Welcome to The 本 Repository! It is our hope that this site can help you find a Japanese book or novel that is appropriate for your level.

Click here for a detailed description of The 本 Repository Level system

Search for a Japanese book that YOU can read! Click on any listing to go to a review of that specific Japanese book to see if it is right for you. Easily filter through the list by choosing from the drop down lists above.

The 本 Repository Level:

Level 1: Easy for even beginners

Level 2: Easy for upper beginners to lower intermediate readers of Japanese

Level 3: Easy for intermediate readers of Japanese

Level 4: Easy for upper intermediate to advanced readers of Japanese

Level 5: Easy only for advanced readers of Japanese

Many people wonder why we do not use the JLPT level system here on The 本 Repository. The reason is that no book meant for a native speaker can ever really be placed cleanly within one or even two JLPT levels. Furthermore, to do such placing, we would be required to analyze each and every book against the grammar and vocabulary contained on each JLPT level. If we had a full staff, or any kind of budget, this would perhaps be possible, but unfortunately we = just one guy sitting at his computer. Hopefully you can still find the information, especially the videos, helpful in remedying this situation!

New to reading Japanese?

If you are new to reading Japanese, I highly recommend these Japanese graded readers for getting started. They are written in a way that is easy for learners to understand, and most beginners will find them much more useful than even real Japanese books for children would be.

Level 0





Level 1





Level 2



Level 3





Level 4





New to the Japanese Alphabet?

I have a few recommendations for those of you who are completely new to Japanese. Particularly those of you who have yet to study hiragana and katakana. The way I personally learned hiragana in under 3 hours was by using the book Remembering the Kana by James Heisig. I found the first part on Hiragana to be amazingly effective. The second part on katakana was… well… not so much. To learn katakana I played the game Project LRNJ which can also be used to learn hiragana and kanji!

Finally, I recently discovered a game on steam with excellent reviews called Learn Japanese to Survive! Hiragana Battle. It looks like a Katakana Version is on the way as well.

I hope that helps get you started. Good luck!