Short Japanese Stories for a Quick Read!

3分で読める! 眠れない夜に読む心ほぐれる物語
(3-bun de Yomeru! Nemurenai Yoru ni Yomu Kokoro Hogureru Monogatari)

Author: Various authors;
Japanese Level: JLPT N2
Genre: Short stories, mystery, fantasy, sci-fi
Pages: 227

Amazon Japan (Physical Only): 3分で読める! 眠れない夜に読む心ほぐれる物語

Japanese Summary

夢の中のものを現実に持ち帰れたら?
「明晰夢発生装置」海堂尊

虐げられてきた少女が今、抵抗を始める。
「屋上の戦場」中山七里

結婚式前夜、電話越しの声で蘇る恋の想い出。
「運命」岡崎琢磨

小学生の頃好きだった彼と再会するも……。
「初恋の人」佐藤青南

気になるあの子からの、思いがけない質問。
「君の夢に出られなくても」青山美智子など

3分で満足感いっぱいに眠りにつける、25作品を収録。

English Summary (translation by Japanese Talk Online)

What if you could take the things in your dream back to reality?
“The Lucid Dream Generator” by Takeru Kaido

The night before her wedding, a woman gets a call that reminds her of a past love.
“Destiny” by Takuma Okazaki

When she meets her elementary-school love…
“First Love” by Seina Satou

An unexpected question from a girl he’s interested in.
“Even If I Don’t Appear in Your Dream” by Michiko Aoyama and more…

25 satisfying stories to put you to sleep.

Why You Should Read 3分で読める!

3分で読める! 眠れない夜に読む心ほぐれる物語 is comprised of 25 short stories written by different mystery authors all around the theme of “sleep”.

You might think that this would make the stories very similar, but I was pleasantly surprised to find each story very different. I enjoyed not knowing anything before starting a story and seeing how it unfolded. An element of not knowing what to expect made these stories even more enjoyable.

Saying that, I was a little worried when the first story was (I thought) dull, but the rest were really good! I think I enjoyed more of the stories in this collection than in 5分シリーズ. It might be because the stories are written by mystery authors or because they were selected by (written for?) the このミステリーがすごい “These Mysteries Are Amazing” awards.

Each story is only 7-10 pages so they really are quick reads. I’m sure some people could read each story in 3 minutes, but it took me about 10-15 minutes per story, and I was able to read 2-3 stories in a single sitting.

This is a great book to read if you’re struggling to finish longer novels! Even if you don’t “finish” the book, you still get the sense of achievement from finishing a story.

Why Japanese Learners Should Read 3分で読める!

I know I said this in my review of the 5分シリーズ, but short story collections really are great for exposing yourself to a variety of different writing styles and story structures.

When you play a game, read manga or a novel, you get used to the writing style of that story. But in a short story collection, each author has their own style. Even if the vocabulary is easy for you, you can see how different people structure sentences and stories differently. It gives you a new perspective on the different approaches you can take to expressing yourself through Japanese.

The Japanese level also varies between story to story. One story has a lot of fantasy terms, while another is written entirely in Osaka-ben, but most of the stories are written in standard Japanese.

For the most part I’d say the writing was around JLPT N2 level, with some spikes up to N1+. (I struggled the most with the high fantasy stories, but I haven’t read high fantasy in Japanese in a while.) The varying difficulty makes it a great way to challenge your reading skills without committing to a full 300-600 page novel.

Summary

I decided to read this short story collection because I was in a funk. I felt a little burned out on novels and wanted something quick and easy to read. The promise of 3 minutes stories is probably too good to be true, but the 10-15 minutes it took me to read them still reinvigorated my desire to read.

I might not have liked every story but there were a number I really, really liked and still think about even after finishing. I’m tempted to pick up the café collection next.

A great book for those looking for some short stories.