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The READ Japanese Collection

There is a browsing collection on the 22nd floor of the W.E.B. Du Bois Library that has been carefully curated to provide a range of reading materials for people who are building up their Japanese reading muscles.

Welcome to the READ Japanese Collection!

Welcome! 　The READ Japanese Collection is a multipurpose browsing collection that has been carefully curated to serve people who are (a) doing extensive reading 多読, (b) pleasure reading 楽読, and looking for pieces to read and possibly translate for class 精読. The READ Japanese Collection has a unique shelving system designed to make it easier for people to browse.

It is first divided into 9 levels, from 0 to 8. These levels have been roughly assigned based on vocabulary, grammar, amount of kanji, and length. The highest level is 8 and it is the equivalent of high school level or regular Japanese.

Within each level there are 5 genres that are indicated by color stickers: red=graded readers, yellow=stories, essays, and poetry, blue=picture books, green=manga and comic essays, pink=zukan and photo essays.