Tears of the Merman, not Tears of the Doll.

  • http://www.japannewbie.com Harvey

    Whoops you’re right! Thanks for the heads up. Henkan miss!(恥)… and spelling miss as it’s ningyo not ningyou. Heh. Going to change the post.

  • Jakkii

    This sounds like a really interesting book. Eventhough I consider myself lower intermediate at best, I can’t help but want to read it to find out the “adult twists” ^^. I’ve been looking around for used copies of this book in the US, and so far they’re running about $45 (ちょっと高いね?). Do you have any suggestions for books that are a little lower in reading level, but are still as interesting as this one? I’m not really thrilled about reading children’s books lol.

  • http://www.japannewbie.com Harvey

    I’ve been kicking myself since I mentioned that this book was upper intermediate… That should NOT discourage people learning Japanese to try it.

    You should always be reading -above- your level when learning a language. In this case, though it may be above your level, you’ll have the text, AND the audio, AND it’s a professional piece of literature, not some slangy editorial or something. Simply put, I -highly- recommend that anyone interested in learning Japanese give audio books a try. Plus, if it’s difficult, that just means you’ll be able to listen to it once… twice… three times… four times… for months and get a little bit more out of it each listen.

    I think AJATT would agree. Reading above your level is good!

    Ganbare!!!

  • Wim

    After enjoying some free audio books posted on the learn a language forum
    and your current comment (and the 350 Yen price) convinced me to buy tonight a book and try it out :)

  • Jakkii

    Well, my copy of 大人のための残酷童話 finally arrived. I got to the first kanji and had to look it up lol. This is going to take awhile ^^. Any suggestions??? BTW, the audio books are also sold on Japan iTunes. You can get the whole set (26 stories) for ¥3100 or each story for ¥300. You can order Japan iTunes cards through jbox (a.k.a jlist). It takes a couple of days for them to email a scan of the card or if you prefer the actual card, it takes a couple of weeks by mail.

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