- Audio Lessons
- Video Lessons
- Reference Materials
- My Tools
- Community
- Help Center
Welcome to the Help Center
Get Started with JapanesePod101First Steps with the System
My Account
How to Download
Basic and Premium iTunes Feed Setup
Innovative Language on your Gadget
Billing and SubscriptionsSubscriptions
Billing
Subscription Info and Pricing
FAQ, Tech Support and MoreMost Frequently Asked Questions
Tech Support
Text User Guide
Video User Guides
More about Innovative Language
The JapanesePod101 SystemLessons and Methodology

5 Most Recent Forum Posts
Sentance construction series
1:42 pm by
drennic6111
Favorite anime?
8:50 pm by
miljana3686
simple question about this greeting
4:04 pm by
sheffieldmuse12145
Missing Newbie Lessons
6:47 am by
mmmason8967
Audio lessons
6:35 am by
mmmason8967
Learn intermediate Japanese with JapanesePod101.com! Today we bring you the tale of Warashibe Choja, or the Straw Millionaire. This mukashi banashi tells the story of a man who just had no luck at all. But one day this all changed, and it started with a single stalk of wara, or straw. Tune in to find out how, and then stop by JapanesePod101.com and be sure to leave us a post!
About our Printer-friendly lesson notes
Follow along to our award winning lessons with detailed PDF Lesson Notes! These easy to print notes take a closer look at the grammar point and vocabulary words presented in the audio lesson. Plus, read more about language101 cultural topics related to the lesson.
Re-activate or upgrade your account to access the PDF Lesson Notes today!
Kanji Close-Up
Take a closer look at the kanji characters used in the lesson Dialogue with the Kanji Close Up Practice Sheets! You'll learn the meaning, readings, and stroke order of each character. Plus, improve your writing with kanji stroke order practice sheets!
Re-activate or upgrade your account to access the Kanji Close Up Practice Sheets today!
About our Review Audio Tracks
Listen and repeat with the Review Track. Hear the lesson vocabulary and main phrases and repeat after the native speaker - it's the best way to perfect your pronunciation!
Upgrade your account to access The Review Track and start perfecting your pronunciation today!
About our Lesson Audio
Our team of Japanese language specialists have been releasing new audio and video lessons weekly since 2005. That's a lot of Japanese language learning! All lessons are free for the first 2 weeks before going into our Basic and Premium Archive.
Re-activate or upgrade your account to access every single lesson we've ever created today!
About our Dialog Audio Tracks
The audio lesson is a comprehensive, easy to use lessons that makes learning Japanese fun for anyone. Each audio lesson contains can be downloaded in seconds to your computer, iPod, phone, or mp3 player so that you can learn quickly and be speaking Japanese in no time at all. The audio lesson is your ticket to learning to speak Japanese with confidence and accuracy, and from your very first lesson!
About our Dialog Audio Tracks
Don't have enough time for an entire lesson today? Listen to the Dialogue Only Track to hear the native Dialogue. Listening to a little bit of Japanese everyday, no matter how much, will greatly improve your listening comprehension. Guaranteed!
Upgrade your account to access the Dialogue Only Track and other Premium Tools today!
About our Grammar Audio Tracks
Tackle grammar head on with the lesson Grammar List. We break down the grammar piece by piece so you fully master the structure and formation.
Upgrade your account to access the Grammar List and other Premium lesson tools today!
About our Videocasts
Our team of Japanese language specialists have been releasing new audio and video lessons weekly since 2005. That's a lot of Japanese language learning! All lessons are free for the first 2 weeks before going into our Basic and Premium Archive.
Re-activate or upgrade your account to access every single lesson we've ever created today!
About our Learning Center
Listen and read the line-by-line breakdown of the lesson conversation with this Premium Tool. Listen to each line as many times as you need until you fully understand the conversation and pronunciation. Line-By-Line Audio Transcripts are the perfect way to improve your comprehension - fast!
Upgrade your account to access Line-By-Line Audio Transcript and other Premium lesson tools today!
About our Videocasts
Our team of Japanese language specialists have been releasing new audio and video lessons weekly since 2005. That's a lot of Japanese language learning! All lessons are free for the first 2 weeks before going into our Basic and Premium Archive.
Re-activate or upgrade your account to access every single lesson we've ever created today!










This entry was posted on Friday, February 2nd, 2007 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Intermediate Season 1 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
11 Responses to “Intermediate Lesson #45 - Warashibe Choja”
Friday at 6:30 pm
Mina-san, Enjoy the tale of Warashibe Choja, and if you know anything about the man who bought a house with a paper clip, let us know! Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!
Friday at 10:46 pm
皆さん、こんにちは
An audio story lesson, eh? Funny enough that I only just heard of the mentioning of this story two weeks ago in anime 彩雲国物語(Saiunkoku Monogatari)。It’s good when things are connedted ^_^.
Just hope that after a few monthes when I come back to this lesson, I could undertand most of it.
Think I heard about that 26-year old Canadian man who traded a paper clip to a house. He did his transactions online, after 14 transactions and a year’s time, he finally got this 2-storey farmhouse landed in his hands. I’m sure if you google “paper clip to house”, you’ll find more details. Enjoy!
お疲れ様でした。
Saturday at 1:23 am
The guy in question is Kyle MacDonald (a Canadian) and he has a website called one red paperclip where he details his “adventures” in trading up to a house from the one red paperclip he started with. He started trading on July 12 2005 and on July 12 2006; he got a house in Kipling Saskatchewan, Canada.
Saturday at 12:40 pm
この昔話はちょっと複雑過ぎたけど、ハッピーエンドで終わったらいいです~
さて、ペーパー・クリップの話はすごいですようよ。
一年間でカナダにある家をもらって、この人は本当に運がいいですね。
この話を聞いたら、私はこれをやってみたいような気がしたが、実は寒いところはあまり好きじゃないのでカナダの家は「ダメ」と決めた。
その上、赤いペーパー・クリップを持っていない…
Sunday at 8:26 am
JP101 crew and listeners!
Great history! this one is also better than the other ones from Christmas! Lets keep it up!
Nanaka-san!
I agree with you!
Mark-san!
I heard of it before too! Great webiste I like it!
S_R_C
Wednesday at 12:26 am
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4918184.stm
paper clip man actually exists well ill be!
Friday at 11:52 am
Does anyone know the difference between wara and warashibe?
Thanks.
Friday at 2:33 pm
Brendan-san
Shibe means “core”,”stem”, “center” or “haulm.” So warashibe means a stem of straw.
I have never used or heard people using the word “warashibe” other than this WARASHIBE CHOUJA story.
Friday at 2:44 pm
Wakatta. Thanks Naomi.
Thursday at 9:00 am
Wahhhhhh よく分かりません。むかしばなしはいつもむずかしつぎる。I hope that someday I can come back to these and understand the nihongo version, but as of now I feel so very lost!
Thursday at 9:35 am
Elizabethさん,
I think old stories and fairytales are probably difficult in any language (there can be a lot of obscure vocabulary/phrases, etc.) so don’t feel discouraged!
Leave a Reply