Japanese Beginner Reading Practice: Three Short Texts with Answers

Read three original beginner passages, then transfer the skill to notices, timetables, and short messages with automatic input checks and explained answers.

The three passages below are original beginner exercises. Spaces in some phrases are learning aids. They are not official JLPT questions and do not determine an exam level.

Passage 1: a student’s day

わたしはミナです。学生です。毎朝、七時に起きます。八時に学校に行きます。学校で日本語を勉強します。

Useful vocabulary: 毎朝（まいあさ）every morning; 七時（しちじ）seven o’clock; 起きます（おきます）get up; 学校（がっこう）school.

1. What is the person’s name?

2. What happens at seven?

3. Does 学校で introduce a destination or the place of studying?

Answers: 1. Mina. 2. Mina gets up. 3. The place where studying takes place. 学校に行きます gives a destination, while 学校で勉強します gives an activity setting. See に and で for this distinction.

Passage 2: looking for a bag

わたしの部屋に机があります。机の上に本があります。かばんは机の下にあります。猫は窓の近くにいます。

Useful vocabulary: 部屋（へや）room; 机（つくえ）desk; 上（うえ）on; 下（した）under; 窓（まど）window; 近く（ちかく）nearby.

4. Where is the book?

5. Where is the bag?

6. Which sentence locates an animal, and which verb does it use?

Answers: 4. On the desk. 5. Under the desk. 6. 猫は窓の近くにいます locates the cat and uses います. Compare the role of が when introducing the desk with は when locating the bag. The existence and location lesson explains both patterns.

Passage 3: a plan for Sunday

日曜日に友だちと公園に行きたいです。公園で写真を撮ります。そのあと、カフェでお茶を飲みます。でも、雨の日は公園に行きません。

Useful vocabulary: 日曜日（にちようび）Sunday; 友だち（ともだち）friend; 公園（こうえん）park; 写真を撮ります（しゃしんをとります）take photos; 雨（あめ）rain.

7. What does the speaker want to do?

8. What happens after taking photos?

9. What changes on a rainy day?

Answers: 7. Go to the park with a friend. 8. Have tea at a café. 9. The speaker does not go to the park. 行きたい expresses a wish; 行きません is negative non-past. A wish alone is not proof that a plan is confirmed.

Review the reason for a wrong answer

Now write a two-sentence response: say when you get up, where you study, or where a bag is in your room. Change the details so the answer is true for you. Our daily routine practice supplies a longer production task.

For further connected input, the Japan Foundation’s Irodori Starter lessons and audio provide activities organised around everyday situations. Match the difficulty to what you can understand; a resource label alone does not tell you whether each passage is suitable.

Move from a familiar passage to an unfamiliar notice

Once you remember the answers to these three passages, use a different text. A station notice tests whether you detect an exception; a timetable tests whether you distinguish a start time from an end time; an invitation tests whether you separate the registration deadline from the event day.

Read first for a practical decision: when to arrive, where to meet, or what to bring. Then underline the exact phrase that supports the answer. If the passage says a manager should be told about a shift change, do not turn that into a claim that the manager has already approved it.

After checking, cover the English translation and summarise one decision in Japanese. A short answer such as 土曜日の十時です is enough if it contains the needed detail. Use a fresh text next time so that remembered answers do not disguise the same reading difficulty.

Practise the next step

• Japanese Reading Practice: A Train Notice with a Changed Departure Time

• Japanese Reading Practice: A School Timetable and a Free Period

• Japanese Reading Practice: A Message About Swapping a Work Shift

Open today’s learning and review schedule.