"The Japanese government may someday recognize— as it ought to—Tuttle's contribution to creating an intelligent interest in Japan among the English–reading public, and deepening understanding of Japanese overseas."—Hokubei Mainichi (San Francisco)

Awarded the 1969 Prize for the Society of the Promotion of International Cultural Relations, this is the most comprehensive Japanese book of its kind. Containing Japanese–English and English–Japanese sections, it is an essential reference tool for serious students studying the Japanese language or for business people and tourists wishing to learn Japanese before they travel.

Special features include:

• Lists over 5,000 carefully selected characters with their 10,000+ current readings and almost 70,000 compounds in current use, al with concise English definitions.
• Scientifically arranged by a logical extension of the traditional radical system so as to make the finding of a given character almost fool–proof, saving hours of time.
• Makes provision for quickly finding characters either in their traditional or their modern and often greatly altered forms, thus serving for both prewar and postwar literature.
• Includes 14 valuable appendices giving (1) instructions for the most efficient use of the book, (2) discussions of the written language in general and particularly of its recent and far–reaching official modifications, and (3) much helpful