(Mainichi/Deockwoo An)


On April 21, three Asian elephants made their debut at Tennoji Zoo in the city of Osaka. It is the first time in eight years for the zoo to keep elephants. As the elephants slowly walked around, visitors exclaimed, “They’re huge!” and “Amazing!” The three elephants are Kelat, a 20-year-old male, Dara, a 14-year-old female, and Amoi, a 9-year-old female. They came from Malaysia.


Japanese original









(Mainichi Shogakusei Shimbun)


Easy Japanese news is taken from the Mainichi Shogakusei Shimbun, a newspaper for children. This is perfect material for anyone studying Japanese who has learned hiragana and katakana. We encourage beginners to read the article in English followed by Japanese, or vice versa, to test their comprehension.


A fresh set will be published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 4 p.m., Japan time. Click/tap here for past installments.


Intermediate learners who do not need English assistance can directly access the Mainichi Shogakusei Shimbun site here. Furigana (hiragana) is added to all kanji in the text.