Rating: 
Summary: A Good Introduction to the Japanese Language
Review: I started studying Japanese from the age of 14 with 'Japanese for Busy People'. It is a good and most adequate introduction to the language. However, the exercises do not go far enough. For those students wanting to take a more serious and approach, I would recommend 'Shin Nihongo no Kiso' which can be found at most specialty language bookstores. It immerses the student in both the spoken and written forms and is supplemented throughout with extensive exercises that reinforce the vocabulary and grammar while maintaining the methodical and tidy style of 'Japanese for Busy People'.
Rating:
Summary: A REAL GOOD BOOK
Review: I would recommend this book for anyone who is going to japan or wants to learn japanese. However the premise of the book that japanese is an adult language is not approiate because children can learn it. Also get the tapes
Rating: 
Summary: Don't expect it to be as good as JFBP I
Review: I'm using the highly excellent Japanese for Busy People I--KANA Version. Very good. So why would I want to then use a workbook that's not a kana version but uses romanji? (as far as I can tell from the excerpt, please correct me if I'm wrong) No good. I'm sad... Anyway, I didn't go to the work of learning kana so I could get bogged down with romanji this far along in my studies.
Rating:
Summary: No kana version? Argh, romanji.
Review: I'm using the highly excellent Japanese for Busy People I--KANA Version. Very good. So why would I want to then use a workbook that's not a kana version but uses romanji? (as far as I can tell from the excerpt, please correct me if I'm wrong) No good. I'm sad... Anyway, I didn't go to the work of learning kana so I could get bogged down with romanji this far along in my studies.
Rating:
Summary: JFBP ga maamaa kedo mada yoi hon to omou
Review: If you ABORE ro-maji (japanese romanization) this book is not for you. For beginners this book is great and I have used this book to refresh my grammer. There are a few flaws with learning pace of a japanese student. For one it jumps around between verbal forms which could present a problem for the reader. Now why did it obtain 4 out of 5? The grammer covered in this book was so wonderful (although I don't need it) that I am currently skimming though this at the book store to help refresh grammer.
Rating: 
Summary: If you are smart.
Review: If you are smart you can learn Japanese easy. If you are a fool like most of the people who wrote reviews you probably will struggle as they. Just keep your mind straight and you should sail through it.
Rating:
Summary: Don't expect it to be as good as JFBP I
Review: If you used Japanese for Busy People I to start learning Japanese, you might be disappointed with this second book in the series. JFBP II has been, for me, less user-friendly. In comparison with JFBP I, this book inundates the student with vocabulary and grammar notes in each lesson. Yes, having lots of information is good. But in my opinion, this book has packaged that information in larger chunks that are more difficult for the student to digest. Lessons are oriented around events, places and situations -- Lost and Found, the Health Club, a Business trip; a festival, etc. The book might have been more helpful had it been oriented around grammar concepts. Or better yet, give me a lesson focused on just new vocabulary and then give me a lesson focused on a grammar concept -- where I can use my recently acquired vocabulary. (I am learning in a classroom environment, and it's extremely challenging to soak up all the new vocabulary AND all the new grammar in each lesson.) This book also is big on kana and kanji and sparse on romaji (although the book, in the appendix, does awkwardly provide romaji for the lesson texts). I agree that learning to think in kana is important. But I think more prominent romaji is still needed at this level -- when beginning students are still visualizing in terms of romaji. Kana is easy enough but requires my brain to kick in some extra processing power -- which slows down my comprehension of the material. In other words, I think students still could benefit from the "training wheels" of romaji at this level. It could speed up learning of vocabulary and grammar. It just makes sense: We learn to speak English fairly well. Then we learn to read and write it. Why not learn to speak Japanese fairly well (using easy romaji) and then learn how to read and write our newly acquired Japanese using kana? And speaking of training wheels, more illustrations of vocabulary and concepts would have been helpful -- to help students better soak up new words and grammar. Another gripe: Not all words used in this book are in the glossary. (If it's not in the glossary, it's probably in the glossary for JFBP I.) If you are studying on your own and on no timetable, this book will do you just fine. This book covers a lot of territory. If you can soak it all up, you'll be Japanese wiz. But if you're truly a busy person (like me -- or maybe I'm just slow! ;) ) and if this is the book you have to use, be prepared to make extra time in your schedule. And do your best to master each lesson before you move on to the next one -- since each lesson requires knowledge of previous concepts. Otherwise, your house of cards will come tumbling down.
Rating:
Summary: A good place to start speaking useful Japanese
Review: Japanese for Busy People is well organized and designed to provide readers with useful Japanese grammar and vocabulary. Better than the usual text, adults' time is not squandered on sections about college vocabulary like "What is your major?" etc. I ordered the tape with the book which has helped me get the sounds better.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad starting out with
Review: The only problem I personally had with this book was grasping the particles, but there is a book ("All About Japanese Particles" by Naoko Chino) you can get that will help you out if you have the same problems. If you actually practise all of the lessons AND the examples it won't be that hard to learn up to this book's level. Some of the lessons and vocabulary may not be so interesting, but are necessary to get you started. Also having a teacher who can add to what the book offers is very helpful. **One thing I really do recommend about this series is that if you are serious about learning Japanese then find and buy the kana version of this book and buy a booklet that teaches you how to read and write hiragana and katakana. You'll be thankful for it.
Rating: 
Summary: Passable but dissapointing.
Review: The problem with Japanese for Busy People is not so much the information that it contains, but what it DOESN'T contain and the way the information is presented. Though the opening section on kana was especially useful, all of the lessons essentially consist of memorizing vocabulary words vaguely related to 'foreign language' type subject such as "At the movies." Though some may prefer this methodology, I found the vocabulary and provided phrases especially lacking as far as practical implementation is concerned. All in all, though it wouldn't hurt to rent this book at a library, I don't recommend purchasing it for yourself.
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