🎨 Discover Japanese colors & Characters with This Level 2 Japanese Reader

What color Are the Body Parts? is a Level 2 Japanese Reader that introduces colors, body parts, and simple Japanese descriptions through the colorful world of characters and mascots found around Japan.

Richy introduces learners to some of the characters he meets in Japan. From familiar characters to funny animals and unusual local mascots, each page gives learners something interesting to discover while reading accessible Japanese.

The strong visual clues help learners understand the Japanese naturally. Simple sentence patterns are repeated with different colors and body parts, allowing beginners to predict language, recognize familiar structures, and gradually read with greater confidence.

For example:

これは うさぎ です。
This is a rabbit.

目は 赤です。
Its eyes are red.

耳は ピンクです。
Its ears are pink.

As learners move through the reader, they encounter new combinations of colors, body parts, and descriptive words while the underlying language remains familiar.

Along the way, they also discover a playful side of Japanese culture—from well-known characters such as Hello Kitty to lesser-known local mascots they might actually encounter while traveling around Japan. The current product page specifically highlights an egg mascot from the Noto Peninsula as one of these lesser-known examples.

This combination of repetition, authentic photographs, visual support, and Japanese culture makes the reader especially accessible for beginners who are starting to read independently.

🎯 Language Features in This Level 2 Japanese Reader

Students will practise:

• これは ～です。 — identifying animals, characters, and objects
• ～は ～です。 — describing colors and body parts
• Body parts including 目、耳、手、足、頭、首
• colors including 赤、青、白、黒、緑、黄色、茶色、金色
• Simple descriptive adjectives
• Using familiar sentence patterns repeatedly in different contexts
• Reading Hiragana and Katakana
• Recognising selected beginner Kanji with furigana
• Using photographs and visual clues to support comprehension

📖 Level 2 Japanese Reader Details

Reading Level: Level 2
Recommended for: Beginner Japanese learners
Character Count: 304 main text + 48 captions
Pages: 20
Text Type: Description
Language Focus: colors, body parts, simple descriptions, and adjectives
Vocabulary Theme: colors, body parts, characters, mascots, and animals
Cultural Theme: Japanese characters and mascot culture
Script: Hiragana, Katakana, and beginner Kanji with furigana
Product Type: A5 saddle-stitched booklet
ISBN: 978-1-925808-11-7

Perfect For

• Beginner Japanese learners
• Learners progressing from words to simple Japanese sentences
• Primary and elementary Japanese programs
• Early secondary Japanese learners
• Students learning Japanese colors and body parts
• Learners beginning to describe animals, characters, and objects in Japanese
• Visual learners who benefit from authentic photographs
• Guided and independent Japanese reading
• Extensive Reading (Tadoku)
• Building reading confidence before progressing to Level 3 readers

📚 Teaching & Learning Resources

Every reader includes free access to our Resource Library.

Included with every reader:

• 🎧 Audio recordings narrated by Mariko Sensei
• 📖 English translation
• 💻 Quizlet vocabulary activities

🏫 Teaching a Class? Explore the Japanese Reader Class Set

Bring What color Are the Body Parts? into your classroom with printed readers for every student and a matching Online Flipbook for whole-class display.

Choose 10, 15, 20, or 25 printed readers with password-protected Online Flipbook access. The Class Set lets students read from their own printed books while the teacher displays the same colorful pages on an interactive whiteboard or classroom screen. The current Class Set listing confirms all four pack sizes.

👉 Explore What color Are the Body Parts? Class Set & Online Flipbook

💜 A Note from Mariko Sensei

Growing up in Japan, I loved characters like Hello Kitty, and I wasn’t the only one. Japanese children have always loved cute characters, and they are an important part of childhood in Japan.

You can find characters almost everywhere—in toy shops, schools, parks, shops, and even as local mascots representing towns and communities. They bring smiles, spark children’s imagination, and make everyday life a little more fun.

I created this reader to introduce learners to both the Japanese language and this playful part of Japanese culture. Alongside familiar characters, learners will also meet some lesser-known local mascots, including a funny egg mascot I discovered near a popular hot spring area on the Noto Peninsula.

As learners read about body parts and colors, they can discover some of Japan’s best-loved characters and unique mascots while building confidence in reading Japanese.

I hope this book helps you enjoy reading Japanese while discovering the fun and creativity of Japanese character culture.

Happy reading!

— Mariko Sensei

📖 Your Next Japanese Reader

Continue building your Japanese reading confidence by gradually introducing new sentence patterns:

🐱 Chibi the Cat (ねこのちび) — Take the next step from です and begin reading simple ます-form Japanese through Chibi’s everyday activities. The book includes patterns such as たべます and だいすきです

🐛 Insects (むし) — Extend simple descriptive Japanese by introducing あります, while learning about insects through authentic photographs taken in Japan.

🇯🇵 My First Trip to Japan (はじめてのにほん) — Ready for a challenge? Step up to Level 3 and begin reading past-tense ～ました／～でした through Josh’s first journey around Japan.

📚 Explore Japanese Reader Packs

🌱 Beginner Japanese Readers — Explore carefully graded Japanese readers for learners working through Levels 1–3.

🏫 Primary & Elementary School Japanese Readers Pack — Explore a collection of Level 1–4 readers for younger learners and school Japanese programs.

📚 All Japanese Readers Pack — Explore the complete Japanese reader collection in one pack.

📚 Explore More Japanese Reader Packs

🏫 Primary & Elementary School Japanese Readers Pack — A Levels 1–4 collection offering a variety of stories, quizzes, cultural and descriptive texts for developing primary learners.

🎓 High School Japanese Readers Pack — A progressive collection for secondary students, moving from accessible Japanese into longer and more challenging texts.

📚 All Japanese Readers Pack — Explore the complete Japanese Reader collection, progressing from beginner reading through to more advanced Japanese texts.

📌 Important Information

This Japanese Reader is designed for individual use and extensive reading (Tadoku).

Copyright © Mariko Earle. All rights reserved.

Please do not copy, reproduce, or share the content of this book without permission from the copyright holder.