◇Edited by Akira Miyahara◇

Here is the second edition to Ryugakusei no Tame no Jidai o Yomitoku Jokyu Nihongo (Penetrating Contemporary Japan: Advanced Japanese for International Students—From reading comprehension to conversation and composition), a book for advanced learners that has had a great reputation ever since it was first published. The contents of the original book have been updated, and to deepen the learner's understanding, the text now comes wtih furigana readings.

Six subjects (Life, Aging Society and the Declining Birthrate, Education, Companies and Work, Science & Technology and People, and the Environment) are covered in 26 chapters.

This book carries a series of 'real life' articles from the Nikkei Shimbun, the Asahi Shimbun, Iwanami books, and the Maruzen Library series of books. The articles have been selected from the viewpoint of their (1) reflecting the actual state of contemporary Japanese society, (2) enabling the learner to associate the material with the situation in his/her own country, (3) being a medium through which the learner can express his/her feelings and opinions, and (4) providing a means to understanding Japanese society without background knowledge of the relevant subjects.

Mainly targeted at post-graduate international students, the book develops the practical Japanese ability of the learner in terms of reading comprehension, conversation, and composition at the advanced level. The learner can readily develop these three skills by working through the sections entitled 'Reading Kanji and Using Words and Phrases' (a section of example usages of the words and phrases is appended to the end of the book), 'Talking Practice' and 'Writing Practice.'