Perfect for upper beginner students of Japanese. This affordable Japanese history reader contains three essays on Japanese History.* All about Ninja* The Tragic Story of the 47 Ronin* Takeda Shingen, the Man who almost had it AllGet FREE Sound Files of the stories read by a native Japanese speaker. Listen while reading. The link to the MP3s is found within. Each story has two MP3 versions: Read Slowly & Normal SpeedQuick! What's the first thing you think of when you hear the word Japan? Maybe it is anime, Hello Kitty, geisha, or sumo, but I bet high on that list is the samurai warrior class. This book contains three essays on warrior history.Read--in Japanese--about the mysterious ninja, the tragic story of the 47 Ronin, and about Takeda Shingen, a warrior leader who had a flush toilet. Yes, you can read real Japanese--even if you are fairly new to Japanese. FEATURES:* All Japanese have furigana those starting out with kanji.* Every sentence is broken down word-for-word and with explanation of the grammar.* The full story in Japanese only (without the running gloss) is also provided so you can practice reading without interruption.* Kanji in Focus covers the key kanji found in each essay* Finally, we have included a simple and mostly literal English translation for you to check your understanding (Don't cheat! Work through the Japanese first!).* Download the FREE MP3s to listen while you study. Includes both normal speed and slow speed readings.While beginners to Japanese can get a lot from this, hiragana knowledge is required. Finally, we invite the reader to contact us with questions or requests for future Japanese readers. You will find our personal email addresses in the book. To your Japanese!