Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I purchased the blue book version, printed in 2014, and it is smaller than the orange one (2012). It is easy to carry around in my purse around Tokyo. I've been studying using this textbook in Tokyo parks, restaurants, coffee shops, on the densha (JR train), while walking.... It has a wax-like coated cover (which is great given that Japan rains a lot) and gives it a nice, soft feel on the hands. I just wish there was a kindle formatted version too. Please, Mr. Kim, onegaishimasu. Personally, my core set for learning Japanese, the cream-of-the-crop best items, is as follows: 1. Genki I and II, including the workbooks, 2nd edition - the textbook for UCLA Japanese classes. Absolute gem of a book. This is your go-to "traditional" textbook. 2. Heisig's Remembering the Kanji - Remember 2000 kanji in 2 months? Yes. It's amazing. 3. Tae Kim's Guide to Japanese Grammar (my cliff notes) - Great refresher for stuff you learned. This book is like the golden notebook that you stole from that A+ student in your college Japanese class. 4. "Japanese" app by Renzo Inc. from the Apple Store. Includes wwwjdic dictionary, all conjugations for every word (volitional, transitive, past, present, polite form, etc.) , a built in flashcard builder, kanji stroke order videos for all kanji, and more from this sweet app. Absolute must purchase. This is like a super-dictionary. Don't have an iPhone? Buy an iPod Touch 5th gen. and get this app. It is worth buying an iPod Touch just for this app. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Optional study supplementals which are great for learning Japanese: s1. White Rabbit Press - Kanji Flashcards 1, 2, 3 - best Japanese flashcards around with all the Joyou Kanji. s2. NihonShock's Cheat Sheet Pack - 10 laminated colorful notes of all the vital Japanese grammar s3. Anki - a flashcard program that lets you download shared cards created by other users & allows you to make your own flashcards on the computer.