There is a world of difference between reading Japanese that has been specially concocted for students and reading real Japanese - that is, Japanese written for native speakers. The concocted variety is standard to the point of insipidity, controlled to the point of domestication, restricted to the point of impoverishment. The Read Real Japanese series, comprising one volume each of Essays and Fiction, provides the real thing - lively writings by contemporary authors. The pieces in Read Real Japanese Essays are informed by the personalities of the writers - Haruki Murakami, Banana Yoshimoto, and Mitsuyo Kakuta, to name only some who have been translated into English before. By turns humorous, serious, beautiful and biting, they have been selected on the basis of their appeal: all are stimulating works that will motivate the reader to read more. Just like in real Japanese books, the text in this collection runs from top to bottom and from right to left. For those needing backup, the essays have been supplemented with facing-page translations of phrases used therein, often with notes on nuance, usage, grammar or culture. In the back of the book, moreover, is a built-in Japanese-English learner's dictionary, in case the reader wants to acquaint themselves with the meanings of individual words. Best of all, the book comes with a free audio CD containing narrations of the stories, performed by professional voice actors. This will help students get used to not only the sounds and rhythms of Japanese, but also the speed at which the language is normally spoken.