Five years after the earth quake and tsunami of 11 March 2011, Yui Reiko welcomes a customer to her little barbershop who was out near the sea on that day. As Reiko cuts her hair, the customer tells her story.
Author: 遠藤 和彦（えんどう かずひこ）
Publisher: NPO Tagengo Tadoku
Length: 12 pages
Yui Reiko’s name sounds almost like the Japanese word for “ghost”, something she was teased about as a girl. Now that she has her barbershop right next to a cemetery, it’s maybe only natural that the neighborhood calls it the “ghost barbershop”. Even so, she is more than surprised when she has a real encounter with the supernatural there.
幽霊床屋 is categorized as a level 4 graded reader, which means that it is fitting for readers at the upper end of JLPT N3 abilities. You can read more about these categories by the NPO Tagengo Tadoku here.
For this story, I found the vocabulary and grammar both easy to understand for readers with N3 reading abilities. If you are looking for a simple story that makes use of the grammar points you have already learnt, but is still structured like a typical short story, then this should be perfect for you.
You can read the entire story for free under this link: https://tadoku.org/japanese/book/7087/#bd-look-inside
I just recently discovered that there is a second part to this story, which takes place 5 years later, in 2021 after another strong earthquake. We still follow Yui Reiko and her barbershop and learn a bit more about her everyday life and her regulars.
The author worked in cooperation with the NPO Tagengo Tadoku for part one, but published part two on his own blog.
The second part is a little longer than the first and does not have any illustrations either, but after reading the first part you should be familiar enough with the vacabulary to have no problems at all.
Part Two is available for free under this link: https://tongari-books.blogspot.com/2021/04/blog-post.html
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