Podcast
Japanese Shadow Daily
A new Japanese lesson every day for English speakers, made for listening with no screen: graded stories to shadow, grammar taken apart, survival Japanese for the konbini, the train station and the ramen shop, listening quizzes, a café chat between a learner and a native speaker from Tokyo, a weekly audio drama and slow Japanese news. Every episode is graded to a JLPT level (N5 to N1) and leaves you pauses to speak out loud.
Want to see the words as well as hear them? Every kind of lesson here has an illustrated video version on our YouTube channel, with the Japanese (with furigana) and English on screen, for every level from N5 to N1.
Subscribe in any podcast app with the feed: https://www.mandarinshadow.app/podcast/ja/feed.xml
Every day of the week
Sunday
Slow Japanese News
this week's news from Japan in simple Japanese
Monday
Japanese Story Time
a graded Japanese story to listen to and repeat
Tuesday
Japanese Grammar in Focus
one grammar point, taken apart and practised
Wednesday
Survival Japanese
the phrases for one real situation in Japan
Thursday
Japanese Listening Quiz
a listening quiz with spoken choices
Friday
Japanese Café Chat
an English learner and a native Japanese speaker chat about one topic
Saturday
Japanese Audio Drama
a graded Japanese audio serial, a new episode each week
About one day in five, the day's show is a Learning Burst: a dense five-minute lesson: words, one grammar point, a shadowing drill and quick-fire recall.
Latest episodes
2026-11-09 · 4:32
Learning Burst (N5): Setting Up a New Phone あたらしいスマホ
Practise talking about a new phone with あります and います: what a phone has, who is there, and simple tech words like camera and app.
2026-11-08 · 17:00
Slow Japanese News (N4 & N3): Final Autumn Leaves Forecast: A Little Late 秋のこうよう、最後の予報
Follow this week's final autumn leaves forecast from Japan in slow, simple Japanese, with dates for Sapporo, Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. Along the way you'll learn the passive form 〜られる ("was announced", "is thought") and visit a culture corner on Obon.
2026-11-07 · 12:19
Japanese Audio Drama: The Lost Umbrella, Part 2 (N4): A Surprise at the Cinema 映画館でのふしぎ
Continues from Part 1: Splitting the Bill After Dinner. Kenta and Mio choose a film at the cinema, and you learn the potential form, the verb ending for what you can do, like 話せます and 食べられます. Then you shadow eight key lines from the scene.
2026-11-06 · 13:48
Japanese Café Chat (N4): Buying Shinkansen Tickets from Fukuoka to Nagoya きっぷを買うと、旅がはじまる
Learn to buy train tickets in Japan: asking for a shinkansen ticket, choosing a seat and getting help at the station. You'll also practise conditionals with たら and と, as in "if you press this button" and "when I arrive".
2026-11-05 · 13:19
Japanese Listening Quiz (N5): Asking the Boss for Friday Off 休みをください
A listening quiz about Ken, a Sapporo man working in Tokyo, who asks his boss for a day off for his grandmother's birthday. You'll practise catching Japanese at natural speed and learn the particles に and で for time and place.
2026-11-04 · 10:37
Survival Japanese (N4): A Weekend Visiting Family 家族の家で週末
Practise the polite phrases you need when staying with a Japanese family for the weekend, from arriving with a gift to thanking them for dinner. Today's grammar point is 〜と思います, for saying 'I think'.
2026-11-03 · 4:48
Learning Burst (N5): Sharing Good News Politely うれしいニュースを話します
Practise sharing good news about family and plans with the polite ます form, present and negative: verbs ending in ます and ません.
2026-11-02 · 12:52
Japanese Story Time (N4): Why Ken Collapsed at the Office 病院で、たおれた理由
A graduate student from Nagoya collapses at his Fukuoka office and visits a doctor, who soon finds out why. You'll practise listing actions with the pattern 〜たり〜たりします (doing things like this and that) and useful health vocabulary.
2026-11-01 · 17:19
Slow Japanese News (N5 & N4): Autumn Festivals on a Rainy Sunday 秋のまつりと雨の日曜日
Listen to simple news about autumn festivals at Shirakawa-go, a salmon feast in Natori and a Tohoku festival in Tokyo, and practise asking and giving permission with 〜てもいいです and saying what is not allowed with 〜てはいけません.
2026-10-31 · 9:45
Japanese Audio Drama (N4): Splitting the Bill After Dinner 割り勘の夜
Kenta and Mio split a restaurant bill with friends, and you practise the plain form (dictionary, ない and た forms) that friends use in casual talk.
2026-10-30 · 10:39
Japanese Café Chat (N4): Café Chat: Life in a Japanese Class 日本語クラスの話
Chat about studying in a Japanese language class and practise the grammar point 〜ています, for actions happening now and ongoing states, with about twelve useful classroom phrases to repeat out loud.
2026-10-30 · 10:30
Japanese Café Chat (N5): Ordering at a Tokyo Café 東京のカフェで注文
Order a drink at a Tokyo café: greet the staff, ask the price, split the bill and say thank you, while learning the pattern A は B です and its negative, A は B ではありません.