Reading practice beyond Wanilog
Real Japanese to read at every stage of WaniKani, from graded readers with almost no kanji to the evening news. The reading coverage page scores NHK against your own progress; these are the places to go when you want more than headlines.
From your first levels
Kana-comfortable, kanji-light. Readable long before the SRS says so.
Free graded readers from the Tadoku project, sorted into levels that start at zero kanji. The lowest levels are readable in your first week.
Visit siteShort original stories and essays tagged by JLPT level, with audio on many of them. The N5 and N4 shelves fit early WaniKani levels well.
Visit siteAround level 10 and up
Everyday vocabulary with furigana or plain wording carrying you past the gaps.
NHK news in simplified Japanese - the same stories the main news carries, rewritten with easier words. Also available here as the Easy tab on the reading coverage page.
Visit siteWeekly news and columns written in plain Japanese under editorial guidelines for easy reading.
Visit siteA travel and culture magazine with a simplified-Japanese edition. Longer than news briefs, still furigana-friendly.
Visit siteA web magazine in easy Japanese. No longer updated, but the archive of short articles still makes good reading practice.
Visit siteAround level 30 and up
Unassisted native material. Slow at first, and the slow reading is the practice.
The main NHK news site, the same feed the reading coverage page scores against your kanji on its News tab. The articles are not rewritten and carry no furigana, so how much you can read is a direct measure of how far you have come.
Visit siteCheck any text against your own kanji on the reading coverage page.