Say It in Japanese: Illustrated = (Nihongo Kaiwa Hen)

This provides a nice introduction to the Japanese language and provides some information on the culture. It covers basic conversation divided into appropriate categories - introductions, greetings, apologizing, asking for something, questions, taking a bus, sightseeing and others. There is a section that covers Japanese expressions - show his eyes something (discipline someone), to have one's eyes stolen (to be captivated by beauty), he broke his mouth (he confessed), you can't touch it (impossible to deal with). It's a long list. Another section discusses words that can have vague or multiple meanings. Language and Culture are also here. You may think it's dumb to have a section called Language in a book that teaches a language, but here it covers tongue-twisters, word play, word games, dialects, and polite language. The book might be somewhat basic, but it's a great starting place.