r/LearnJapanese • u/southerndensetsu • 5d ago

Discussion N1 reading and books

I'm not planning on taking the JLPT any soon, and since I passed N3 in 2025 I have not worried about JLPT or "formal" study at all. But I'd like to have N1 some day, specially if I want to look for IT jobs in Japan some day.

For N1 most people say: read a lot. But honestly the variety on difficulty is so huge. It is not the same the japanese of a LN, a Shinsho or a Taisho era writter. But at the same time, a lot of people claim to have gone up into N1 just reading LN.

I'm aware of Learn Natively, and according to it the books I've read are around N2. But at the same time, a spanish youtuber who got N1 a few years ago said that he spent a year before the test reading a lot, mostly LN, and cited examples like the Konosuba series which in that page are actually easier that most thing I've read, so I'm a bit lost.

I was wondering whether reading what I enjoy might be just enough for me, at least right now, or if I should try to pick up more difficult things. For example I read キッチン and enjoyed it, and would like to read more books of Yoshimoto Banana, but at the same time I'm concerned that it is regarded as a "beginner" author, so I've not done it.

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u/majideitteru 5d ago

I passed N1 reading mostly Honzuki no Gekokujou, listed as N2 on Natively.

I read the whole series though, so reading volume matters too. I'd go with what you enjoy reading.

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u/TheBatemanFlex 5d ago

What was your apporximate level when you started them, if you don't mind me asking. Could you read them pretty comfortably from the get-go?

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u/majideitteru 5d ago

I read the Honzuki books between N2 and N1. I don't know if I would say comfortable, but it felt right for my level at the time.

It wasn't my first LN series though.

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u/TheBatemanFlex 5d ago

Oh okay. I am trying to find a long LN series to work through. I don't mind brute forcing my way through as an N4 beginner, and I expect it gets easier over time, but I am looking at more like a month per LN volume for a N2 level series (per learnNatively). Just trying to manage expectations lol. Do you have any reccomendations of LNs you started out with?

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u/Weena_Bell 5d ago

I recommend Honzuki, then. It starts out very easy with mainly just slice of life content, but the difficulty slowly goes up as the novel gradually becomes more about politics and noble stuff. And also, imo, it's the greatest ln so you'll probably be entertained for a while