The content of this book is best understood when the reader possesses a background knowledge of the Japanese language normally achieved by the end of one or one and a half years of college instruction consisting of between 200 and 250 classroom instruction hours. I assume that the reader is conversant with the inventory of grammatical items covered in basic Japanese grammar. For example, the reader is proficient in interpreting simple and complex sentences with tense variation; is familiar with modal expressions (e.g., nebanaranai) and nominal predicates (e.g., no da); knows the mechanism of passive, causative and conditional sentences; is familiar with a limited number of connectives and understands different uses of particles and polite levels. The reader is expected to know basic vocabulary ranging between 1,300 and 1,800 items, and is familiar with approximately 300 basic kanji.

According to the foreign language proficiency guidelines endorsed by the American Council on Teaching of Foreign Languages, it is at the Intermediate-High level that students begin to possess the ability to comprehend connected sentences and to follow the narrative thread in extended discourse. The content of this book is appropriately used in preparation for or concurrently with the Intermediate-High proficiency level learning. The book also contains reading materials appropriately used by Advanced and Superior level students, and should be useful throughout many years of Japanese language training. I should remind the reader that the proficiency level required for using this book depends not only on the reading materials themselves but also on how the reader uses the book's Part III, especially the tasks and activities suggested.