Japanese language students are incredibly lucky: There’s so much competition for Japanese learning materials that the quality of Japanese textbooks out there are extremely high compared to some other less-pursued languages (even compared to Korean textbooks for example).

In the 12+ years I’ve been studying Japanese, I have bought piles and piles of Japanese language books, always with the idea of looking for the one to rule them all.

In the end, no textbook is perfect: all have their strengths and weaknesses, but there are clearly some that are exceptionally well thought out, and will help you get you the best ‘bang for your buck’ in your Japanese study.

Without further ado, here are the 12 best Japanese textbooks we’ve found for self-study.

The 12 Best Books to Learn Japanese

1. GENKI I: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese

If you took Japanese in University, this is probably the textbook you used. And love it or hate it, it’s still probably the best beginners Japanese textbook out there.

Published by the Japan Times, the Genki series is currently in its 3rd edition print run (2020 edition) and has sold more than 2 million copies worldwide.

There are no shortcuts with this textbook — you have to put in the time to learn and absorb the material. If you can work through to the end of this textbook, you’ll the necessary foundations of vocabulary, grammar, hiragana, katakana, and some basic kanji to build on.

The book is divided into 2 sections:

Conversation / Grammar focuses on learning vocabulary, sentence structure and culturally useful expressions via studying dialogues.

Reading / Writing focuses on teaching you kanji and reading comprehension via lessons that correspond to the Conversation part of the book.

Overall, while the Genki series still has some flaws that other textbooks have (for example, it teaches ‘Sayonara’ for ‘goodbye’, which isn’t very commonly used day-to-day in Japan), it’s still the best book out there to start learning Japanese on your own.

Pros:

• Accompanying CD for practicing pronunciation
• Lots of exercises to practice at the end of each chapter
• If you finish this textbook, you’ll have a fairly large vocabulary (about 50 words per chapter)

Cons:

• Unusual standard of romanization: ie. kiree instead of kirei
• Doesn’t include the stroke order for kanji
• Sometimes not 100% logical in its presentation (ie. teaching 5 color words, but then skipping the rest)

Notes:

• If you get Genki, we also recommend you get the workbook too.

2. A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar

There’s a reason why this book is known as the “Yellow Book” or “The Bible” among Japan expats. It is probably the best Japanese learning resource I have ever come across. Clearly and thoroughly written with great example sentences. If you are at a more advanced level, check out the “Blue” and “Red” books by the same authors.

Pros:

• Comprehensive and thorough
• Grammar points are explained clearly and with helpful examples
• Learn the difference between similar and often confused grammar points

Cons:

• This book is not a textbook — think of it as a dictionary of grammar (as the title says)

3. Remembering the Kana: A Guide to Reading and Writing the Japanese Syllabaries in 3 Hours Each

In this book James Heisig applies his mnemonics method to learning to read and write the Japanese writing systems of Hiragana and Katakana. I found it really helpful when I was starting out.

Pros:

• Mnemonics that really help to remember each character
• Can teach you how to recognize hiragana and katakana in 3 hours each

Notes:

• If you already know kana, skip this one and jump ahead to Heisig’s Remembering the Kanji book
• If you’ve learned some kana without much difficulty, you may find this book ‘overcomplicates’ the learning

4. Kodansha’s Furigana Japanese Dictionary

This has to be the best Japanese-English dictionary in print form. Kodansha really gave a lot of thought to the layout and functionality of this dictionary — and it shows. This furigana dictionary is a must-have in the library of any serious Japanese learner, from beginner to N1.

Pros:

• Great section on how to conjugate regular and irregular Japanese verbs
• Example sentences to show how words are often used

Cons:

• If anything, it’s not big enough for some more intermediate or advanced users
• No information on intonation

Notes:

• Organized alphabetically by kana, not the roman alphabet
• No romaji, all furigana

5. Remembering the Kanji, Volume 1: A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters

Heisig’s Remembering The Kanji is an invaluable book for mastering kanji, and this book should be required reading for all serious learners of Japanese.

My personal anecdote about this book: I struggled terribly with remembering Kanji before I came across this book years ago, and it helped me immensely. Although I’ve forgotten many of the mnemonic ‘stories’ I first learned, I still remember the meanings of most kanji.

Pros:

• Learn the ‘parts’ that make up a kanji
• Teaches you how to remember the meanings of hundreds of characters

Cons:

• Some of the keywords chosen in the book are ambiguous or strange (ie. rarely-used English words instead of its regular-use equivalent)
• You’ll only learn the basic ‘meaning’ of the kanji, so without further study you won’t be able to ‘read’ Japanese kanji or compound words

Notes:

• Some people report not being able to view kanji stroke order on the kindle version. Buyer beware!
• Most people pair this book with Anki flashcard software. I did this and 100% recommend it

6. Kanji in Context

So this is another kanji-related book. Kanji in Context allows you to build a strong vocabulary after using Heisig’s book.

Pros:

• Over 150 lessons that teach kanji within the context of writings

Cons:

• Might be hard to find or expensive outside of Japan

Notes

• Not for beginners — more intermediate to advanced

7. The Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Dictionary

This is the best kanji reference dictionary that I’ve come across. The newest edition has the most common 3000 kanji, in a book that almost could fit in your pocket. An invaluable resource.

Pros:

• A visually appealing, well layed-out dictionary
• The ‘SKIP’ method used to look up kanji is quite ingenious
• Up to date, reliable definitions and examples

Notes

• Some people find the lookup method unintuitive (however I think this is rare)

8. JLPT Study Guide: The Comprehensive Guide to the JLPT Level N5 Exam

This JLPT N5 study guide was released in 2019 by Clayton MacKnight of JLPT Bootcamp and published by Tuttle.

If you’re just starting to learn Japanese, and are aiming to take the N5 test (or even if you’re in need of a refresher), I highly recommend this book. It has an easy to follow layout, great illustrations, and covers each topic at a good pace.

One of the best ways to prepare for the JLPT test is doing actual practice questions, which this book has plenty of. The practice sections include all the different types of questions that you’ll see on the actual test (kanji, grammar, reading and listening), so you’ll know which areas you’re prepared for, and which need more work.

If you’re working towards N5, this is the book for you!

Pros:

• More than 300 JLPT N5 practice questions included
• 3 printable N5 practice tests
• Accompanying audio for listening comprehension
• Printable flash cards for kana and N5 kanji
• Fun illustrations and dialogues

Notes:

• Ideal for students wanting to go from zero to N5 in a short amount of time.

9. How to Sound Intelligent in Japanese: A Vocabulary Builder

This book is aimed at students who already have a good grasp of Japanese and want to be able to sound, well, smarter by building their vocabulary with intelligent sounding words. If you’re looking for words and concepts that would impress a native Japanese with your ability, this is probably the one.

Pros:

• Good structure and categorization
• Fun learning for advanced students

Cons:

• Often vocabulary is quite specialized and difficult to use

Notes

• Recommended for N3 or above (not lower).

10. Read Real Japanese

This is a great book for making the tricky jump from intermediate to advanced Japanese. Of course, you can read “real” Japanese anytime nowadays online but it’s sometimes nice to have explanations for unknown expressions and writing styles you come across. The book contains eight varying and interesting essays by famous Japanese authors such as Haruki Murakami, Seiko Ito and Banana Yoshimoto.

I enjoyed studying with this book except for the author’s inexplicable usage of romaji in the vocabulary explanations. Why would an advanced learner still be using romaji? Anyway, it is an interesting read and you should be able to find it used for cheap on Amazon.

Pros:

• Helpful in making the difficult jump from textbooks to reading “real” Japanese
• Great selection from contemporary writers such as:
  • Seiko Ito
  • Momoko Sakura
  • Ryuichi Sakamoto
  • Banana Yoshimoto

Cons:

• The use of romaji in a book for advanced students is a questionable and unfortunate design choice
• Lack of sentence-by-sentence translation

11. Read Real Japanese Essays: Contemporary Writings by Popular Authors

The follow-up to the original is much improved with an audio CD included and the romaji scrapped! It gets difficult in some places and new kanji readings are only given once so it’s definitely for intermediate learners and up.

Pros:

• Notes that explain cultural contexts and usage
• Narrated CD comes with the book
• Interesting contemporary essays from popular authors including:
  • Murakami Haruki
  • Yoshimoto Banana
  • Hirano Keiichiro

Notes:

• For intermediate students (if you’ve finished the Genki series, you could try this out)

12. Read Real Japanese Fiction

Similar to the last two books but for fiction. I don’t own this one but it has some good reviews so it is probably safe to assume it’s of the same quality as the others in the series.

Pros:

• Excellent selection of stories from well-known, established authors:
  • Kawakami Hiromi
  • Otsuichi
  • Ishii Shinji
  • Yoshimoto Banana
  • Kitamura Kaoru
  • Tawada Yoko
• Helpful notes in the back of the book
• Narrated CD comes with the book

Cons:

• Doesn’t include complete translations of all sentences
• Furigana next to every new kanji (could be a plus, depending on your level)
• Not organized by level of difficulty (the first story is harder than the second for example)

Honorable Mentions That Didn’t Quite Make the List

Nihongo Through Newspaper Articles

A solid offering from the Japan Times for building up your Japanese vocabulary. Each lesson presents a new article with vocabulary and exercises. There’s also two audio CDs included. A lesson a day will quickly improve your reading comprehension.

Pros:

• Comes with 2 CDs
• Great for building vocabulary to eventually read the newspaper

Cons:

• Difficult to find outside of Japan — it’s available to buy, but can be quite expensive! Recommended you search second hand.

Notes:

• For intermediate to advanced

Pimsleur Japanese

Not strictly a book, but it’s a great audio course for starting out in Japanese. Gets a bit too corporate for my liking towards the end of the 3rd series, but you will remember and be able to use what you learn with Pimsleur. You can sample Pimsleur Japanese for free with a Audible 30 day trial. Download the taster course here.

Notes

• A lot of people hate on Pimsleur (Why???), but it’s really good for beginners to get you speaking. Try it out if you’re just starting Japanese!

Making Out in Japanese

Ok, so not really a serious one, but you’ll definitely have a lot of laughs with it!

Pros:

• Fun and entertaining (and possibly useful, if you end up single in Japan!)

Cons:

• You might consider the phrases ‘too lame’ to use in real situations

Notes

• Contains language not suitable for younger readers

Kanji Study Cards

This is not a ‘book’ per say, but flash cards. Kanji study cards that accompany James Heisig’s Remembering the Kanji (above). It is definitely nice having all 2048 kanji with their readings in one set and it saves you the effort of making the cards/notes yourself. If you’re lazy like me it’s a no-brainer!

Pros:

• Very helpful if you’re using Heisig’s method for learning the kanji

Cons:

• Expensive and difficult to find (used to be $100 on Amazon, now difficult to find retail)

Notes:

• Only useful in conjunction with the Remembering the Kanji book
• Cards haven’t been laminated so you can write your own notes on the cards. The downside of this is they can become ‘boro-boro‘ quite easily

So there you have it. There are probably more (I have spent a lot of money on Japanese books over the years) but those are — in my opinion — the best books to learn Japanese. Enjoy!

Michael

Michael has lived in Japan on and off for almost 10 years. He loves studying Japanese, and is currently working on going from N2 to N1 on the JLPT.

What We Liked About ‘Learning Japanese Kanji’

Mnemonics are cool

Kanji characters are a totally abstract concept to the uninitiated westerner, so you need a helping hand to attach meaning to them. The Japanese mostly learn the kanji through a combination of daily exposure and grueling repetition at school, which mostly involves writing out the characters over and over again. Only by the end of high school is full proficiency achieved. Do you have that much time to burn? Didn’t think so. You need a better solution, which is where this book comes in.

A central part of the method for Learning Japanese Kanji lies in the usage of mnemonics to break down each kanji and make it more memorable. I am of the opinion that stories and mnemonics are the best way to learn the kanji. Why? Because they put sense into the seemingly nonsensical world of kanji characters. Grant uses a variety of funny and memorable mnemonics that should greatly aid you in your learning mission.

Learning by frequency makes a lot of sense

Learning Japanese Kanji focuses on the 520 most commonly occurring kanji characters. Although there are more than 2,000 characters included in the regular use list produced by the Japanese Ministry of Education, the truth is that you will function just fine with a lot less. Learning the 2,000+ list will make you fully literate, but tackling the most common 520 first makes sense to me. From this perspective, I think that the author took the correct approach with this book.

Extra details are appreciated

The inclusion of ON and KUN readings, relevant vocabulary and sample sentences for each character is a nice touch. I personally find example sentences to be one of the keys to learning Japanese.

Audio CD and example sentences

Learning that involves multiple senses has been shown to be more effective (see John Medina’s Brain Rules for reference). Reading and listening together are better than just reading. The audio CD is therefore a nice bonus, allowing you to listen to the character readings and example sentences to drill them into long-term memory.

What We Didn’t Like About ‘Learning Japanese Kanji’

Romaji transliteration is unnecessary

Romaji are a crutch that hold back learners from reading Japanese. If someone is learning the kanji, one might safely assume that this person has already mastered the hiragana/katakana by that stage. If they haven’t yet done so, then the kanji should not be attempted yet. This book would be better without the roman characters, but I suppose nothing is perfect.

Grant or Heisig?

As you may well know, another popular method for learning the kanji is the James Heisig approach. Choosing between Grant or Heisig is a tough call. I think it depends on your goals.

Looking back, our main issue with Heisig’s method was the irrelevance of some of the characters you learn early on. A rare kanji might be introduced on page 6, whereas an incredibly common kanji only comes into play on page 354. This is unavoidable really, as Heisig bases his method on building up a knowledge bank of the radicals which you then later combine to master more complicated characters.

So, if you are the obsessive (and slightly masochistic) type with time on your hands who wants to tackle all 2,000+ kanji in a grueling study campaign then Heisig’s method might be for you. We at Perapera probably fall into this first group.

Grant’s book is a little less ambitious, but, if used correctly, should achieve its aim of getting you a base knowledge of the kanji. If you are practical-minded and see the advantage of learning by frequency order then Learning Japanese Kanji might be a solid choice for you. This book may also be helpful for highly visual learners.

One thing is for certain. You definitely don’t want to use the two kanji methods at the same time. That would be confusing to the extreme, so choose one and stick to it.

Conclusion: Enjoy it!

Last of all, don’t forget to enjoy the process. I truly envy those of you who are just starting out with tackling the kanji. Even now I still find the kanji characters somewhat magical to behold, but nothing compares to those first few months of discovery. Happy learning!

Full disclosure: We received a free review copy of Learning Japanese Kanji from the guys at Tuttle Publishing.

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Rohan

Rohan has spent years studying Japanese, Chinese and Korean, and currently lives in Japan. He created the perapera pop-up dictionary plugins to help other learners of Chinese and Japanese.

But there was one big hole in Heisig’s book. After 500 or so characters he drops the bomb when he leaves you to make your own stories alone. In my case,  I found it difficult to make my own kanji stories. Perhaps I was lacking creativity, I thought as I continued to struggle. Unfulfilled New Year’s Resolutions came and went and I cursed Heisig for not finishing his book. Other long-term Japan expats have told me they had similarly frustrating experiences with Heisig’s book.

Happily though, I found a great free online resource, Reviewing the Kanji. The Reviewing the Kanji site has kanji stories for Heisig’s book made by and voted upon by users. You can add the characters as you work your way through the book and schedule reviews. It’s a nicely designed site and easy to use. This is a great addition to the book. Suddenly, you have countless stories for each character at your disposal.

The combination of the site and Heisig’s book allowed me to vastly improve my knowledge of the kanji and their radicals. The readings had to be learned separately by wide reading (hint, hint PeraPera ) but I’m of the opinion that being familiar with the characters and their radicals is useful and these resources certainly helped me along the way.

Hope those starting out or wanting to refresh their kanji knowledge found this useful. So how did you learn the kanji? Any advice for our readers? We’d love to see other advice people have!

Rohan

Rohan has spent years studying Japanese, Chinese and Korean, and currently lives in Japan. He created the perapera pop-up dictionary plugins to help other learners of Chinese and Japanese.