Japanese Short Stories for Beginners & Intermediates (A2/B1) – Dark Tales
Discover your next favorite Japanese learning tool—if you dare.
Japanese Stories for Beginners & Intermediates (A2/B1): Dark Tales is a spooky and engaging collection of short stories written in simple Japanese. Designed especially for adult learners, this book helps you build confidence in reading, listening, and speaking through creepy but fun content.
What’s Inside?
5 original mystery and horror stories in simple Japanese
Written for A2 to B1 level (CEFR) learners
Audio recordings for each story
Speaking prompts to help you practice conversation
Vocabulary lists with English translations and example sentences
Stories that are fun, creepy, and easy to follow
Whether you’re learning alone or with a teacher, this book helps activate your Japanese skills in an immersive and motivating way.
Improve Your Listening and Speaking Skills
Listening is one of the most important skills for language learners. That’s why this book includes audio recordings by a professional Japanese teacher for every story. You’ll hear how Japanese sounds naturally, and get used to real pacing, intonation, and rhythm.
The included speaking prompts (Comprehension questions) let you go beyond passive learning. Use them to retell the story, describe characters, and imagine what happens next—all in Japanese!
Why Short Stories?
Short stories are powerful tools for language learners. They give you complete, satisfying experiences in manageable chunks. You’ll reinforce vocabulary, grammar, and reading flow—while enjoying content that keeps you curious.
And because these stories are spooky, strange, and imaginative, you’ll be motivated to keep reading.
Learn Smarter with Context
Each story highlights useful words and phrases in bold, followed by a vocabulary section with English definitions and example sentences. You’ll learn new Japanese in real, memorable context—not just isolated words.
And thanks to the repetition across the five stories, your retention improves naturally without feeling repetitive.
Who Is This Book For?
Japanese learners at the upper beginner to lower intermediate level
Fans of mystery, horror, or dark fiction
Self-learners who want a book with audio and speaking practice
Anyone looking to break through the A2–B1 plateau
Even if you’ve struggled with reading before, this book makes it easier—and more fun—to connect with Japanese through storytelling.
Give the author your feedback
This is an independently published book. If you enjoyed it or found it useful, please consider leaving a review. Your thoughts help other learners—and help me create better materials in the future.
If you find any typos, issues, or broken links, feel free to reach out: Contact
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Moritz –
Lovely short stories with helpful learning material like questions, vocabulary and audio!
Jhow –
If you struggle in looking for comprehensible input, then this book is for you. The stories are interesting and spooky which I love. Thank you so much Akari-san.
Bob –
It’s well put together and contains all the information needed to follow the stories. Along with the audio files each story has it’s vocabulary list(in context), and simple grammar explanations. The questions at the end of each chapter will help you decide how much you have understood. The simple graphic images are a delight.
Piotr –
Great book. Comfortable to read. I love the fact that each story has both vocab explanations and the audio. I find it extremely important for learning Japanese. Moreover, the horror stories are precisely the kind I like – short, mysterious with a surprising ending.
Anonymous (verified owner) –
Horror and mystery are my favorite genres, so I think learning Japanese while reading interesting stories is a very natural way to learn.
For those who struggle with listening (like I), audio is very helpful. The email course method was very useful.
Sven –
Loved this. Exactly what I was looking for during my commute to work in the mornings. I have tried other short-story books before, but they were always too complicated, but this book is spot-on. It allows me to enjoy the story while reinforcing grammar patterns and also remind me of important vocabulary. Looking forward to next one 🙂
kathryn Weaver-Gore (verified owner) –
Fab little book ! A great way to improve your Japanese reading skills. I take my book everywhere I travel and keep practicing reading aloud to myself as well as shadowing the reader on the audio. Hope there will be more !