Here is a list of the best Japanese Learning books, some I have read myself, some that I did research on, and all have great reviews!
- Japanese from Zero! 1: Proven Techniques to Learn Japanese for Students and Professionals (2014)
- Living Language Japanese, Complete Edition: Beginner through advanced course, including 3 coursebooks, 9 audio CDs, Japanese writing guide, and free online learning (2012)
- Learning Japanese Hiragana and Katakana: A Workbook for Self-Study (2014)
- GENKI 1-2 , Learning Japanese for Beginners 4-BOOK Bundle Set , An Integrated Course in Elementary Workbook 1 , 2 & Textbook 1 , 2 (2011)
- Speak Japanese in 90 Days: A Self Study Guide to Becoming Fluent (Volume 1) (2015)
- Japanese-English Bilingual Visual Dictionary (2018)
- Japanese Kanji for Beginners: (JLPT Levels N5 & N4) First Steps to Learn the Basic Japanese Characters (Includes CD-Rom) (2017)
- Japanese the Manga Way: An Illustrated Guide to Grammar and Structure (2004)
- Japanese for Beginners: Learning Conversational Japanese – Second Edition (Includes Both Online Audio and CD) (2016)
- Japanese from Zero! 2: Proven Techniques to Japanese for Students and Professionals (Japanese Edition) (2006)
- Learning Japanese Kanji Practice Book Volume 1: (JLPT Level N5 & AP Exam) The Quick and Easy Way to Learn the Basic Japanese Kanji (2015)
- Japanese Hiragana & Katakana for Beginners: First Steps to Mastering the Japanese Writing System (CD-ROM Included) (2011)
- GENKI I: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese (English and Japanese Edition) (2011)
Japanese from Zero! 1: Proven Techniques to Learn Japanese for Students and Professionals (2014)
is an innovative and integrated approach to learning Japanese developed by professional Japanese interpreter George Trombley and co-writer Yukari Takenaka. The lessons and techniques used in this series have been taught successfully for over ten years in classrooms throughout the world.Using up-to-date and easy-to-grasp grammar, Japanese From Zero!
Living Language Japanese, Complete Edition: Beginner through advanced course, including 3 coursebooks, 9 audio CDs, Japanese writing guide, and free online learning (2012)
Complete Japanese is a unique multimedia program that takes you beginner to advanced level in one convenient package.
Learning Japanese Hiragana and Katakana: A Workbook for Self-Study (2014)
Written Japanese combines three different types of characters: the Chinese characters known as kanji, and two Japanese sets of phonetic letters, hiragana and katakana, known collectively as kana, that must be mastered before the Japanese kanji can be learned.
GENKI 1-2 , Learning Japanese for Beginners 4-BOOK Bundle Set , An Integrated Course in Elementary Workbook 1 , 2 & Textbook 1 , 2 (2011)
Second edition of the most highly regarded teaching text book and Workbook on the Japanese language, covering speaking, listening, reading, and writing to cultivate overall language ability. Each lesson in the revised edition features a new section dubbed Culture Notes,” and now includes the audio CD companion which is in mp3 format ready to install on any music player. In Japanese/English. Distributed by Tsai Fong Books, Inc
Speak Japanese in 90 Days: A Self Study Guide to Becoming Fluent (Volume 1) (2015)
Want to speak Japanese but don’t know where to start? This book is for you! Don’t waste money buying ten different books when you can learn everything you need in this one book. Don’t waste money taking classes at a school when you can teach yourself. With Speak Japanese in 90 Days, all of the prep work is done for you. Each daily lesson will teach you not only what, but how to study.
Japanese-English Bilingual Visual Dictionary (2018)
Full-color images with detailed labels display all the elements of everyday life–from the home and office to sports, music, nature, and the countries of the world–with boxed features on key nouns, verbs, and useful phrases. Current words and phrases are featured. The free audio app is available in Apple (from the App Store) and Android (from Google Play) formats. This handy travel-sized guide also includes a detailed index for instant reference.
Japanese Kanji for Beginners: (JLPT Levels N5 & N4) First Steps to Learn the Basic Japanese Characters (Includes CD-Rom) (2017)
The Japanese language has three basic writing systems, kanji (Chinese characters) and hiragana, and katakana–two phonetic sets of characters. This handy book teaches you a new mnemonics-based method to read and write the 430 highest-frequency kanji characters.
Japanese the Manga Way: An Illustrated Guide to Grammar and Structure (2004)
Japanese difficult? Study boring? No way! Not with this “real manga, real Japanese” approach to learning. Presenting all spoken Japanese as a variation of three basic sentence types, Japanese the Manga Way shows how to build complex constructions step by step.
Japanese for Beginners: Learning Conversational Japanese – Second Edition (Includes Both Online Audio and CD) (2016)
This complete Japanese language package has helped many thousands of people learn to speak colloquial Japanese. It is designed for busy people who wish to pick up a working knowledge of Japanese on their own in just a few days, rather than a few years.
Japanese from Zero! 2: Proven Techniques to Japanese for Students and Professionals (Japanese Edition) (2006)
Japanese From Zero! is an innovative and integrated approach to learning Japanese that was developed by professional Japanese interpreter George Trombley, Yukari Takenaka and was continuously refined over eight years in the classroom by native Japanese professors. Using up-to-date and easy-to-grasp grammar, Japanese From Zero! is the perfect course for current students of Japanese as well as absolute beginners.
Learning Japanese Kanji Practice Book Volume 1: (JLPT Level N5 & AP Exam) The Quick and Easy Way to Learn the Basic Japanese Kanji (2015)
Learning Japanese Kanji Practice Book is intended for beginning students or experienced speakers who need to practice their written Japanese. Kanji are an essential part of the Japanese language and together with kana (hiragana and katakana) comprise written Japanese.
Japanese Hiragana & Katakana for Beginners: First Steps to Mastering the Japanese Writing System (CD-ROM Included) (2011)
The Japanese language has two basic writing systems, hiragana, and katakana, in addition to the one that uses Chinese characters or Kanji. This handy book teaches you a new mnemonic–based method to read and write the fundamental 92 hiragana and katakana characters. Along with its sister book: Japanese Kanji for Beginners it provides a complete introduction to written Japanese.
GENKI I: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese (English and Japanese Edition) (2011)
Second edition of the most highly regarded teaching text book on the Japanese language, covering speaking, listening, reading, and writing to cultivate overall language ability.
Best Japanese Learning Books Worth Your Attention
We highly recommend you to buy all paper or e-books in a legal way, for example, on Amazon. But sometimes it might be a need to dig deeper beyond the shiny book cover. Before making a purchase, you can visit resources like Library Genesis and download some japanese learning books mentioned below at your own risk. Once again, we do not host any illegal or copyrighted files, but simply give our visitors a choice and hope they will make a wise decision.
Water Wood and Wild Things:Learning Craft and Cultivation in a Japanese Mountain Town
Author(s): Hannah Kirshner
ID: 2942759, Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, Year: 2021, Size: 19 Mb, Format: epub
Learning Japanese Kanji: The 520 Most Essential Characters (With online audio and bonus materials)
Author(s): Glen Nolan Grant
ID: 3127649, Publisher: Tuttle Publishing, Year: 2021, Size: 19 Mb, Format: pdf
Excerpts from A Learning Handbook for Joyo Kanji: Japanese Radicals and essential components
Author(s): Daniele Minnone
ID: 2798644, Publisher: , Year: 2020, Size: 624 Kb, Format: pdf
Please note that this booklist is not final. Some books are truly best-sellers according to The Wall Street Journal, others are composed by unknown writers. On top of that, you can always find additional tutorials and courses on Coursera, Udemy or edX, for example. Are there any other relevant links you could recommend? Drop a comment if you have any feedback on the list.