I visited a 道場 DOUJOU this morning. A dojo is normally a place for martial arts training. The dojo I visited was for practicing 多読 TADOKU (Wide-reading).

The website has non-fiction articles with audio suitable for Beginner- Advanced students.

The 4 main merits of the tadoku dojo articles are:

• The photos - even if you can’t understand all the words, you can see the topic in the photograph.

• Easy to follow - The repetition of similar phrases such as これは (This is)make it easier for beginners.

• Interesting - introduces things that are unique to Japan

• Audio is available - you can listen before, during or after reading the text

This morning I read an article aimed at N5 students about パン PAN (bread in Japan)

We tend to think of bread as European and rice dishes as Asian. Bread is of course eaten around the world. And the bread-eating culture in Japan is full of pleasant unique developments and surprises.

I encourage you to read the article below to find out more.

パン（ぱん） - 日本語多読道場 yomujp

Which of them have you seen before? Which of the 8 breads introduced would you like to try?

As a head start if needed, I have roughly translated the first 6 lines below which introduce 2 types of bread.

1. これは 食パンです。KORE WA SHOKU-PAN DESU. (This is rectangular-shaped bread).

NOTE: My translation doesn’t nearly do SHOKU-PAN justice. Please read this article to get a better idea.

2. 朝ごはんに よく食べます。ASA-GOHAN NI YOKU TABEMASU (Japanese people often eat it for breakfast)

Note: The topic shoku-pan was introduced in the first sentence with これは (This is).

In the 2nd and 3rd sentence, there is no は (WA) to indicate a new topic. So we can assume the sentence is still about shoku-pan.

3. 少し焼いて、バターやジャムをぬって、食べます。SUKOSHI YAITE, BATAA YA JAMU O NUTTE, TABEMASU. (People toast it, spread butter and jam on it, then eat it)

4. これは コッペパンです。KORE WA KOPPE-PAN DESU (This is a bread roll)

Note: コッペパン KOPPE-PAN is a good example of a katakana word of mixed European origin. KOPPE-PAN apparently derives from the French word coupe (cut-off), and the Portugese word pao (bread).

5. 小学校や中学校の昼ごはんに よく食べます。SHOUGAKKOU YA CHUUGAKKOU NO HIRU-GOHAN NI YOKU TABEMASU (Japanese elementary school and junior high school students often eat it for lunch)

6. やわらかくて、おいしいです。YAWARAKAKUTE OISHII DESU (It’s soft and delicious)