Rating: 
Summary: To correct...
Review: A recent review claims that you must know how to read japanese in order to use this book. This is NOT true.What is true, and what apparently scared this particular reviewer away from the book is the need to learn the katakana and hiragana before beginning work on this book. The katakana and hiragana character sets are phonetic units (similer to the english alphabet), and are fairly simple to learn (a friend of mine learned them over a weekend and started using this book on that monday). Any of the small katakana/hiragana books availiable on amazon will do to learn these, and usually run around $10 US. This is probably the best basic japanese book I have come across, and it really is a pity they didn't tack a chapter on the hiragana/katakana onto the beginning of the book.
Rating:
Summary: The ABSOLUTE EASIEST way to learn Japanese. A must-read!
Review: A superb book. Thebook itself is marvelous. It incorporates many things including pictures, diagrams, charts, culture notes, and many others that improve its overall effect. It contains many excercises to involve you the reader. All of which are answered completely in the back of the book. It also teaches you to read and write the three Japanese syllabaries (hiragana, katakana, and kanji) by slowly introducing them into the text. A great way for ANYONE to begin their mastery of the Japanese language.
Rating: 
Summary: A great book, but you need the tapes, which aren't available
Review: As a third generation Japanese-American, my parents thought it'd be good for me--in conjunction with my Monday through Friday public, American schooling-- to supplement my education with some Saturday Japanese classes as well. So every Saturday for two years, I went to Japanese school. That was almost twenty years ago, and I hardly remember a thing. Now that I'm older and appreciate the value of learning about my heritage (including the language), I was driven to purchase this book. Partly: a) as a refresher course and b) partly as new instruction.
After purchasing other books in the past, and some of those, "speak Japanese" CD's. This is the only book I've found that includes romaji, hiragana, katakana and some kanji. It's clearly laid-out, has a fantastic dictionary and reference charts in the front and back of the book. I think that persons interested in learning Japanese that have no prior instruction would find it a great resource. There is a MAJOR problem with this book being sold on ... though: throughout the book, they make mention of "listening to the tapes". Being that ... doesn't sell the tapes (in fact, no one does. I had to special order them from the publisher directly in Japan), I've been finding it very difficult to make it through the lessons. I think that ... should somehow acquire the tapes to sell in conjunction with the book, or you should hire someone who's fluent in Japanese to help you! All in all, it's a great book, and I'm looking forward to getting my tapes from the publisher in about a month.
Shame on ... for not catching this problem!
Rating:
Summary: I know what I`m talking about
Review: As an English teacher living in Japan, the majority of other English teachers I know prefer this book. It is a beginner`s book, but not a beginner`s beginner`s book. Meaning, you do need to learn Hiragana and Katakana to use it. Also, you might find a very basic vocabulary necessary before you can truly utilize this text. However, once you possess these skills, this book will undoubtedly give you a solid foundation of Japanese from which to expand on.
Rating:
Summary: Great text, but the vocab?
Review: Having formally studied Spanish, French, and German before undertaking a self-study of Japanese, I know what I like in a language text, and this is it. The author presents concepts in a logical manner with good explanations. He also transitions the student from romaji to the kana (and kanji) at a reasonable pace.
I've been cramming this book at the somewhat harried rate of one chapter per week in preparation for a trip to Japan. Each chapter requires about 10-12 hours of study. I'd recommend ten days to two weeks per chapter to allow time for side-study of conversation (eg. with CDs such as Pimsleur) and writing (kana and kanji). At this pace, you could complete the book in about a year.
My only complaint (other than the oft-mentioned lack of audio tapes) is that the author introduces vocabulary in a questionalbe order. Many words of limited use are introduced before more common words. Additionally, the author often will use a word in an example before or without introducing it, but thankfully it's always in the short dictionary at the end of the book. Hopefully, as I form a better foundation of vocabulary, these issues will cease to matter.
Rating:
Summary: Learning fast
Review: Japanese for everyone is a very helpfull book for those who wanna learn japanese. Because of the low use of romaji u can read the japanese characters (katakana, hiragana and Kanji) in no-time. Answers to the exercises are in the last few pages in the book. There is also an short dictionary in it. Also, if you don't want to buy the tapes for listening exercises you can read the tapes in the book to!
Rating:
Summary: A Totally Awesome book!!!
Review: Learning japanese is one of my life ambitions, and using this work is really the way to go. I have been trying many other methods over the years and this one really comes easy.
The totally lack of romanji is the first thing that caught my eye. By chapter 6 all romanji is eliminated, even of the vocab. It is really super important that people wanting to learn japanese get over this crutch.
The pace is a bit fast, but not overwhelming. If you don't catch the word the first time that are plenty of opportunities later in other chapters to get it again.
The "story" is really nice to have as a sort of tie-in theme for the book. You follow Micheal and Babara Webb as they transfer to a company in Japan. The graphics are cute and really take the edge off the complex material.
I do have some problems with the text, as amazing as it is. The main one is not the lack of tapes, but the use of words in sentences that haven't been introduced yet. I will be reading along and there will be a word in kanji that doesn't have furigana and isn't anywhere in the bottom (although this mainly happens when reading the scripts). I have been using the dictionary in the back more times than I can count.
One other beef on the book is the sometimes they are have answers in the back that they don't explain why a certain word is used over another.
In conclusion, this is defientely one of the best ways to learn reading/writing Japanese. The amount of excerises is amazing, really making each chapter about 10-15 hours long, no kinding aside. If you can actually complete the book then reading young adult fiction/manga is probably not a out of reach.
Rating:
Summary: Great book.. reflects how Japanese works.
Review: Ok, first of all, you *must* learn hiragana & katakana to use this book. I recommend getting James Heisig's book on learning both. That said, this book jumps right into Japanese, and assumes you will *work* to learn the language. Each chapter, assuming you do the exercises will take several days. But they are well worth it. One great thing this book does is use realistic Japanese conversational structures. Most books use convoluted (to the japanese ear) but educational (to the learner) sentences. This book always presents a "typical" japanese construct (as well as the more educational styles). One disappointing thing with this book is that I have not been able to locate the tapes that go with it. Other than that, this is a great book to learn japanese with (tho you have to be willing to work hard!)
Rating:
Summary: Best Japanese Learning Book on the Market
Review: The most comprehensive book available. It teaches you to read Japanese script, a cruial step no other book incorporates well. Two drawbacks: the occasional inclusion of new vocabulary without explanation, and the unavailability of the accompanying tapes. Fair warning, though -- it is a rigorous course, and one best done with a tutor -- and a classmate.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book, but wish I had the tapes!
Review: This book uses almost no romaji. It's there in the first couple of chapters, but after Lesson 3 it's gone. That's a huge plus; anybody who's serious about learning Japanese is going to have to learn the kana and kanji sooner or later and might as well start learning it right from the start - and you'll be surprised at how quickly you pick up the kana, just from reading the exercises.
Then again, I find romaji irksome and decidedly not-Japanese, so I may be a bit biased. :D
Anyway, the only problem I have with this book is that, as several others have mentioned, it does not include the tapes with the dialogues on them. You'll need to find Japanese speakers to work with you on pronunciation or track down a good computer program or CD set (I'm using Living Language).
Absence of tapes aside, this is the book to buy if you're serious about learning Japanese. It's the most user-friendly language text I've seen, and as this is the third foreign language I've studied, I've seen several. ^_~
| 
