Don't use a dictionary or look up words you don't know. Instead, it's best to try and figure out the meaning from context or the pictures that go with the story, if there are any. Otherwise:

I am personally working on a project that aims to provide content to read to absolute beginners. It is here : https://drdru.github.io/stories/intro.html Japanese books for beginners : LearnJapanese : I shared these a while ago and it turned out to be my biggest contribution to the Japanese learning community ever since someone later stitched them into a big PDF which is shared on a regular basis. The funny thing is that they were almost the top 3 Google result but it seems that people are too lazy too search for answers these days… This story was described to me by one of my literature professors as being a “diamond of Japanese literature.” Written by Natsume Soseki, one of Japan’s most famous writers, this is a compilation of 10 surreal and fantastic dreams. Nakano, Teiko. 2016. Extensive Reading for Second Language Learners of Japanese in Higher Education: Graded Readers and Beyond. Reading Matrix: An International Online Journal 16 (1): 119-132.

Reading is a skill and all skills exist on a spectrum. You might enjoy reading a thriller in your spare time but struggle through a healthcare book full of medical terminology. Because of the level of literature offered in the parallel texts, this collection is ideal for N3 learners. That means that learners should be at the intermediate level of their Japanese learning journey. These eight steps were as much a journey of independence as they were of literacy, and by now you’ve got everything it takes to choose a direction and begin exploring your own world—in Japanese, of course. The LingQ method is built around the belief that we acquire languages through extensive reading and listening, not conscious study. This is exactly how Steve learns languages (he's up to 20 as of writing!), though LingQ certainly makes the process much easier than the manual, analog methods at his disposal in the pre-internet era in which he learned his first handful of foreign tongues. In addition to his Uncovered Courses, Olly has also worked with Teach Yourself to create a number of excellent graded readers. The Japanese reader, Short Stories in Japanese for Intermediate Learners, lets you "read for pleasure at your level, expand your vocabulary, and learn Japanese the fun way!"

It has 15 short stories in Japanese with literal English translations, then explanations for grammar and vocabulary. There is no furigana which might make these stories difficult for learners not used to reading kanji.The Japanese Graded Reader series offers a nice, clean layout without squeezing the print together too closely or being hard to read (besides the fact that they're in Japanese!). The topics presented in each box set contain a wild variety, ranging from lighthearted and silly to genuinely heartbreaking. Each book's illustrations are stylistically unique, and even the higher levels still include pictures. Be aware, though, that the tone or other elements of some stories may strike you as old-fashioned. Koyama, Nobuko. (2016). Emergence of Critical Reading in L2 Literature Seminars: Applications of Discourse Analysis in Language Pedagogy. Japanese Language and Literature 50 (1): 1-24. I know that we’re just here reading as an exercise to learn Japanese, but this is actually an overall fantastic book to read! Every story features a twist, and the twists are incredible—no matter how hard you try, you won’t see them coming! 女のいない男たち（おんなの いない おとこたち）— “Men without Women” by Haruki Murakami

The graded readers are made for adult language learners so they do not have kid talk like in children's books. This book is ideal for beginner and pre-intermediate learners of Japanese. In fact, this reader’s aim is to help Japanese learners see N4 Japanese grammar in context, and to “bridge the gap” between spoken Japanese and the register of Japanese used in literature. Don’t feel limited to published Japanese graded readers. With some help from dictionaries and translators, you can turn any Japanese material into a reader.

10 Japanese Graded Readers for All Levels

Increased confidence is a biggie! Reading in a new language is a big deal—strut your stuff, fluff out your feathers and shine. We imagine heart-to-heart chats with locals in faraway lands, reading foreign novels, navigating idioms and conjugating verbs with ease. With graded readers, you will learn new vocab and see grammar as they are used in the stories over and over again.

LVL 0 stories (848pg). 96.6 MB https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dSSvUb__gtjKHHsen1t0MGrxmnHi0N7h/view Are you a lover of fiction? Enjoy a good, compelling story? Even if not, you’ve got to do some Japanese reading practice to become fluent—so you may as well have fun with it! The purpose of this reader series is to make Japanese writing approachable to learners. In their graded readers, they aim to use vocabulary that people at your level would know about 95% of, just to ensure that it's easy enough for you to read smoothly.Whole text translators. Many print readers simply display English and Japanese texts side-by-side. You can recreate the experience by plugging Japanese text into a reliable whole text translator and keeping the translation on hand while you read. These translators are rarely perfect but they should give you enough of an idea of what the text is about to help you push on. Each article features a recording of a native speaker, keywords that can be moused over for a simple Japanese explanation and the ability to toggle furigana. Unlike learning to read a Latin-based language like Spanish that shares the same basic letters, Japanese has a whole new set of symbols to master. In fact, not just one set, but three! You have to learn the two kana (仮名) systems— hiragana (平仮名) and katakana (片仮名)—which each have 46 basic symbols representing the same sounds. And then there are the roughly 2,200 kanji (漢字, lit. "Chinese characters") you have to learn to be considered literate in Japanese. Oh, and most kanji have multiple readings depending on the word, context, or character compound. You might be wondering how extensive a vocabulary is considered the minimum for reading in a foreign language. Most agree that 90-95% of the words should be familiar, both for conversation and reading.