Kanji ABC: A Systematic Approach to Japanese Characters (English and Japanese Edition)

Reviewers who claim that this book is just a list of kanji miss the point of the book. The authors have broken the kanji down into radicals and basic kanji which form the building blocks--components--of all other kanji. By memorizing the components first--the authors call them "graphemes"--you make the job of remembering more complex kanji easier by several orders of magnitude. There are other books based on the same method, called "component analysis," but this book is more flexible. You don't have to learn every kanji in a single, pre-set order. At any rate, if you are an adult learner of Japanese, component analysis is the best way to learn kanji.

I've been studying Japanese for nearly five years, now, and I've found that organizing Kanji into specific groups based on similarities has helped a great deal with learning them. I'm currently using this book to help with the process of mastering my ability to read and write Kanji and it's working like a charm. I suggest that anyone serious about studying Japanese--those wishing to take the level 2 or 1 Japanese Proficiency Test, for example--look into investing in this study tool. It's sure to help!

My daughter borrowed this from her Japanese teacher over Christmas break and we are now going to buy it for her and an extra copy for her teacher so he can lend more out. As the reviewer below me stated, the characters build on each other and you can learn them. As an artist, I find the explanation on how to write the letters very helpful. There is nothing easy about learning Kanji, but this book shows you how to break it down and learn it.

This book is a must buy. It simplifies the learning process and categorizes the characters by grouping them according to shape and meaning. With so many SIMILAR characters to learn, it is vital to have an effective system for memorizing and distinguishing them. Some characters are so similar that many students give up for this reason alone. No other book has been able to effectively group characters in a system for memorizing. One of the most practical applications of this book is that it is laid out in such a way, that you can photocopy each page onto cardstock and make your own study cards. After copying, I folded mine horizontally along the lines so I could alternate guessing at the meaning or guessing at the character readings. I don't think the publisher even thought of this, but it works! Another great element about this book is that beside each character is shown the meaning of each complex root. For instance "irodo(ru), SAI" has the meaning of "color" and comes from the root of "harvest" and "style." At the beginning of the book, you are taught each individual root, called graphemes, so you can easily pick out which part of the complex character means harvest and which means style. Also, beside each character is reference numbers so you may look them up in dictionaries for further study. And, one of the most important things for me is that this books contains all of the joyo kanji, "the 1,945 characters recommended for everyday use by the Japanese government." The graphemes are also numbered for stroke order so that you may practice writing. It is a great place to start, and you may find out at the end you are way ahead of everbody else! This book makes learning Japanese as easy as, well, ABC.

I'm a Japanese learner, and I've begun to tackle the very overwhelming (and seemingly insane) task of learning Kanji. I've tried different methods of learning Kanji (Writing them over and over, flashcards, etc.), and I have found this to be the most effective book/method in UNDERSTANDING Kanji.You learn key characters that make up Kanji characters; therefore when you learn a Kanji character. You'll say to yourself, "So that small character means "xxxx" and that other character means "xxxx." So I put the two together, and the Kanji means "xxxx." That makes sense." Rather then trying to mash into your brain the way of reading a Kanji you're unfamiliar with, you learn the concept of understanding the Kanji. You learn the pronunciation later.But that's also the only downside. In order to commit to this great system of remembering Kanji, you have to be serious about it. So anybody that just wants to "skim" Kanji, I don't suggest you use this book. It takes commitment, and it takes time. But it pays off in the long run.