Sumikko Gurashi origin book gets English/Japanese bilingual release, great for language learners

An adorable way to start reading Japanese, or just to spend some more time with the lovable Sumikko Gurashi cast.

Even in a country filled with cute characters, Sumikko Gurashi stands out. The series about a group of slightly shy, quaintly quirky animal friends is consistently cozy and heartwarming, with a special appeal for those who want to stay true to themselves without necessarily standing out (“Sumikko” roughly translates to “in the corner,” as opposed to being center-stage).

Sumikko Gurashi is a multimedia hit, with a variety of plushies, multiple anime adaptations, donuts, and a series of picture books, and now the book showing how the group first got together is getting an English-language release.

Well, actually it’s getting an English-and-Japanese release. This new edition of Sumikko Gurashi Sky-Colored Days is a bilingual version, containing both the original Japanese text and the English translation on the same page so you can follow along with the stories of Shirokuma, Tonkatsu, Neko, Tokage, and Penguin? (yes, the question mark is part of the character’s name) in either language…or both.

Though the franchise has gained plenty of adult fans, at its core Sumikko Gurashi’s stories are simple ones, and the publishers say that the average Japanese person, who’s taken or is taking English classes as part of their required education, can probably read Sumikko Gurashi Sky-Colored Days without having to look up too many words in a dictionary.

Flipping things around to the opposite linguistic perspective, the book makes for great practice material if you’re an English-speaker who’s learning Japanese. The Japanese phrasing is direct and the sentences short, and it’s written entirely in phonetic hiragana characters, without any of the more complex kanji characters that can trip up those new to the language. Everything being written in hiragana also makes looking up the meaning of new-to-you words as snap, since as long as you know the pronunciation of a Japanese word it’ll be easy to find in a dictionary or input into a translation app.

And, of course, there’s just the fact that Sumikko Gurashi Sky-Colored Days is a really sweet story.

So if you’re looking to feed your Japanese-learning mind or just to soothe your heart, this looks like a good addition to make to your reading list, and it’s available for 1,760 yen (US$12) through Amazon here.

Source, images: PR Times
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