5.2 Everyday Reading & Information Retrieval

Medium Passages and Information Retrieval

Section 5.2 covers the two remaining N5 reading types: 問題5 内容理解（中文） (medium-passage comprehension) and 問題6 情報検索 (information retrieval). Together they test whether you can read a realistic everyday text — a diary entry, a short letter, a class notice, a price list — and pull out the facts that answer a specific question. These are the questions that most resemble real life in Japan, so the vocabulary is practical: days, times, prices, places, and simple actions.

中文 (chūbun): medium passages — diary, email, note

A 中文 passage runs about 250 characters — three to six sentences, usually a diary (にっき), an email or letter (てがみ・メール), or a note (メモ). It follows one person through a small everyday story: a trip, a weekend, a daily routine. Two or three questions follow, mixing a main-idea question ('What did this person do yesterday?') with detail questions ('What did they eat for lunch?', 'Why were they tired?').

Strategy: read the whole passage once for the story, then read each question and go back to the exact sentence that holds the fact. Medium passages lean heavily on time words (きのう yesterday, あさ morning, おひる noon, よる night) and sequence grammar (〜てから after doing, 〜まえに before doing, そして and then), which tell you the order of events. A question such as 'What did the person do first?' is really a test of whether you tracked that sequence. Note too that Japanese omits pronouns: if no new subject appears, assume the actions still belong to the writer.

A worked medium passage (diary)

「８がつ ５か　はれ きょうは かぞくと うみへ いきました。あさ はやく でんしゃに のって、１０じに つきました。うみで およいだり、さかなを みたり しました。おひるは レストランで さかなりょうりを たべました。とても たのしかったですが、すこし つかれました。」

Hachi-gatsu itsuka, hare. Kyō wa kazoku to umi e ikimashita. Asa hayaku densha ni notte, jūji ni tsukimashita. Umi de oyoidari, sakana o mitari shimashita. Ohiru wa resutoran de sakana ryōri o tabemashita. Totemo tanoshikatta desu ga, sukoshi tsukaremashita.

'August 5th, sunny. Today I went to the sea with my family. We took the train early in the morning and arrived at 10 o'clock. At the sea we did things like swimming and looking at fish. For lunch we ate fish dishes at a restaurant. It was very fun, but I got a little tired.'

Detail question: このひとは おひるに なにを たべましたか。 ('What did this person eat for lunch?') Go to the sentence containing おひる → the answer is さかなりょうり (fish dishes). Main-idea question: きょうは どうでしたか。 ('How was today?') The final sentence answers it: とても たのしかったですが、すこし つかれました — 'very fun, but a little tiring.' The word でも/が signalling contrast is again where the nuance lives.

情報検索 (jōhō kensaku): reading displays to match conditions

情報検索 gives you a practical display — a timetable, a store-hours notice, a menu, a poster, a leaflet, or a price list — instead of prose. You are not asked to understand every line; you are asked to find the one line that matches the conditions in the question. This is a scanning task, and it rewards a fixed four-step technique:

1. Read the question first and underline the conditions (who, what day, what time, how many).
2. Find the matching field in the display — the row for that day, the column for that time.
3. Check for exceptions — small print like もくようびは やすみ (closed Thursday) or 〜は のぞく (except…) frequently hides the correct answer.
4. For prices, multiply unit price by quantity, then add.

A worked information-retrieval item (class timetable)

げつようびの じかんわり (Monday timetable):

• １じかんめ ９：００〜９：５０　すうがく (math)
• ２じかんめ １０：００〜１０：５０　こくご (Japanese)
• ３じかんめ １１：００〜１１：５０　えいご (English)
• ひるやすみ (lunch break)
• ４じかんめ １３：００〜１３：５０　たいいく (PE)

Question: リーさんは えいごの じゅぎょうに でたいです。なんじに きょうしつに いきますか。 (Rī-san wa eigo no jugyō ni detai desu. Nanji ni kyōshitsu ni ikimasu ka? — 'Lee wants to attend the English class. What time should he go to the classroom?')

The condition is the English (えいご) class. Scan the subject column, find えいご on the 3rd period (３じかんめ), then read across to its time: 11:00–11:50. So Lee must be in the classroom by 11:00. Notice the trap — a rushed reader grabs the first time on the table (9:00, the math class) or matches えいご to the wrong row. The condition 'English' is the key that selects the row; the field you actually report is the time.

Price and total calculations

Menu and flyer questions almost always add a small arithmetic step. If コーヒー is 400 yen and ケーキ is 500 yen, 'coffee and cake' costs 900 yen — but watch for a set price (セット) that is cheaper than buying items separately, and read whether the question asks for the separate total or the set price. Quantities use counters: リンゴを ２こ (two apples) means 150 yen × 2 = 300 yen. The maths itself is easy; the trap is answering the wrong total or ignoring the counter.

Note and email conventions to recognise

Because many 中文 and 情報検索 texts are notes and emails, learn their recurring shape so you can read them fast. A note usually names the reader at the top (たなかさんへ = 'To Tanaka') and the writer at the bottom (すずきより = 'From Suzuki'), so the who-wrote-it and who-it-is-for are fixed positions, not something you must search for. Emails often open with おげんきですか ('How are you?') or a greeting and close with よろしく. Watch for a small set of high-value phrases: 〜てください (please do), 〜ないでください (please do not), おくれないで ください (do not be late), いりません (is not needed), and time cues like 〜ごろ (around) and 〜まえに (before). When a note says ゆうごはんは いりません。ともだちと たべます, the writer is signalling they will eat out with a friend — an inference the question will test. Reading these fixed frames turns a wall of kana into a quick scan for the one fact you need.

Common traps

• Exceptions in small print — closed days (やすみ), holidays, and 'except…' lines flip the answer.
• Reading the wrong row or column in a table under time pressure.
• Confusing the set price with the separate price on a menu.
• Time confusion — ごぜん (AM) vs ごご (PM), and 24-hour times (１９じ = 7 PM).
• Answering with the first fact you see instead of the one that matches every condition in the question.