Kiyomi Ogawa

Learn the basic Japanese syllabary from every angle: reading, writing, and real-world examples.

A complete handbook for learning to read and write Japanese hiragana, the syllabary that is the first of Japan's three writing systems introduced to all beginning students. Using real-world examples, illustrations, quizzes, and practice squares, this book teaches correct stroke order as well as examples of how hiragana are used for question words, adverbs, special words, and pronunciation of difficult characters.

Learn the second key Japanese syllabary from every angle: reading, writing, and real-world examples.

A complete handbook for learning to read and write Japanese katakana, the syllabary that is the second of Japan's three writing systems introduced to all beginning students. Using real-world examples, illustrations, quizzes, and practice squares, this book teaches correct stroke order as well as examples of how katakana are used for words borrowed from other languages, for emphasis, and in advertising for its “cool” factor.