Not what I expected
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This book is not so much a guide to writing but a character by character list of fundamental kanji and their various usages. It does *not* give guidance on grammar, sentence structure etc
It's still a great book, but I had to point out the title could be misunderstood.
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A valuable reference for learning and writing kanji
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As a North American professional who lives and works in Japan, my Japanese studies have recently included kanji. While learning these Chinese characters seemed daunting and complex at first, I found this guide incredibly helpful. The book contains the 881 "essential" kanji designated by the Japanese Ministry of Education, along with the 1,850 characters designated as "standard" for everyday use in the publishing world (including the 881 essential kanji). Phonetic writings, definitions and everyday vocabulary are also supplied. One of the book's most valuable features is that kanji are clearly presented as handwritten, stroke-by-stroke models. This fosters a grasp of kanji construction, while making it easier to identify characters found in books, magazines, newspapers and on printed signs. An added benefit of the handwritten models is that reading personal letters or other correspondence becomes easier. My only small complaint is with the "romanized" (romaji) readings provided for each kanji. Since I began my studies by learning the two Japanese syllabaries (hiragana and katakana), I've found that having to read romaji is a distraction and like taking a giant step backwards, since it merely serves as an approximate guide to pronunciation. Overall, I'd enthusiastically recommend this book as an essential reference guide for students of Japanese at any level. Also, if available, the paperback version might be a better choice--it's lighter, more compact and easier to flip through quickly.
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A valuable reference for learning and writing kanji
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As a North American professional who lives and works in Japan, my progressing Japanese studies have recently included kanji. While learning these Chinese characters seemed daunting and complex at first, I found this guide incredibly helpful. The book contains the 881 "essential" kanji designated by the Japanese Ministry of Education, along with the 1,850 characters designated as "standard" for everyday use in the publishing world (this includes the 881 essential kanji). Phonetic writings, definitions and everyday vocabulary are also supplied. One of the book's most valuable features is that kanji are clearly presented as handwritten, stroke-by-stroke models. This fosters a grasp of kanji construction, while making it easier to identify characters found in books, magazines, newspapers and on printed signs. An added benefit of the handwritten models is that reading personal letters or other correspondence becomes easier. My only small complaint is with the "romanized" (romaji) readings provided for each kanji. Since I began my studies by learning the two Japanese syllabaries (hiragana and katakana), I always find that reading romaji is distracting and like taking a big step backwards, since it merely serves as a guide to pronunciation. Overall, I'd enthusiastically recommend this book as an essential reference guide for students of Japanese at any level. Also, if available, consider the paperback version--it's lighter, more compact and easier to flip through quickly.
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A Great Help
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Perfect!!! When you have a good grasp on the hirgana and katakana (the two Japanese syllabaries) and the sounds they make this book is a great help. Learn three to five words a day and with this book you will have a pretty good vocab of japanese characters.. P.S. Learning from a dictionary is hard because Japanese sentances are differently structured than English.
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