Random House Japanese-English English-Japanese Dictionary

Rating:
Summary: Good, but not the best
Review: This dictionary is one of the best I've seen in bookstores. Roomaji is given, which is SO helpful! But as others have said, the J->E section is miserably lacking. Nothing on particles, no indication of verb type (although this can be remedied by buying 501 Japanese Verbs), and there are a lot of words that just plain don't show up. For instance, hisui (jade) and hotaru (firefly) aren't in the J->E section, though they do show up in the E->J. Frustrating when you're translating Japanese into English. But definitely better than other dictionaries!

Rating:
Summary: A really good dictionary, but some flaws lower the grade.
Review: This dictionary is really thorough compared to Martin's Concise Japanese Dict." or "Basic Japanese-English Dict.", having 50 000 words compared to 19000 and 3000 words, respectively. There are even medical, scientific and technical words that, as a student at a technical course, I find really useful. The words are written in romaji and also normally in KANJI instead of KANA, which helps a lot. It is organized after the romaji spelling which makes it fast to find what you are looking for. Ok ... now to the less favourable sides of the book. First of all - WHY oh why are the books english and japanese parts not mirrored? I have occasionally stumbled upon words that are in the english-japanese part, but not the other way around. REALLY annoying. Secondly - why not print the verb type (I,II,III) instead of just stating "vb"? Not a lot of ink, but enormously helpful. Anyway, though it doesn't get full score, I still think it is the best dictionary of the three I have tried.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Reference Dictionary
Review: this is a veryy verrryy verryyyy good japanese english, enlgish japanese dictionary! GET IT if you are taking japanese or if u want to leran japanese...its good! seroiusly! :D

Rating:
Summary: Good value
Review: Unfortunately, where dictionaries are concerned there are very few offerings available for the English student of Japanese. Many of the larger ones are designed with the Japanese learner of English in mind.
This dictioanry is probably the best one you will find if you are learning Japanese, and it is certainly very good value for money! I bought my copy about 6 years ago, and it has been used so often it is literally falling apart. I have lived in Japan for several years, and this dictioanry has, so far, fulfilled most of my needs, moreso than the Kodansha Basic Dictionary, which fails to provide a lot of words, but does maintain a phraseological approach that this Random House dictionary is sadly lacking. If you are looking for idiomatic usage of an English phrase in Japanese, you will proabably find that the equivalent of what you are looking for is not available in the English to Japanese section, so you will have to make do with a similar, but maybe less colouful way of expressing yourself, or buy and idiom book, and there are some good ones out there.
Still, all in all, you will be getting your money's worth with this, especially for understanding Japanese, but you may find it less useful when you want to express yourself in Japanese and look to this as a guide.